Nick Sandow

Nick Sandow is an American character actor, writer, producer, and director whose career spans over three decades, beginning in the early 1990s after he moved from the Bronx to Manhattan to train at the William Esper Studio. Born on August 3, 1966, in the Bronx, New York City, he grew up in the Italian‑rich neighborhood of Van Nest, a background that later informed many of his gritty, authentic performances. His first television appearance came in a 1992 episode of Law & & Order, while he supported himself by bartending and taking small acting jobs throughout New York City. Sandow quickly built a solid résumé of film roles, appearing in Grind (1997), A Brooklyn State of Mind (1998), Return to Paradise (1998) and On the Run (1999), and he also earned stage credibility with an off‑Broadway turn in Halfway Home in 1999. In 2001 he portrayed mobster Henry Hill in the TV movie The Big Heist, and he subsequently guest‑starred on well‑known series such as Third Watch, NYPD Blue, Boardwalk Empire, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, How to Make It in America and Blue Bloods. Parallel to his acting, Sandow began directing theater productions, including Dark Yellow and Chicken, and in 2011 he directed the immigrant drama film Ponies, adapted from the stage play of the same name. His breakthrough came when he was cast as prison administrator Joe Caputo on Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black (2013‑2019), a role initially intended for only a few episodes but expanded to a series regular, earning him three SAG Awards as part of the ensemble. In 2015 he wrote, directed and starred in The Wannabe, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and in 2017 he received an Emmy nomination for producing the documentary series Time: The Kalief Browder Story. Most recently, Sandow appeared as a regular cast member on the CBS crime drama Clarice in 2021, continuing his versatile presence in both screen and stage projects.