Bradley is best known for playing the role of Pinhead, the lead Cenobite in the first eight Hellraiser films, as well as Captain Elliot Spencer in two of the films, ' and '. He is one of only six actors to play the same horror character at least six consecutive times, the others being Christopher Lee, Robert Englund, Warwick Davis, Brad Dourif and Tobin Bell. Due to his eventual skill at application and removal of the Pinhead appliances and costume, he has been credited in some of the Hellraiser films as an assistant make-up artist named Bill Bradley, using his middle name. Bradley appeared as a gym teacher in an advertisement for Direct Line insurance in the UK. He has performed narrations on several songs by Cradle of Filth, an English extreme metal band. The first was 2000's "Her Ghost in the Fog", as well as "Death Magick For Adepts" and "Tortured Soul Asylum". However, he could not appear in the music video and was replaced by actor David McEwen. Bradley also appeared on "Swansong for a Raven" and "Satyriasis". In 2006, he lent his narrations to "Rise of the Pentagram" and "Tonight in Flames". Continuing in this vein, Bradley has contributed guest vocals to Cradle of Filth's 2008 album Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder, on all songs except "Tragic Kingdom". Bradley has appeared in many short horror films, such as Red Lines and On Edge. He is a member of the UK animation company Renga Media, makers of the independent Dominator films and shorts, dividing job roles between producer and voice actor. He voiced the Loc-Nar in the short animated crossover Heavy Metal vs. Dominator, in which characters from the Dominatoruniverse meet and fight with characters from the film Heavy Metal 2000. After his roles in the Hellraiser films and the 1990 horror filmNightbreed, 2006 saw Bradley star in ' and 2008 saw Bradley once again returning to Clive Barker's cinematic universe by way of a featured appearance in Book of Blood. He had a small guest star appearance in the 2008 black comic horrorThe Cottage. In 2010, he starred in the Anglo-Spanish horror film Exorcismus, and he joined the Nazi zombie horror The 4th Reich in March 2010. In 2011, he played a man called the Doctor in the British film noir Jack Falls. In June 2011, it was announced that Bradley would be providing a voice-over for an independent film called Lucifer's Unholy Desire, as well as performing in the film The Reverend. In 2012, he played "Maynard" in the fifth film of the Wrong Turn series, '. In 2013, he performed in the indie film Scream Park. Bradley voiced the Sith Emperor for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game , based in the Star Wars universe. In 2018, Bradley joined Blackcraft Wrestling as “The Preacher”, a cult leader who acts as a General Manager type figure to the promotion.
Writing
Bradley is the author of Sacred Monsters: Behind the Mask of the Horror Actor, which explores the history of masks in society and their applications in horror films.
Personal life
He is a longtime close friend of novelist Clive Barker, the two having met when they attended secondary school, and has worked with Barker in various projects since the early 1970s. He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is married to Steph Sciullo.
