Nick Sandow

Nick Sandow born August 3 1966 is an American character actor writer producer and director best known for his role as Joe Caputo in the Netflix comedydrama series Orange Is the New Black 20132019 Of Italian descent Sandow grew up in the Italian neighborhood of Van Nest in the BronxHe moved to Manhattan around age 19 to study acting under William Esper Studio in the TwoYear Professional Actor Training Program and work in theater 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 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 offBroadway production of Halfway Home He played mobster Henry Hill in the 2001 madefortelevision crime drama film The Big Heist Sandow gueststarred 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 He began his directing career in theater on OffOffBroadway directing Dark Yellow Chicken and From Riverdale to Riverhead In 2011 he directed the immigrant drama film Ponies based on play with the same name In 2013 Sandow was cast in the Netflix comedydrama series Orange Is the New Black as prison administrator Joe Caputo was originally supposed to have been for a handful of episodes for the shows 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 He received three Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series with the cast In 2015 he wrote directed and acted in The Wannabe The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and later got a wider release In 2017 he received News and Documentary Emmy Awards nomination for producing the documentary series Time The Kalief Browder Story In 2021 he was regular cast member in the shortlived CBS crime drama series Clarice