Bio
Denis O'Hare is an American actor best known for his starring role as Russell Edgington, the vampire king of Mississippi, in the television horror series True Blood.
He also starred as Larry Harvey in the first season of the horror anthology series American Horror Story, in 2011.
Equally versatile on both stage and screen, O'Hare has established a strong presence in the industry as a skillful, in-demand character actor.
O'Hare was also seen on television in his recurring roles of Judge Charles Abernathy in the CBS series The Good Wife and Russell Edgington, the Vampire King of Mississippi, in the HBO hit series True Blood.
O'Hare's additional television credits include roles on Brothers and Sisters, CSI: Miami, Bored to Death, Law & Order and 100 Centre Street.
On the big screen, O'Hare was seen opposite Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell and Donald Sutherland in Kevin MacDonald's The Eagle, a film which tells the story of a young Roman officer searching to recover the lost Roman eagle standard of his father's legion in the north of Britain. He also appeared in Clint Eastwood's directorial effort, J. Edgar.
His additional film credits include roles in Edge of Darkness, with Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone and Danny Huston; Pete Chiarelli's The Proposal, with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds; Duplicity, with Julia Roberts, Clive Owen and Tom Wilkinson; Richard Laxton's An Englishman in New York; Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, based on the best-selling short stories by David Foster Wallace; Milk, opposite Sean Penn, Josh Brolin and Emile Hirsch; Quarantine; Changeling, opposite Angelina Jolie; Baby Mama, with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler; Pretty Bird; Charlie Wilson's War, opposite Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts; Charlie Wilson's War; Awake; The Babysitters, opposite John Leguizamo and Cynthia Nixon; The Babysitters, opposite John Leguizamo and Cynthia Nixon; Tony Gilroy's legal thriller Michael Clayton, opposite George Clooney and Tilda Swinton; Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot; Michael Winterbottom's A Mighty Heart opposite Angelina Jolie; Rocket Science; Half Nelson; Stephanie Daley, with Tilda Swinton and Timothy Hutton; Derailed, opposite Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston; Heights; Zach Braff's Garden State; 21 Grams, with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn; Sweet and Lowdown; River Red; and St. Patrick's Day.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, O'Hare was raised in Southfield, Michigan, prior to his graduation from Northwestern University. He spent 12 years as a stage actor in Chicago before moving to New York in 1992.
After acting in numerous regional and Off-Broadway productions, O'Hare made his Broadway debut in 1995 in David Hare's Racing Demon, directed by the esteemed Richard Eyre.
O'Hare soon returned to the Great White Way in the Tony Award-winning revival of Cabaret, directed by Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall, before landing the role of Cusins in George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara, directed by Daniel Sullivan.
O'Hare's additional Broadway credits include Inherit the Wind, with Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy; Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out, for which his role of Mason Marzac earned him the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Obie, Lucille Lortel and Broadway.com Audience awards for Best Featured Actor in a Play; Assassins, for which he earned a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical; and Sweet Charity, for which he earned a Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, a nomination for the Outer Critics Circle Award, and two Broadway.com Audience Awards.
O'Hare currently resides in New York City.