Gregg Henry
About
Biography
Biography
One of American television's most prolific character actors in the 21st century, Gregg Henry began his career playing Nick Nolte's son in the miniseries "Rich Man, Poor Man Book II" (ABC 1976-77) before landing big-screen parts in "Mean Dog Blues" (1978), "Just Before Dawn" (1981) and "Body Double" (1984). Henry then focused his attention on the small screen with a string of high-profile guest spots and lead roles in various TV movies, while occasionally branching out into Hollywood with minor roles in "Raising Cain" (1992) and "Star Trek: Insurrection" (1998). After playing Mel Gibson's double-crossing ex-partner in "Payback" (1999), Henry earned rave reviews for his lead performance in "The Hunt For The BTK Killer" (2005), appeared in "Slither" (2006), "United 93" (2006) and "The Black Dahlia" (2006) and continued to add to his extensive list of TV work with more substantial parts in "Gilmore Girls" (WB 2000-07), "The Riches" (FX 2007-08), "Hung" (HBO 2009-2011) and "The Killing" (AMC 2011-13; Netflix, 2014).
Gregg Lee Henry was born in Lakewood, CO, in 1952 and after graduating from the University of Washington with a bachelor of fine arts degree, moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. While understudying for the part of Orlando in Shakespeare's "As You Like It" at San Diego's Old Globe Theater, he was cast as Wesley Jordache in the miniseries "Rich Man, Poor Man Book II" (ABC 1976-77), and subsequently landed the lead roles of nice guy drifter Paul Ramsey in prison drama "Mean Dog Blues" (1978) and small-town drag racer Brian Edison in TV movie "Hot Rod" (1979). But after playing macho body builder Warren in the backwoods slasher "Just Before Dawn" (1981), Henry then spent several years boosting his small-screen CV with a string of guest spots on the likes of "The Love Boat" (ABC 1977-1986), "Voyagers" (NBC 1982-83) and "Tucker's Witch" (CBS 1982).
After making an uncredited cameo in "Scarface" (1983), Henry then worked with Brian De Palma for a second time on the thriller "Body Double" (1984) as sadistic actor Sam Bouchard, where he first ventured into the kind of villainous territory that would later become his forte. Henry then spent the rest of the decade combining one-off appearances on the likes of "Moonlighting" (ABC 1985-89), "Remington Steele" (NBC 1982-87) and "Magnum P.I." (CBS 1980-88) with recurring parts in "Matlock" (NBC 1986-1995) and "Murder She Wrote" (CBS 1985-1996), supporting roles in TV movies "Bates Motel" (1987), "A Stoning In Fulham County" (1988) and "I Know My First Name Is Steven" (1989) and the occasional big-screen lead performances in action drama "The Patriot" (1986) and revenge thriller "Fair Game" (1988).
Henry continued to build up his profile in the early '90s with a further string of TV movies and several appearances in "L.A. Law" (NBC, 1986-1994), while he also returned to the big screen as Lt. Terri in psychological thriller "Raising Cain" (1992). Following bit-parts in the likes of "JAG" (NBC 1995-96), "Chicago Hope" (CBS 1994-2000) and Paul Haggis' short-lived drama series "EZ Streets" (CBS 1997), Henry was then cast as the Son'a leader's second-in-command Gallatin in "Star Trek: Insurrection" (1998) before landing one of his most memorable roles, Mel Gibson's back-stabbing former partner Val Resnick in "Payback" (1999), a thriller based on Donald Westlake's popular series of novels about the amoral criminal Parker.
Maintaining his prolific work rate into the new millennium, Henry landed the recurring role of Michael Holt on "Family Law" (CBS 1999-2002), guested on "Boston Public" (Fox 2000-04), "Firefly" (Fox 2002) and "24" (Fox 2001-2010) and appeared alongside Antonio Banderas in both French crime drama "Femme Fatale" (2002) and the critically-panned secret agent thriller "Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever" (2002), before earning the best reviews of his career with his gripping portrayal of real-life serial killer Dennis Rader in "The Hunt For The BTK Killer" (2005). Henry was then cast as newspaper magnate Mitchum Huntzberger in "Gilmore Girls" (WB 2000-07) while he also added to his filmography by playing pompous town mayor Jack MacReady in sci-fi horror "Slither" (2006), Col. Robert Marr in Paul Greengrass' unbearably intense "United 93" (2006) and Pete Lukins in Brian De Palma's neo-noir "The Black Dahlia" (2006).
After landing the role of depraved real estate mogul Hugh Panetta on the under-rated con artist drama "The Riches" (FX 2007-08), Henry then seemed to grace nearly every major US TV show, making one-off appearances as Quinn's father in "Glee" (Fox 2009-), Officer Mark Downey in "ER" (NBC 1994-2009) and Dr. Gracie in "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC 2005-) as well as turning up in single episodes of "The Mentalist" (CBS 2008-), "CSI: Miami" (A&E 2002-2012) and "Castle" (ABC 2009-). Henry also became a regular on "Hung" (HBO, 2009-2011) as football coach Mike Hunt and went onto play Detective John Felkner in dark superhero comedy "Super" (2011) before making a mark as ruthless oil tycoon Hollis Doyle in "Scandal" (ABC 2012-) and as Holder's new partner Carl Reddick on the third and final season of "The Killing" (AMC 2011-13; Netflix, 2014).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1976
Made acting debut in "Rich Man, Poor Man Book II" (ABC)
1984
Lands first high-profile film role in "Body Double"
1999
Plays Mel Gibson's double-crossing ex-partner in "Payback"
2005
Earns rave reviews for lead performance in "The Hunt For The BTK Killer"
