Denis O'Hare as William van Henderson | AHS: Roanoke | FX

Denis O’Hare has established a strong presence in the industry as a skillful, in-demand character actor. 

O’Hare will also soon appear in the ABC mini-series When We Rise, where he will play “Jim Foster,” an openly gay Democratic Party organizer, alongside Guy Pearce, Rachel Griffiths and Mary-Louise Parker. Renowned for his work on stage and screen, O’Hare previously starred as “Elizabeth Taylor” in American Horror Story: Hotel along with Lady Gaga, Sarah Paulson, Angela Bassett and Kathy Bates. His performance as “Stanley” in the fourth installment, American Horror Story: Freak Show garnered him an Emmy® nomination for the role. Also under the direction of Ryan Murphy, O’Hare starred in the critically-acclaimed HBO telefilm, The Normal Heart, alongside Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, and Julia Roberts.

On television, he previously appeared in two seasons of the hit HBO series, True Blood, as “Russell Edgington.” Concurrently, O’Hare was also seen on television in his recurring roles of “Larry Harvey,” in the first installment of the FX series American Horror Story, for which he received an Emmy nomination, and “Judge Charles Abernathy” in the acclaimed CBS series, The Good Wife. O’Hare later returned to the third installment of American Horror Story: Coven as “Spalding,” the faithful butler of Miss Robichaux’s Academy. O’Hare’s additional television credits include roles on The Comedians, Brothers and Sisters, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI: Miami, Bored to Death, Law & Order, and 100 Centre Street.

On screen, O’Hare joined the cast of Dallas Buyers Club and appeared in the independent feature, C.O.G., directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez. Additionally, he starred in two horror pictures — The Town That Dreaded Sundown and The Pyramid. He will next be seen as the Archbishop in Margaret Betts’ Novitiate, an indie coming-of-age drama starring Melissa Leo, Dianna Agron and Margaret Qualley. The early 1960s drama centers on Sister Cathleen, who starts to question her Catholic faith as she trains to become a nun. Other film credits include Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar and Kevin MacDonald’s The Eagle, Edge of Darkness, The Proposal, Duplicity, An Englishman in New York, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Milk, Quarantine, Changeling, Baby Mama, Pretty Bird, War, Awake, The Babysitters, Michael Clayton, Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot, A Mighty Heart, Rocket Science, Half Nelson, Stephanie Daley, Derailed, Heights, Garden State, Alejandro González-Iñárritu’s 21 Grams, 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. O’Hare made his Broadway debut in 1995 in Racing Demon. He 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. O’Hare also starred as the Baker in the musical, Into the Woods, as well as in the Off-Broadway production of An Iliad, a one-man stage retelling of Homer’s famous poem, which he co-authored with Lisa Peterson, for which he earned an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, an Obie Award for Special Citation, a Patrick Lee Theater Bloggers Award for Outstanding Solo Show/Performance, as well as Drama Desk and Drama League Award nominations. 

Among his other theatrical credits include Elling, Inherit the Wind, 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. 

Denis O’Hare currently resides in New York City.