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