[1] Greenwood was born Janinka Miroslava Alzbeta Chuml in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on 20 October 1947.
[8] Greenwood taught drama in primary, secondary and tertiary education settings for twenty years.
[9][11] This project, created by Arnold Wilson, ran from the late 1970s until 1988, and was an educational programme aimed at making a 'third space' for Māori and Pākehā cultures to come together in the creation of art.
[13][10] She has collaborated internationally with researchers in Bangladesh, Norway, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Thailand, and Malaysia.
[14] One of Greenwood's notable doctoral students is Professor Jo Fletcher, in the School of Teacher Education at the University of Canterbury.