Known For
Acting
Born
Nov 28, 1952
Place of Birth
Saginaw, Michigan, USA
Credits
67 titles
S. Epatha Merkerson
Biography
S. Epatha Merkerson (born Sharon Epatha Merkerson) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has won a Golden Globe, Emmy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, Obie Award, 4 NAACP Image Awards, and 2 Tony Award nominations. She is best known for her role as NYPD Lieutenant Anita Van Buren (1993–2010) on the long-running NBC police procedural drama series Law & Order, as well as the Law & Order TV movie Exiled. She appeared in 390 episodes of the series, more than any other cast member. She has a starring role as Sharon Goodwin on NBC's Chicago Med. She also had a recurring role as Reba (the mail carrier) on Pee-wee's Playhouse, and Ms. St. Marth on the TV series Here and Now. She has appeared in feature films including She's Gotta Have It, Loose Cannons, Jacob's Ladder, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Random Hearts, Radio, Black Snake Moan, Lincoln (2012), and Peeples. She has also appeared in TV movies including A Place for Annie, A Mother's Prayer, Breaking Through, Lackawanna Blues, and The Gabby Douglas Story.
Known For
Filmography
Eye for an Eye
May
We Grown Now
Anita
Poker Face
Joyce Carter
Desmond's Not Here Anymore
Selma
Barbecue
Lillie Anne
The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America
Belize
Blood Sugar Rising
Narrator (voice)
You Can Go
Mrs. Bryant
Year by the Sea
Liz
Chicago Med
Sharon Goodwin
The Challenger
Jada
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
Self
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Self
The Gabby Douglas Story
Miss Caroline
Chicago P.D.
Sharon Goodwin
Peeples
Daphne Peeples
The Contradictions of Fair Hope
Director
Lincoln
Lydia Smith
Chicago Fire
Sharon Goodwin
Finding Your Roots
Self
We Heard the Bells: The Influenza of 1918
Narrator (voice)
Mother and Child
Ada
The Good Wife
Judge Melanie Ellis
The Six Wives of Henry Lefay
Effa
Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
Narrator (voice)
Girl, Positive
Ariel Winters
Slipstream
Bonnie
Black Snake Moan
Angela
Rachael Ray
Self
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
Berniece (segment "The Piano Lesson")
The Closer
Dr. Rebecca Dioli
Law & Order: Trial by Jury
Anita Van Buren
Lackawanna Blues
Rachel 'Nanny' Crosby
Jersey Girl
Doctor #1
Radio
Maggie
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Self
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Anita Van Buren
The Rising Place
Lessie Watson
Random Hearts
Nea
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
Eslanda Robeson (voice)
Exiled
Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
An Unexpected Life
Beverly Hawkins
The View
Self
After the SIlence
Barbara
A Mother's Prayer
Ruby
A Place for Annie
Alice
Frasier
Dr. McCaskill
It's Nothing Personal
Louise Waters
Here and Now
Claudia St. Marth
Mann & Machine
Capt. Margaret Claghorn