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