S. Epatha Merkerson
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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
Credits
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
as Tarissa Dyson
Lincoln (2012)
as Lydia Smith
Radio (2003)
as Maggie
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
as Elsa
Black Snake Moan (2006)
as Angela
Jersey Girl (2004)
as Doctor #1
Navy Seals (1990)
as Jolena
Random Hearts (1999)
as Nea
Eye for an Eye (2025)
as May
Mother and Child (2009)
as Ada
We Grown Now (2024)
as Anita
Slipstream (2007)
as Bonnie
Loose Cannons (1990)
as Rachel
The Six Wives of Henry Lefay (2009)
as Effa
She's Gotta Have It (1986)
as Doctor Jamison
Barbecue (2020)
as Lillie Anne
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays (2006)
as Berniece (segment "The Piano Lesson")
The Challenger (2015)
as Jada
Peeples (2013)
as Daphne Peeples
After the SIlence (1996)
as Barbara
The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America (2020)
as Belize
The Gabby Douglas Story (2014)
as Miss Caroline
Moe's World (1990)
Actor
A Place for Annie (1994)
as Alice
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee (2014)
as Self
Exiled (1998)
as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
Girl, Positive (2007)
as Ariel Winters
An Unexpected Life (1998)
as Beverly Hawkins
A Mother's Prayer (1995)
as Ruby
Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special (1988)
as Reba
Lackawanna Blues (2005)
as Rachel 'Nanny' Crosby
The Rising Place (2001)
as Lessie Watson
It's Nothing Personal (1993)
as Louise Waters
Year by the Sea (2016)
as Liz
Sexual Healing (—)
as Alberta Gay
After All (—)
Actor
Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun (2008)
as Narrator (voice)
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand (1999)
as Eslanda Robeson (voice)
You Can Go (2016)
as Mrs. Bryant
Second Chances (1992)
as Ruth Clayton
Desmond's Not Here Anymore (2021)
as Selma
Blood Sugar Rising (2020)
as Narrator (voice)
We Heard the Bells: The Influenza of 1918 (2010)
as Narrator (voice)