Brad William Henke, who was a defensive end in the NFL before embarking on an acting career with television series like Lost, Justified and Orange is the new black, has passed away. He was 56.
That’s what Henke’s agent Sheree Cohen told The Hollywood Reporter that the artist passed away in his sleep on Tuesday. The cause of death was not given.
He played jailer Desi Piscatella on Netflix Orange is the new black about seasons four and five. Henke was one of the co-stars of the series who received the 2016 Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Casting in a Comedy.
Other prominent recurring television roles included Bram on ABC’s LostCoover Bennett on FXs Justified and Brendon on Prime Videos Secret Pete. High-profile film credits included Maggie Gyllenhaal’s brother Sherry baby (2006), Sam Rockwell’s best friend Choking (2008) and a staff sergeant alongside Brad Pitt in Fury (2014).
Born April 10, 1966 in Columbus, Nebraska, Henke was a defensive lineman for the University of Arizona football team and was drafted to the NFL by the New York Giants in 1989. Picked up by the Denver Broncos for his rookie year, he played in Super Bowl XXIV—he was 6-foot-4 and 290 pounds in his prime—before his football career was cut short due to injuries.
He started acting in commercials, thanks to a recommendation from former NFL player Rod Martin. “Rod said there was a need for actors to play football players for commercials, so I tried it out and bought one for Pizza Hut,” Henke told the Citizen of Tucson in 1998.” While I was there, a man invited me to an acting class. I went and it dawned on me that this is what I wanted to do.
This led to a successful career with numerous credits, including recurring credits Nash bridges, Review Amy, Right and The bridgeand a series regular appearance on ABC’s October gone. Moreover, he appeared on such prominent shows as ER, Law & authority, Shameless, The office and Hawaii Five-0.
Henke’s other movies included Must love dogs (2005), World Trade Centre (2006), Hollywoodland (2006), Jobs (2013), Divide (2016) and Bright (2017). He also acted in a number of sports-themed projects, namely the 1996 movies Space Jam and The ventilator and that of 2014 draft day.
He continued the landing work in recent years with 2020 miniseries The score and a 2022 episode of Law & Order: special unit for victimsplus the comedy movie Block party which was released in June.
