'Riverdale': Who Plays Thomas Topaz?

Riverdale took a look at its history in tonight's episode with a little help from an [...]

By Nicole Drum

Riverdale took a look at its history in tonight's episode with a little help from an Oscar-nominated actor.

Spoilers for tonight's episode of Riverdale, "Chapter Twenty-Five: The Wrestler" below.

In tonight's episode, the town prepares to celebrate its founder, Colonel Pickens, but Riverdale's founder may not be quite all he's made out to be. Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) insists that it was her ancestor who founded the town while Jughead (Cole Sprouse) and Toni (Vanessa Morgan) interview Toni's grandfather, Thomas, for their own history project and find out some pretty surprising information about Colonel Pickens -- and the history of the South Side Serpents.

Playing Thomas Topaz is a face that may be familiar to fans of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Die Hard with a Vengeance, The Green Mile, and many more. Actor Graham Greene appears tonight as Toni's grandfather. Greene, who has appeared in dozens of movies, is a Canadian First Nations actor perhaps best known for his Oscar-nominated role as Kicking Bird in 1990's Dances with Wolves. Greene most recently appeared alongside Avengers stars Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner as tribal police chief Ben Shoyo in Wind River.

One of the most successful Native actors in the film industry, Greene's other credits include his role as Rafe McCawley in SyFy's Defiance, a recurring role in A&E's Longmire, as well as documentary work and the spoken word children's album, Listen to the Storyteller, which earned him a Grammy award in 2000.

Greene's appearance tonight as Toni's grandfather will shed some light on the history of Riverdale, perhaps giving some insight on the deep divisions between the North and South sides of town. But will a better understanding of where the town has been serve to help bring Riverdale closer together or drive the town further apart? Fans will just have to stay tuned to find out.

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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