‘Orange Is The New Black’, ‘Justified’ & ‘Dexter’ Actor Was 56

Brad William Henke, a former NFL participant who segued to appearing and appeared in TV sequence together with Orange Is the New Black, Justified and Lost and such movies as Pacific Rim and World Trade Center, has died. He was 56. His household mentioned Henke died in his sleep (*56*) 29, however no trigger was given.

Born on April 10, 1966, in Columbus, NE, and raised in Littleton, CO, Henke performed faculty soccer on the University of Arizona, the place he was crew captain and an All-Academic scholar journalist. Drafted by the New York Giants in 1989, he went on to play on the line of defense for the Denver Broncos and appeared in Super Bowl XXIV.

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After accidents pressured him to retire in 1994, Henke moved to Los Angeles to pursue teaching. An open name for “big guys” to do a industrial quickly led to a brand new profession. He started to attain visitor spots on such TV sequence as ER, Chicago Hope, Silk Stockings, Nash Bridges and Arli$$ and continued to work recurrently till this 12 months, racking up practically 100 credit.

The actor landed his first main recurring position on the 2000-02 WB Network comedy Nikki, starring Nikki Cox, and was solid as a lead reverse Sam Trammell in Showtime’s road-trip dramedy Going to California, which lasted one season.

Along with extra visitor roles on sequence together with CSI, Crossing Jordan and Judging Amy, Henke had small components in a variety of options through the early 2000s. He appeared in The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Must Love Dogs, The Zodiac, North Country, World Trade Center and Hollywoodland earlier than being solid on Showtime’s Dexter as Tony Tucci, a homicide suspect-turned-near-victim who recurred in 4 episodes.

Henke obtained his second series-regular position on ABC’s short-lived 2007 drama October Road.

After that, he guested on such sequence as Law & Order, Life on Mars and CSI: Miami earlier than being solid on ABC’s Lost as Bram, recurring on a half-dozen episodes in in 2009-10. Henke went on to play Coover Bennett in seven Season 2 episodes of FX’s Justified and did an arc on Fox’s 2011 Shawn Ryan drama The Chicago Code.

He additionally appeared within the characteristic Choke, which premiered on the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and shared a Special Jury Prize for its ensemble solid. Henke additionally did mid-2010s arcs on FX’s The Bridge and Prime Video’s Sneaky Pete. He then scored maybe his best-known position.

Henke was solid in Jenji Kohan’s Showtime dramedy Orange Is the New Black as Desi Piscatella, a homosexual corrections officer at Litchfield Federal Penitentiary. He appeared in additional than two dozen episodes from 2016-18 and shared a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2017. The solid was nominated once more the next 12 months.

Henke additionally recurred as Big John within the second season of Discovery’s Manhunt in 2020 and as Tom Cullen in CBS All Access’ The Stand in 2020-21. His different most up-to-date credit embody Law & Order: SVU and the 2022 movies Block Party and Run & Gun.

Henke is survived by his mom, Tammy; his sister, Annette; his spouse, Sonja; stepson Aaden; stepdaughter Leasa; and grandchild Amirah, a whole lot of associates, fellow actors, and college students. He was proceeded in loss of life by his father, Bill, to whom he paid tribute along with his skilled title.

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