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Lance Henriksen

Born in New York, Henriksen studied at the Actors Studio and began his career Off Broadway in Eugene O'Neill's Three Plays of the Sea. One of his first film appearances was for director Sidney Lumet in Dog Day Afternoon, followed by Lumet's Network and Prince of the City. Henriksen then appeared in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind with Richard Dreyfuss and Francois Truffaut, Damien: Omen II and director Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff, in which Henriksen portrayed Mercury astronaut Lieutenant Commander Walter Schirra Jr.

James Cameron cast Henriksen in his first directorial effort, Piranha Part Two: The Spawning, followed by The Terminator, and he next featured him as the android 'Bishop' in the sci-fi classic, Aliens. Director Sam Raimi cast the actor in The Quick and the Dead opposite Russell Crowe, Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman.

Henriksen's additional feature credits include Kathryn Bigelow's cult vampire film Near Dark, Jagged Edge, Pumpkinhead, The Horror Show, Survival Quest, director Walter Hill's Johnny Handsome, The Pit and the Pendulum, writer/director Bruce Robinson's Jennifer Eight, Alien3, director Richard Rush's Color of Night, Powder, writer/director Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, Disney's animated feature Tarzan and director John Woo's first American film, Hard Target, for which Henriksen received a Saturn Award as Best Supporting Actor.

Henriksen starred for three seasons (1996-1999) on Millennium, Fox-TV's critically acclaimed series created by Chris Carter (The X-Files). Henriksen's performance as Frank Black, a retired FBI agent who has the ability to get inside the minds of killers, garnered three consecutive Golden Globe* nominations for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Drama Series and a People's Choice Award nomination for Favorite New TV Male Star. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment recently released the first season of Millennium on DVD.

Henriksen was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in the TNT original film The Day Lincoln Was Shot, and he had starring roles in PBS' Emmy-winning Dark End of the Street and HBO's Tales from the Crypt, Cutting Cards and Yellow. Henriksen also played Charles Bronson in the television movie Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story. He recently completed the TNT Original movie, Evel Knievel, directed by John Badham and executive-produced by Mel Gibson.

In addition to his work as an actor, Henriksen is an accomplished painter and potter. His talent as a ceramist has enabled him to create some of the most unusual ceramic artworks available on the art market today.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2004.
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Lance Henriksen Facts

OccupationActor
BirthdayMay 5, 1940 (83)
SignTaurus
BirthplaceNew York, New York, USA
Height5' 10" (1m78)  How tall is Lance Henriksen compared to you?

Selected Filmography

Alien Rising
Daylight's End
Aliens
The Terminator
Alien Anthology
RiffTrax: Stone Cold
Spitfire
The Penitent Man
Tarzan
Alien Vs. Predator
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