Richard Green

Richard Green ( – 23 July 2021) was an Australian actor, musician, teacher, and Aboriginal elder. He is known for many roles in film and television, in particular as Chris in Boxing Day, as Barry in Snowtown (2011). As a Dharug man, he learnt and taught the Dharug language, an Indigenous language of Sydney, and was regarded as an elder of the Dharug people in his later years, earning the title "Uncle".

Early life and education Richard Green was born in Katoomba, New South Wales, , the eldest of five siblings.

In 1998, Green was in Long Bay Jail in Sydney when he acted in his first film, called Two/Out, directed by Kriv Stenders, who met him in jail a year earlier and found him to be a natural actor. Upon his release, in his twenties, Green started engaging with the arts, both writing and performing.

He was working as a dialect coach on a feature-length film about Aboriginal warrior Pemulwuy, working title Pemulwuy: The Movie, written by Jon Bell and directed by Catriona McKenzie. The filmmakers consulted "Uncle Richard Green", along with Uncles Vic Simms and Colin Isaacs, as local community elders. Philip Noyce, as executive producer, travelled from Los Angeles, along with McKenzie, in August 2019 to meet the elders. The film was due to begin production in 2021, not long before Green's death. Sydney Opera House also made audio recordings of both a Welcome and Acknowledgment of Country, which they played before a number of performances, including all Vivid Live performances in 2018.

Recognition Adrian Wills, co-director of The Gods of Wheat Street and Redfern Now, called him "an absolute dream to direct...He was a storyteller, he was a dancer, he was a song man, he was a writer, a poet, a cultural warrior and a leader as well". Fellow Sydney actor and friend Elaine Crombie said "he was one of our finest Australian actors". as well as winning Best Actor in the Festival du nouveau cinéma in Montreal, Canada.

Death Green died aged 58 from heart complications on 23 July 2021, at his home.