Henny Russell

Henny Russell is an American actress whose Broadway career spans from 2001 to 2017, encompassing a range of dramatic productions alongside work in television and film. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, to a Norwegian mother, Russell grew up on the Northwest Side of the city as well as in Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights. She attended Prospect High School, where she began performing at the Goodman Theatre Young People's Drama Workshop alongside Jennifer Beals. She went on to earn a degree from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts and later received an MFA from the University of San Diego. Russell is married to actor R. Ward Duffy, and the couple resides in New York City.

Russell made her Broadway debut in 2001 in the Todd Haimes Theatre revival of Major Barbara. Over the following years she appeared in a succession of Broadway productions, including Impressionism, The Royal Family, Lombardi, The Other Place, The Winslow Boy, Machinal, and The Audience. Her most recognized stage work came with Oslo, in which she performed in both the off-Broadway and Broadway productions from 2016 to 2017. As a member of that cast, Russell received an Obie Award in 2017. In 2024, she played Barbara Fordham in The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis' production of August: Osage County.

Russell's television career began in 1997 with guest appearances on Silk Stalkings and Pensacola: Wings of Gold. She subsequently appeared in episodes of Law & Order, Gossip Girl, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Leftovers, Elementary, and Chicago Med. In 2018, she joined the sixth season of the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black, playing inmate Carol Denning. She later took on recurring roles in the crime drama Hightown and the drama series Three Women, and guest-starred in Blue Bloods, The Good Fight, FBI: Most Wanted, and The Other Two.

Russell's film credits include Corn (2004), Revolutionary Road (2008), You Don't Know Jack (2010), Kilimanjaro (2013), Freeheld (2015), and Bikini Moon (2017). In 2023, she appeared in a supporting role in the drama film The Magnificent Meyersons, opposite her Orange Is the New Black co-star Kate Mulgrew.