
Wendell Pierce
Biography
Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1963) is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor portraying roles on both stage and screen. He first gained recognition portraying the role of Detective Bunk Moreland in the acclaimed HBO drama series The Wire from 2002 to 2008.
His other notable television roles include the trombonist Antoine Batiste in Treme (2010–2013), James Greer in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (2018–2023), the attorney Robert Zane in Suits (2013–2019), and Clarence Thomas in Confirmation (2016). He earned Independent Spirit Awards nominations for his film roles in Four (2012) and Burning Cane (2019), on which he also served as a producer. Other notable film roles include Malcolm X (1992), Waiting to Exhale (1995), Ray (2004), Selma (2014), The Gift (2015), and Clemency (2019).
Pierce made his Broadway debut in John Pielmeier's 1985 play The Boys of Winter, followed by Caryl Churchill's Serious Money in 1988. As a theatrical producer, he earned a Tony Award for Best Play nomination for August Wilson's Radio Golf (2007), then won for Bruce Norris's Clybourne Park (2012). He performed the lead role of Willy Loman in the revival of Death of a Salesman on the West End in London in 2019 and on Broadway in New York in 2022, for which he earned Laurence Olivier Award and Tony Award nominations.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Wendell Pierce, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Gallery









Known For
Acting History
2025
The American Revolution as voice
2025Highest 2 Lowest as Gabe
2025Adventures in the Making of Superman as Self
2025Superman as Perry White
2025Thunderbolts* as Congressman Gary
2024Elsbeth as C.W. Wagner
2022Becoming Frederick Douglass as Frederick Douglass (voice)
2022Sherri as Self - Guest
2022Be My Guest with Ina Garten as Self - Guest
2022Don't Hang Up as Chris Daniels
2021The Watch as Death (voice)
2020Between the World and Me as Self
2019Clemency as Jonathan Williams
2019Harley Quinn as Lex Luthor (voice)
2019Tamron Hall as Self - Guest
2019Burning Cane as Reverend Tillman
2019Piercing as The Doctor
201827 Years: The Exoneration of Valentino Dixon as Narrator (voice)
2018Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan as James Greer
2018One Last Thing as Dylan
2018Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. as Detective Lee Tucker
2017Rodents of Unusual Size as Narrator (voice)
2017The Forever Tree as Doctor Willow
2016Bad Moms as Principal Daryl Burr
2016Confirmation as Clarence Thomas
2016Grease Live as Coach Calhoun
2015The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as Self
2015The Runner as Frank Legrand
2015The Gift as Detective Mills
2015Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band as Andy Kirk (voice)
2015The Odd Couple as Teddy
2015Runaway Hearts as Paul
2014Selma as Rev. Hosea Williams
2014The Night Shift as Walt
2014Elsa & Fred as Armande
2014Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self
2014Foreclosure as Virgil
2014Chicago P.D. as Ray Price
2013The Michael J. Fox Show as Harris Green
2013Four as Joe
2013Ray Donovan as Ronald Keith
2013Möbius as Bob
2013Parker as Carlson
2012The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 as J. Jenks
2012Lay the Favorite as Dave the Rave
2011Horrible Bosses as Detective Hagan
2011Suits as Robert Zane
2011The Mortician as Clinger
2011A Plea for Modernism as Narrator (voice)
2010Night Catches Us as David Gordon
2010Love Ranch as Naasih Mohammed
2010New Orleans: A Living Museum of Music as Narrator (voice)
2010Treme as Antoine Batiste
2009Beyond All Boundaries as Sgt. Thomas McPhatter
2009Archer as Verl (voice)
2009Drop Dead Diva as Neal David
2009Hawthorne as Dr. Michael Schilling
2008Fear Itself as Wiilbur Orwell
2008In Plain Sight as Dr. Warren McBride / Warren Morris
2007The Wire: The Last Word as Self
2007The Wire Odyssey as Self
20072000: Bunk and McNulty as Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland
2007Women's Murder Club
2007Tapping the Wire as Self
2007Pariah as Arthur
2007Life Support as Slick
2007I Think I Love My Wife as Sean
2007Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! as Detective
2006When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts as Self
2006Stay Alive as Detective Thibodeaux
2005Close to Home as Sam Carter
2005Law & Order: Trial by Jury as Richard Link
2005Numb3rs as William Bradford
2004Ray as Wilbur Brassfield
2004Land of Plenty as Henry
2004A Hole in One as Dan
2003The Fighting Temptations as Reverend Lewis
2003Real Time with Bill Maher as Self
2002Brown Sugar as Simon
2002The Wire as Bunk Moreland
2001My Wife and Kids as Dr. Boucher
2001The Gilded Six Bits as Otis D. Slimmons
2000The Weber Show as Wendell Simms
2000Girlfriends as Anthony Jackson
2000God, the Devil and Bob as Mike (voice)
1999Third Watch as Officer Conrad 'Candyman' Jones
1999Judging Amy as Harry Benton
1999Abilene as Reverend Tillis
1999The 24 Hour Woman as Roy Labelle
1998The Brian Benben Show
1998Bulworth as Fred
1997The Advocate's Devil as Justin
1997The Gregory Hines Show
1996Sleepers as Little Caesar
1996Get on the Bus as Wendell
1996Moloney as Calvin Patterson
1996Never Give Up: The Jimmy V Story as John Saunders
1995Waiting to Exhale as Michael
1995New York News
1995Hackers as S.S. Agent Richard Gill
1995Bye Bye Love as Hector
1994New York Undercover
1994It Could Happen to You as Bo Williams
1993Strapped as District Attorney
1993Manhattan Murder Mystery as Policeman
1992Malcolm X as Ben Thomas
1992Unnatural Pursuits as Cabbie
1991A Matter of Degrees as Wells Dennard
1991A Rage in Harlem as Louis
1991The 10 Million Dollar Getaway as Parnell "Stacks" Edwards
1990Law & Order as Roger Porter
1990Law & Order as Civil Rights Attorney Jerome Bryant
1990Law & Order as Ola-Gimju Nwaka
1990Law & Order as Mr. Wade
1990Capital News as Conrad White
1989Family Business as Prosecutor
1989Casualties of War as MacIntire
1988LIVE with Kelly and Mark as Self - Guest
1986The Money Pit as Paramedic
1985The Equalizer as Dr. Wolff
1956Tony Awards as Self - Presenter
—The Thrill Is On as B.B. King
—King of the South
—Great Museums
—They Fight as Slim
—Untitled Jack Ryan Film as James Greer






