Henriksen was born on May 5, 1940, in Manhattan, New York. His father, James Henriksen, was a Norwegian merchant sailor and boxer nicknamed "Icewater" who spent most of his life at sea, while his mother, Margueritte Werner, struggled to find work as a dance instructor, waitress and model.[2][3][4] His parents divorced when he was two years old, and his mother struggled to raise him and his brother Walter, leading to his spending part of his childhood in foster care.[5][6] During an interview, Henriksen recounted how, at the age of seven, his mother handed him his birth certificate and said, "You'll always know who you are", then pushed him out of his home. Henriksen did not actually leave home until he was 12, saying he'd "had enough" of his home life, and that he had been physically assaulted by multiple family members: "I got bludgeoned a lot. Different people, relatives. I remember every single face from my childhood. My alcoholic uncles, whoever. I'm not having a pity party here; I'm not Quasimodo. That's just how it was".[7] On another occasion, two of his uncles tried to persuade him to take Methadrine and then take part in a staged car accident for the insurance money.[6]
Growing up, Henriksen had a reputation for getting into trouble in the various schools he attended, and even spent time in a children's home. He left school after completing first grade, and was illiterate until the age of 30.[8] Henriksen served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, attaining the rank of Petty Officer Third Class.[9][10] He later served with the U.S. Merchant Marine.[9][10]
Career
Henriksen found work as a muralist[clarification needed] and as a laborer on ships. For a time, he worked in Europe[vague]. His first theater work, around age 30, was as set designer, and he received his first acting role because he built the set for a production. Illiterate until then, it was around this time that he taught himself to read.[8] For his first role, he put the entire script to tape with the help of a friend, learning everyone's part in addition to his own.[11] Soon afterward, he graduated from the Actors Studio and began acting in New York City.[12]
Henriksen played the android Bishop in Cameron's film Aliens (1986), and as Bishop's designer Michael Weyland in Alien 3 (1992).[15] He also played Charles Bishop Weyland, the man upon whom Bishop was based, in Alien vs. Predator (2004). Along with Bill Paxton, Henriksen is the only actor whose characters got killed by the Terminator, the Alien and the Predator. He played the vampire leader Jesse Hooker in Kathryn Bigelow's cult film Near Dark.[13]
In 1996, Henriksen starred in the television series Millennium, created and produced by Chris Carter, the creator of The X-Files. Henriksen played Frank Black, a former FBI agent who possessed a unique ability to see into the minds of killers. Carter created the role specifically for the actor.[17] His performances on Millennium earned him critical acclaim, a People's Choice Award nomination for Favorite New Male TV Star, and three consecutive Golden Globe nominations for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series (1997–1999). The series was cancelled in 1999. On television, Henriksen appeared in the ensemble of Into the West (2005), a miniseries executive-produced by Steven Spielberg. He appeared in a Brazilian soap opera, Caminhos do Coração (Ways of the Heart) from Rede Record, aired in 2007–2008. Henriksen guest-starred on a Season 6 episode of NCIS (2009) playing an Arizona sheriff, and appeared in a recurring role as The Major on NBC's The Blacklist.
In the years after Millennium, Henriksen has become an active voice actor, lending his distinctive voice to a number of animated features and video game titles. In Disney'sTarzan (1999) and its direct-to-video followup, he is Kerchak, the ape who serves as Tarzan's surrogate father. He provided the voice for the alien supervillain Brainiac in Superman: Brainiac Attacks (2006) and for the character Mulciber in Godkiller (2009). Henriksen is the voice of the character Molov in the video game Red Faction II (2002) and has also contributed to GUN (2005), Run Like Hell (2002), the canceled title Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2004),[18] and the role-playing game Mass Effect (2007) as Admiral Hackett of the Human Systems Alliance. Henriksen was also the voice behind PlayStation 3's internet promotional videos.
He starred in a 2003 series of Australian television commercials for Visa, titled Unexplained (about the raining of fish from the sky[19] over Norfolk) and Big Cats (about the Beast of Bodmin Moor). In these commercials, Henriksen speaks as a Frank Black-type character about these phenomena as Mark Snow-inspired mysterious music plays in the background, as a link to Henriksen's TV series Millennium. Unexplained went on to a gold world medal at the 2004 New York Festivals.
In January 2015, he was signed for the lead in the indie thrillerMonday at 11:01 A.M.[22] In 2016, he starred in the feature film Deserted, a psychological thriller.[23] Henriksen played the role of Hopper.[16]
In 2018, Henriksen performed motion capture and vocal performance for the character of Carl Manfred in the video game Detroit: Become Human. The game's plot involves androids gaining sentience and free will, topics explored briefly with Henriksen's Bishop character in Aliens.
In October 2018, Henriksen was signed for one of the two leads in Falling, the directorial debut of actor Viggo Mortensen, who also wrote, produced and co-starred.[24] Reviewing the film's 2020 premiere, The Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore noted not only the quality of Henriksen's performance, but the opportunity Mortensen's script presented: "[F]ew moviegoers who've enjoyed him over the years will be surprised, but many will resent that we, and he, have waited so long for a role like this."[25]
In 2022, Henriksen was cast in the upcoming American horror film, Awaken the Reaper.[27] The film is currently shooting in New York and slated for a 2024 release date. It is directed by Justin Paul[28] and Dave Campfield and produced by Fourth Horizon Cinema, Impact Media Studios and Design Weapons.[29]
Henriksen has been married three times. He was married to Mary Jane Evans from 1985 to 1989 and to Jane Pollack from 1995 to 2006.[citation needed]
Henriksen has four children; three with Pollack and one with Lunde. Henriksen currently resides in Tumwater, Washington.
Art
Henriksen continues to produce art. He worked as a muralist before he became an actor, and he has worked with clay since 1960. In September 2017, Henriksen set up a website to showcase and find homes for some of his most recent clay works. He "still believes that there is nothing as simple and beautiful as raw clay... And that Potters have the remaining soul of the nomads...always searching...."
To Hell You Ride (five-issue comic book from Dark Horse Comics) (2012) – Lance Henriksen and Joseph Maddrey (co-authors) with Tom Mandrake (artist); a motion-comic video was also made by Dark Horse Comics) (2012) – Lance Henriksen and Joseph Maddrey (co-authors), Tom Mandrake (artist), Lance Henriksen (narrator), TKU: Tecamachalco Underground (Cesar Gallegos/Mateo Latosa) (musical score)
Notes
^Identified as "Bowser" in production notes, and "Reznor" in comic continuation.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrs"Lance Henriksen (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved October 1, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
