Denis O'Hare Biography

Denis Patrick Seamus O'Hare (born January 16, 1962) is an American actor noted for his award winning performances in Take Me Out and Sweet Charity as well as the HBO television show True Blood. He is also known for his supporting roles in the films Charlie Wilson's War, Changeling and Milk. In 2011 he starred as Larry Harvey in the FX series American Horror Story and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.

Early life and education

Denis O'Hare was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, living in Southfield until he was 15, when his family moved to Wing Lake in Bloomfield Hills. His mother is a musician and he grew up playing the church organ.

As a teenager, O'Hare was in his school's choir and in 1974 he went to his first audition, gaining a chorus part in a community theatre production of Show Boat.

In 1980, O'Hare left Detroit for Chicago to study theatre at Northwestern University.

Career

O'Hare won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out, where his character's lengthy monologues in which he slowly falls in love with the game of baseball were considered the main reason for his award. He won the 2005 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for his role as Oscar Lindquist in the Broadway revival of Sweet Charity.

In 2004 he played Charles J. Guiteau in the Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins, for which he was nominated for the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Tony Award. He lost to co-star Michael Cerveris who played John Wilkes Booth. Before appearing in those shows, he appeared on Broadway in the 1998 revival of Cabaret, in which he played Ernst Ludwig onstage and the clarinet in the show's orchestra, the "Kit Kat Band".

O'Hare was featured in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Saint Maybe. He has appeared as a guest star on several episodes of Law & Order and its spin-offs, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In 2008, he has appeared as a guest star on several episodes of Brothers & Sisters. His feature film credits include The Anniversary Party, 21 Grams, Garden State, Derailed, Michael Clayton, A Mighty Heart, Half Nelson, Milk, Edge of Darkness, Charlie Wilson's War and Changeling.

In 2009, O'Hare portrayed Phillip Steele (an amalgam character based on Quentin Crisp's friends Phillip Ward and Tom Steele) in a television biopic on Crisp entitled An Englishman in New York. The same year he played therapist Dr. David Worth in the series Bored to Death (episode 1.3).

In 2010, O'Hare joined the cast of HBO's True Blood in its third season as Russell Edgington, the vampire king of Mississippi who is 2,800 years old. In 2011, he appeared in the film The Eagle as a Roman officer named Lutorius. Recently he has appeared in a recurring role as Judge Charles Abernathy on the television drama series The Good Wife. O'Hare co-stared as Larry Harvey in FX's American Horror Story.

In 2012, O'Hare starred alongside Amy Adams and Donna Murphy as the Baker in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods at The Public Theater. The production played at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, NYC from July 23 to September 1, 2012.

In July 2013, it was announced that O'Hare would be in American Horror Story: Coven.

Personal life

O'Hare is of Irish descent and holds an Irish passport.

O'Hare came out as gay while a student at Brother Rice High School (Michigan).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	St. Patrick's Day	Russell
1998	River Red	Father
1999	Sweet and Lowdown	Jake
2001	The Anniversary Party	Ryan Rose
2001	21 Grams	Dr. Rothberg
2004	Garden State	Albert
2005	Derailed	Jerry the Lawyer
2005	Heights	Andrew
2006	Half Nelson	Jimbo
2007	Rocket Science	Doyle Hefner
2007	A Mighty Heart	John Bussey
2007	American Loser	Mike
2007	Michael Clayton	Mr. Greer
2007	The Babysitters	Stan Lyner
2007	Awake	Financial News Analyst
2007	Charlie Wilson's War	Harold Holt
2007	Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot	Mike
2008	Pretty Bird	Chuck
2008	Baby Mama	Dr. Manheim
2008	Changeling	Dr. Jonathan Steele
2008	Quarantine	Randy
2008	Milk	State Senator John Briggs	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Nominated-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2009	The Proposal	Mr. Gilbertson
2009	Duplicity	Duke Monahan
2009	An Englishman in New York	Phillip Stele
2009	Brief Interviews with Hideous Men	Subject #3
2010	Edge of Darkness	Moore
2011	The Eagle	Lutorius
2011	J. Edgar	Albert S. Osborn
2013	C.O.G.	Jon
2013	Dallas Buyers Club		filming
2014	The Normal Heart		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Law & Order	Harold Morrissey	Episode: "Volunteers"
1993	The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	Keating	Episode: "Paris, May 1919"
1994	New York Undercover	Carson	Episode: "Sins of the Father"
1995	The Wright Verdicts	Doyle	Episode: "Unlucky Star"
1996	Law & Order	James Smith	Episode: "Pro Se"
1997	Law & Order	Phil Christie	Episode: "Nullification"
1998	Saint Maybe	Reverend Emmett	Television movie
2000	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Jimmy Walp	Episode: "The Third Guy"
2000	Hamlet	Osric	Television movie
2001-2002	100 Centre Street	Lou	3 episodes
2003	Law & Order	Father Hogan	Episode: "Under God"
2005	Once Upon a Mattress	Prince Dauntless	Television movie
2006	Justice	Larry Bowers	Episode: "Death Spiral"
2007	American Experience	Henry Lee	Episode: "Alexander Hamilton"
2007	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Tom Michaels	Episode: "Who and What?"
2007-2009	Brothers & Sisters	Travis March	12 episodes
2008	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Father Shea	Episode: "Last Rites"
2009	Bored to Death	Dr. David Worth	Episode: "The Case of the Missing Screenplay"
2009-2013	The Good Wife	Judge Charles Abernathy	7 episodes
2009-2010	CSI: Miami	Evan Talbot	3 episodes
2010	American Experience	Benjamin Latrobe	Episode: "Dolly Madison"
2010-2012	True Blood	Russell Edgington	20 episodes
2011	American Horror Story: Murder House	Larry Harvey	8 episodes Nominated-Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
2013	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Father Shea	Episode: "Presumed Guilty"
2013	American Horror Story: Coven	Spalding

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Hauptmannn	Richard Hauptmann
1995	Racing Demon	Ewan Gilmour
1998-2004	Cabaret	Ernst Ludwig
2001	Major Barbara	Adolphus Cusins
2003-2004	Take Me Out	Mason Marzac	Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
2004	Assassins	Charles Guiteau	Nominated-Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical
2005	Sweet Charity	Oscar Lindquist	Nominated-Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
2007	Inherit the Wind	E. K. Hornbeck
2010	Elling	Elling
2012	Into the Woods	The Baker

Awards

Won

• 2003 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Featured Actor in a Broadway Play (Take Me Out)
• 2003 Clarence Derwent Award Most Promising Male Performer (Take Me Out)
• 2003 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Take Me Out)
• 2003 Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Featured Actor (Take Me Out)
• 2003 Obie Award Outstanding Performance (Take Me Out)
• 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Take Me Out)
• 2003 Tony Award Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play (Take Me Out)
• 2005 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Sweet Charity)

Nominated

• 1993 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Play (Hauptmann)
• 2003 Drama League Award Distinguished Performance (Take Me Out)
• 2004 Drama League Award Distinguished Performance (Assassins)
• 2004 Tony Award Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Assassins)
• 2005 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Featured Actor in a Musical (Sweet Charity)
• 2005 Broadway.com Audience Award Favorite Onstage Pair (Sweet Charity)
• 2005 Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Sweet Charity)
• 2006 Drama League Award Distinguished Performance (Sweet Charity)
• 2007 Drama League Award Distinguished Performance (Inherit the Wind and A Spanish Play)
• 2012 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie (American Horror Story)