Denis O'Hare

Denis O'Hare is one of today's busiest actors in the movie, television, and stage worlds.

Among his many films are Kyle Patrick Alvarez's C.O.G., based on the David Sedaris short story; Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar and Changeling; Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton and Duplicity; Anne Fletcher's The Proposal; Michael Winterbottom's A Mighty Heart; Martin Campbell's Edge of Darkness; Richard Laxton's An Englishman in New York; John Erick Dowdle's Quarantine; David Ross' The Babysitters; Michael McCullers' Baby Mama; Mike Nichols' Charlie Wilson's War; Jeffrey Blitz' Rocket Science; Hilary Brougher's Stephanie Daley; Ryan Fleck's Half Nelson; Chris Terrio's Heights; Zach Braff's Garden State; Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh's The Anniversary Party; Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown; and, also for Focus Features, Kevin Macdonald's The Eagle, Alejandro González Iñárritu's 21 Grams, and Gus Van Sant's Milk. For the latter, he shared with his fellow actors the nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture as well as the Critics' Choice Award for Best Acting Ensemble.

An Emmy Award nominee for his portrayal of Larry Harvey on American Horror Story, Mr. O'Hare is also well-known to television viewers for his work on True Blood, as Russell Edgington, Vampire King of Mississippi; in a June 2013 viewers' poll, the latter character was voted the "Baddest Baddie" in the show's history. He has also appeared several times on Brothers & Sisters, Law & Order, CSI: Miami, and The Good Wife, among other series. His telefilms include Marion Meyer's Alexander Hamilton; Michael Pressman's Saint Maybe; and Kathleen Marshall's musical Once Upon a Mattress, with Carol Burnett and Tracey Ullman. He shot Ryan Murphy's The Normal Heart, adapted by Larry Kramer from the latter's landmark play of the same name.

The Kansas City native got his BS from Northwestern University. He has since starred onstage in both the U.S. and the U.K. In both countries, he originated the role of Mason Marzac in Richard Greenberg's play Take Me Out, under the direction of Joe Mantello. His portrayal brought Mr. O'Hare the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Obie Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Audience Award as voted through www.broadway.com, and the Clarence Derwent Award.

He was again a Tony Award nominee under Mr. Mantello's direction for Stephen Sondheim's musical Assassins. His other Broadway appearances include the revivals of Sweet Charity (which earned him a Drama Desk Award), Inherit the Wind, Major Barbara, and Cabaret. He has twice won Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Award, for his performances in Voice of the Prairie and Hauptmann. He starred in the latter, as Richard Hauptmann, in both the U.S. and the U.K.

Mr. O'Hare starred off-Broadway in the title role of the Classic Stage Company's production of Uncle Vanya, under the direction of Austin Pendleton. In the fall of 2010, he returned to Broadway, starring opposite Brendan Fraser in Elling, adapted by Simon Bent and directed by Doug Hughes. In the summer of 2012, he was onstage in Central Park starring in the Public's production of Into the Woods, directed by Timothy Sheader and Liam Steel.

With Lisa Peterson, Mr. O'Hare wrote An Iliad, a one-man show adapted from Homer's epic poem. Productions of the play have been staged around the U.S., and he has starred in several of these.

Focus Features