Stephen McKinley Henderson
Personal details
  • Born:
    • Birthday: 1949-08-31
    • Born Place: Kansas City, Missouri, USA

Stephen McKinley Henderson

Stephen McKinley Henderson is a highly respected American character actor with a distinguished career across film, television, and, most notably, the theatre. Born on August 31, 1949, he is considered one of the foremost interpreters of the work of playwright August Wilson.Henderson trained at the Juilliard School and Purdue University, and is a veteran of the stage, having performed in numerous regional, Off-Broadway, and Broadway productions. He made his Broadway debut in Wilson's King Hedley II in 2001 and is acclaimed for his performances in Wilson's "Century Cycle," having acted in eight of the ten plays. He received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for the 2010 revival of Wilson's Fences, co-starring with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, a role he reprised in the 2016 film adaptation. In a later career highlight, he earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play for his starring role as Walter "Pops" Washington in Stephen Adly Guirgis's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Between Riverside and Crazy, a role he originated Off-Broadway, for which he also won an Obie Award.His film career includes memorable supporting roles in major features such as Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012) as William Slade, Manchester by the Sea (2016), Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird (2017) as Father Leviatch, and the sci-fi epic Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024), where he played the Mentat Thufir Hawat. On television, he is recognized for recurring roles on series like Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and for his work on the HBO series The Newsroom and the Alex Garland limited series Devs. He continues to be a prolific and versatile performer, with recent film credits including Causeway (2022), Beau Is Afraid (2023), and Civil War (2024).

Person History