Many remember his breakout performance as the Sioux leader Kicking Bird in Kevin Costner’s epic Dances With Wolves — a role that earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

At 38, Graham Greene became the first Canadian to earn an acting nomination since fellow Indigenous performer Chief Dan George was recognized in 1971 for Little Big Man.

“I called my wife, Hilary, and said, ‘You won’t believe this. I’ve just been nominated for an Oscar,’” Greene recalled. “Two minutes later the phone started ringing.”

Before his Hollywood career took off, Greene worked a variety of jobs — from c and carpenter to civil technologist to steelworker and even part of a rock-band crew.

It wasn’t until