Actor / Director Profile

Excellent, prolific and versatile character actor Gregg Lee Henry was born on May 6, 1952 in Lakewood, Colorado. Henry studied acting at the University of Washington in Seattle. Right after graduating from college, Greg moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue an acting career. He played in a band for three or four months and worked as an apprentice at the Old Globe theater in San Diego prior to getting his first television acting gig as Nick Nolte's son, Wesley Jordache, in "Rich Man, Poor Man - Book II" (1976). Henry's most memorable movie roles include nice guy drifter "Paul Ramsey" in Mean Dog Blues (1978), swaggering macho blowhard "Warren" in the superior backwoods slasher feature Just Before Dawn (1981), rugged ex-Navy Seal "Lt. Matt Ryder" in The Patriot (1986); splendidly slimy as Mel Gibson's back-stabbing, duplicitous partner "Val Resnick" in Payback (1999/I) and a hilarious scene-stealing turn as pompous good ol' boy small town mayor "Jack MacReady" in the delightful horror comedy Slither (2006). Gregg has acted in several films for director Brian De Palma; he's especially fine and impressive as the smarmy "Sam Bouchard" in Body Double (1984). Henry has recurring parts on the TV shows "Reasonable Doubts" (1991), "Gilmore Girls" (2000) and "The Riches" (2007). Among the numerous TV series he has done guest spots on are "The Love Boat" (1977), "Simon & Simon" (1981), "Remington Steele" (1982), "Airwolf" (1984), "Moonlighting" (1985), "Designing Women" (1986), "Magnum, P.I." (1980), "Falcon Crest" (1981), "Cagney & Lacey" (1981), "In the Heat of the Night" (1988), "L.A. Law" (1986), "Walker, Texas Ranger" (1993), "Matlock" (1986), "Chicago Hope" (1994), "Murder, She Wrote" (1984), "EZ Streets" (1996), "Family Law" (1999), "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2000), "Boston Public" (2000), "Firefly" (2002), "Star Trek: Enterprise" (2001), "Judging Amy" (1999) and "24" (2001). Moreover, Gregg has appeared in many made-for-TV pictures, with his supremely chilling and convincing portrayal of the infamous "Dennis Ryder" in The Hunt for the BTK Killer (2005) (TV) rating as a definite crowning achievement in this particular medium. Outside of his film and television work, Henry has acted on stage; he's won thirteen Drama Logue Awards, an L.A. Weekly Award, and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his stage work. Besides acting, Gregg is also a professional singer, songwriter (Dwight Yoakam recorded a single of his song "The Back of Your Hand"), and pianist who has recorded several albums. He's a good friend of fellow actor and musician, Bruce Greenwood. Gregg Henry lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife "Lisa James"; she's a noted director for the American Theater who Gregg has collaborated with on various stage productions as both an actor and producer.