Nick Sandow

Of Italian descent,^[1][3] Sandow grew up in the Italian neighborhood of Van Nest in the Bronx.^[4][5] He moved to Manhattan around age 19 to study acting under William Esper Studio in the Two-Year Professional Actor Training Program and work in theater.^[6][5][1]

Sandow made his debut appearing in an episode of television series Law & Order in 1992 and worked as a bartender while taking small acting jobs in New York City.^[1] He appeared in a number of films, such as Grind (1997), A Brooklyn State of Mind (1998), Return to Paradise (1998) and On the Run (1999). Sandow performed in the 1999 off-Broadway production of Halfway Home.^[7] He played mobster Henry Hill in the 2001 made-for-television crime drama film, The Big Heist. Sandow guest-starred on New York Undercover, Third Watch, NYPD Blue, Boardwalk Empire, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, How to Make It in America and Blue Bloods.^[6] He began his directing career in theater on Off-Off-Broadway directing Dark Yellow, Chicken and From Riverdale to Riverhead.^[8] In 2011 he directed the immigrant drama film, Ponies based on play with the same name.^[9]

In 2013, Sandow was cast in the Netflix comedy-drama series, Orange Is the New Black, as prison administrator Joe Caputo, was originally supposed to have been for a handful of episodes for the show's first season. Instead, his role was expanded during the second season, and Sandow was made a series regular with the start of the third season.^[6][10] He received three Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series with the cast.^[2] In 2015 he wrote, directed and acted in The Wannabe. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and later got a wider release.^[6] In 2017 he received News and Documentary Emmy Awards nomination for producing the documentary series, Time: The Kalief Browder Story.^[11] In 2021 he was regular cast member in the short-lived CBS crime drama series, Clarice.