Henriksen found work as a muralist and as a laborer on ships. For a time, he worked in Europe. Around age 30, he found theater work as a set designer, and he received his first acting role because he built the set for a production. It was around this time that he taught himself to read. Soon afterward, he graduated from the
Actors Studio and began acting in New York City. Henriksen's first film appearance was in
The Outsider in 1961, as an uncredited extra. He received his first credit in his second film, 1972's ''
It Ain't Easy.
He auditioned for the role of Leon Shermer in Dog Day Afternoon'' (1975), but received the smaller part of an FBI agent that kills
John Cazale's character. He appeared in two more films directed by
Sidney Lumet:
Network (1976) and
Prince of the City (1981). The role ultimately went to
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Henriksen does appear in the film as Hal Vukovich, a Detective in the
Los Angeles Police Department. Henriksen played the android
Bishop in Cameron's film
Aliens (1986), and as Bishop's designer Michael Weyland in
Alien 3 (1992). He also played Charles Bishop Weyland, the man upon whom Bishop was based, in
Alien vs. Predator (2004).
Bill Paxton and Henriksen are the only actors whose characters were killed by
the Terminator, the
Alien, and the
Predator. He played the vampire leader Jesse Hooker in
Kathryn Bigelow's cult film
Near Dark. He portrayed gunfighters in the Westerns
Dead Man and
The Quick and the Dead, and appeared with British actor
Bruce Payne in
Aurora: Operation Intercept in 1995. That year, he also played Sheriff Doug Barnum in the film
Powder. 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 canceled 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. 2008,
Atlanta, Georgia 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's
Tarzan (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), 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. In 2005, Henriksen was the voice of
Andrei Rublev in
Cartoon Network's
IGPX. The actor lent his voice to the animated television series
Transformers: Animated as the character
Lockdown. In 2009, Henriksen voiced Lieutenant General Shepherd in the award-winning game
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. He later provided the voice Karl Bishop Weyland in
Aliens vs. Predator; also, this character's appearance resembles Henriksen's. Henriksen voiced Master Gnost-Dural in
Star Wars: The Old Republic, and he also reprised his role as Admiral Hackett in
Mass Effect 3. Henriksen reprised his role as Bishop in
Aliens: Colonial Marines. He starred in a 2003 series of Australian television commercials for
Visa, titled
Unexplained (about the raining of fish from the sky 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. He made a cameo appearance in the 2009 horror comedy ''
Jennifer's Body, and starred in the After Dark Horrorfest film Scream of the Banshee'', released in 2011. He played Henry Gale in Leigh Scott's
The Witches of Oz. In January 2015, he was signed for the lead in the
indie thriller Monday at 11:01 am In 2016, he starred in the feature film
Deserted, a psychological thriller. Henriksen played the role of Hopper. 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. Reviewing the film's 2020 premiere,
The Hollywood Reporters 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." He received a
Canadian Screen Award nomination for
Best Actor at the
9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021, for his performance in
Falling. In 2022, Henriksen was cast in the upcoming American horror film,
Awaken the Reaper. The film is currently shooting in New York and slated for a 2024 release date. It is directed by Justin Paul and
Dave Campfield and produced by Fourth Horizon Cinema, Impact Media Studios and Design Weapons. == Personal life ==