Brad William Henke (April 10, 1966 – November 29, 2022) was an American actor and

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

player. He was best known for his role as Corrections Officer Desi Piscatella on ''

Orange Is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Wo ...

'', for which he won the

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast (or Ensemble) in a Comedy Series is an award given by the Screen Actors Guild to honor the finest ensemble acting achievements in comedy series. Winners and nominees 1990s 20 ...

in 2016.

Early life and education

Henke was born in

Columbus, Nebraska Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Platte County, in the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. The population was 22,111 at the 2010 census. It is the 10th largest city in Nebraska, with 24,028 people as of the 2020 censu ...

. He attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

and played football as a defensive lineman.

Career

Football career

Henke was drafted by the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

in the 1989 NFL Draft but got cut during training camp. He was picked up by the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

, and he played in Super Bowl XXIV against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. Repeated injuries, which required six ankle surgeries, led to his retirement from professional football in 1994.

Acting

Henke began acting in 1994, starting with commercials. He appeared in '' October Road'', '' Around June'', ''

The Amateurs ''The Amateurs'', originally called ''The Moguls'', is a 2005 comedy film written and directed by Michael Traeger and starring Jeff Bridges. The story revolves around six friends in a small town in the United States who decide to make a full-len ...

'', ''

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

'', ''

In the Valley of Elah ''In the Valley of Elah'' is a 2007 American crime drama film written and directed by Paul Haggis. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon. Its title refers to the Biblical valley where the battle between David and Go ...

'', '' Choke'', ''

Sherrybaby ''Sherrybaby'' is a 2006 American Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Laurie Collyer. Screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2006, the film received a limited release in the United States on September 8, ...

'', ''

Must Love Dogs ''Must Love Dogs'' is a 2005 American romantic comedy film based on Claire Cook's 2002 novel of the same name. Starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, it is the second film directed and written by Gary David Goldberg and was produced on a budget of ...

'' and '' Fury''. His television career includes roles in '' Arliss'', '' ER'', ''

Dexter Dexter may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Dexter, the main character of the American animated series ''Dexter's Laboratory'' that aired from 1996 to 2003 * Dexter, a fictional character in the British Diary of a Bad Man#Main, web series ''Diar ...

'', ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'', '' Justified'', ''

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series of ...

'', ''

,'' ''

Sneaky Pete ''Sneaky Pete'' is an American crime drama series created by David Shore and Bryan Cranston. The series follows Marius Josipović (Giovanni Ribisi), a released convict who adopts the identity of his cellmate, Pete Murphy, to avoid his past life. ...

'', and ''

MacGyver Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot. In both po ...

'' (2016)''. Henke's breakout role has been on ''Orange Is the New Black'' as

Desi Piscatella ''Orange Is the New Black'' is an American comedy-drama series, created by Jenji Kohan and airing on Netflix. Set in the fictional Litchfield Correctional Facility, a women's Federal prison, it has featured a diverse ensemble of recurring or min ...

, a gay

corrections officer A prison officer or corrections officer is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation of prisoners. They are responsible for the care, custody, and control of individuals who have been ...

at Litchfield Federal Penitentiary. He joined ''OITNB'' in the fourth season. He was part of the cast that won the

for

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Personal life and death

Henke was married to actress Katelin Chesna from 2001 to 2008. In an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

post dated May 15, 2021, Henke stated that he had a 90% blockage of his artery. In another post dated June 29, 2021, he stated that he had two

stent In medicine, a stent is a metal or plastic tube inserted into the lumen of an anatomic vessel or duct to keep the passageway open, and stenting is the placement of a stent. A wide variety of stents are used for different purposes, from expandab ...

s put in his heart, as well as his spleen and half of his pancreas removed, to treat a "golf ball sized" tumor. Henke died in his sleep on November 29, 2022, at the age of 56.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Henke, Brad William 1966 births 2022 deaths American male film actors American male television actors Male actors from Nebraska People from Columbus, Nebraska Arizona Wildcats football players Denver Broncos players Fort Worth Cavalry players 21st-century American male actors American football defensive ends Players of American football from Nebraska