His mother, Iris Hensley, (née Antley), was a ballerina, and later, Founder and Artistic Director of the Georgia Ballet *[1]* Professional Company and school.

After attending a recital by Jessye Norman and being cast as Judge Turpin in a college production of Sweeney Todd, he decided to transfer after his second year to the Manhattan School of Music, where he majored in opera and graduated in 1989.

Hensley's stage career began in the early 1990s with roles such as Pitkin in On the Town, Joe in The Most Happy Fella, and Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, He has also sung in the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas Pirates of Penzance and Patience and in the operas Carmen, Faust, La bohème and Don Giovanni.

in London in 1998, as well as in the films Someone Like You, and Van Helsing, in the latter of which Hensley played Frankenstein's monster and also performed reference motion capture as Mr. Hyde.

[3] He also reprised the role in the United States national tour which also featured his former co-stars Roger Bart and Cory English.

[8] In April–May 2015, Hensley sang the role of the Celebrant in Leonard Bernstein's Mass, in a concert version with the Philadelphia Orchestra under conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.