Henry Rollins is best known as the frontman of the hardcore punk band Black Flag, but the musician and activist is also an actor. While he’s quite a prolific voice actor and has a few notable live-action roles, Rollins made a rare, memorable appearance in a procedural back in 2013, when he played a kidnapper and murderer in the reboot of “Hawaii Five-0.”
Rollins appears in the Season 3 episode “Ho’opio (To Take Captive)”. It follows the Hawaii Five-0 Task Force as they investigate the murder of a 17-year-old girl who went missing 10 years ago. They suspect that the death is connected to a 6-year-old who recently went missing. Eventually, they learn that Ray Beckett (Rollins) and his wife, Terry (Emmy-winning actress Mare Winningham), have been abducting children as a scheme to collect their social security benefits. The kids are then murdered before they turn 18.
Rollins is vile in the role, conveying a dangerous, despicable fury that he barely contains with a calm, smug demeanor. He so disgusts Danny Williams (Scott Caan) that the Five-0 second-in-command puts aside his badge so he can beat Ray up as punishment for the horrific crimes.
Rollins is best known on TV for his voice-acting roles
“Hawaii Five-0” is not Henry Rollins’ only live-action TV part. He plays white nationalist AJ Weston in “Sons of Anarchy” Season 2. He’s also been in front of the camera on shows like “Z Nation” and “Portlandia,” but it’s in cartoons where viewers most frequently encounter him.
Rollins has been doing voice acting for more than a quarter century, including of some of the best animated DC shows, among other projects. He’s voiced characters in “Batman Beyond,” “Teen Titans,” “Adventure Time,” “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” “Masters of the Universe: Revelation,” and “The Patrick Star Show.” Perhaps his most acclaimed role was in one of Nickelodeon’s best shows, “The Legend of Korra.” He played Zaheer, the greatest villain in the entire Avatar franchise.
“Anytime you get involved with any of those big animation jobs, it’s fun ’cause you’re around blinding talent. Those people get those jobs because they’re really great, and I’m the ham who sneaks in,” Rollins said of his voice acting experience in an interview with Collider. “I have no training in anything, except for sleeping late and procrastinating. I’m real good at that. But I’ve done a ton of TV and film and voice-over. I’m just working off of my 1979 high school graduation paradigm of, “‘Oh, no, I’ve got no plan.'” You wouldn’t know it listening to his characters.