Graham Greene
Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award 2025 (Screens and Voices (formerly Broadcasting and Film))
Actor
Graham Greene is one of the most respected actors of his generation. In a career spanning over five decades, he has worked on stage and in film and television productions in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Argentina, in roles ranging from police officers to judges, doctors, lawyers, and a Shakespearean antagonist. An accomplished character actor of uncommon intensity, he has served as a role model for countless aspiring performing artists.
Mr. Greene was born in 1952 in southwestern Ontario. Before moving into acting, he worked as a draftsman, steelworker and welder, carpenter, and audio technician.
His many stage credits include
The Crackwalker,
Jessica,
History of the Village of the Small Huts, and
Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasking (1989 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Actor). In 2007, at the Stratford Festival, he played Lenny in Steinbeck’s
Of Mice and Men and Shylock in Shakespeare’s
The Merchant of Venice.
He co-starred with Kevin Costner in the immensely popular film
Dances With Wolves (1990), earning global recognition and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Sioux medicine man Kicking Bird. His extensive filmography also includes
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson),
North,
The Green Mile (with Tom Hanks),
Maverick (with Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster),
Snow Dogs, and most recently the comedy thriller
Seeds and the drama
The Birds Who Fear Death.
His television credits include
Wolf Lake,
Northern Exposure, The Red Green Show,
North of 60,
Dudley the Dragon (two Gemini Awards),
Exhibit A (host, 1997–2001),
Longmire,
Reservation Dogs, and
Echo.
On opportunities for Indigenous artists, he comments, “At first there was nothing, no real outlet for our acting, our storytelling, our careers, our talent. But today, there are a lot more Indigenous writers and actors, a lot of young kids coming up who are breaking into the industry. It’s great to see that.”
Graham Greene’s awards and honours include Member of the Order of Canada, inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame, the Earle Grey Award (Canadian Screen Award), a Grammy Award, and an honorary doctorate from Wilfrid Laurier University.