Courtney B. Vance
- Acting
- March 12, 1960 · Detroit, Michigan, USA
Biography
Courtney Bernard Vance (born March 12, 1960) is an American actor. Vance started his career on the Broadway stage in the original productions of August Wilson's Fences in 1985, John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation in 1990 and Nora Ephron's Lucky Guy in 2013 for which he won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He is known for his roles in films such as Hamburger Hill (1987), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Preacher's Wife (1996), Cookie's Fortune (1999), Terminator Genisys (2015), and Isle of Dogs (2018). Vance is also known for work on television on shows such as Law & Order: Criminal Intent, where he portrayed Assistant District Attorney Ron Carver. He also guest-starred on Law & Order, Picket Fences, The Closer, Revenge, Scandal, and Masters of Sex. He won acclaim for his portrayal of Johnnie Cochran in the FX limited series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016) for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. He recently appeared in the HBO television film, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017), National Geographic's limited series Genius: Aretha (2020), and the HBO drama series Lovecraft Country (2020) the latter of which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. He has been married to actress Angela Bassett since 1997. Vance is on the Board of Directors for The Actors Center in New York City, and is an active supporter of Boys & Girls Clubs of America. In 2019, Vance was appointed as the President of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation.
Known for
Filmography
- Girl Dad
- W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause · Self
- Lilo & Stitch · Cobra Bubbles
- Death Wish · Pilot (Voice)
- Grotesquerie · Marshall Tryon, Executive producer
- Grotesquerie · Esposo de Lois
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians · Zeus
- Heist 88 · Jeremy Horne, Executive producer
- Sherri · Self
- The Jennifer Hudson Show · Self
- 61st Street · Franklin Roberts
- Amend: The Fight for America · Self
- Between the World and Me · Self
- Lovecraft Country · George Freeman
- Project Power · Captain Craine
- Uncorked · Louis
- The Photograph · Louis Morton
- Hollywood's Architect: The Paul R. Williams Story · Self
- On Broadway · Self
- The Tamron Hall Show · Self
- Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Uncovering America · Self
- Ben Is Back · Mr. Beeby
- The Groveland Four · Self
- Isle of Dogs · Narrator (Voice)
- The Mummy · Colonel Greenway
- Genius · C.L. Franklin
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks · Sir Lord Keenan Coefield
- Office Christmas Party · Walter Davis
- American Crime Story · Johnnie Cochran
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert · Self
- Terminator Genisys · Miles Dyson
- Variety Studio: Actors on Actors · Self
- Masters of Sex · Dr. Charles Hendricks
- Graceland · Sam Campbell
- Let It Shine · Jacob
- Scandal · Clarence Parker
- Finding Your Roots · Self
- Joyful Noise · Pastor Dale
- The Divide · Delvin
- Revenge · Benjamin Brooks
- Final Destination 5 · Agent Block
- Hurricane Season · Mr. Randolph
- Extraordinary Measures · Marcus Temple
- FlashForward · Stanford Wedeck
- Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen · Self
- Nothing But the Truth · Agent O'Hara
- The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays · Corey (segment "Fences")
- The Closer · Chief Tommy Delk, Chief Tommy Delk (archive footage) (uncredited)
- The Fight · Narrator (Voice)
- Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson · Other Voices (Voice)
- Gary the Rat
- Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
- Partners of the Heart · Vivien Thomas (Voice)
- Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story · Clarence Brandley
- D-Tox · Reverend Jones
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent · Ron Carver
- Boston Public · Walter Harrelson
- Space Cowboys · Roger Hines
- The Tulsa Lynching of 1921: A Hidden Story
- The Acting Class · Self
- Love and Action in Chicago · Eddie Jones
- Cookie's Fortune · Otis Tucker
- Naked City: A Killer Christmas · Officer James Halloran
- Blind Faith · John Williams
- Naked City: Justice with a Bullet · Officer James Halloran
- The Wild Thornberrys · Makai (Voice)
- Any Day Now
- Ambushed · Jerry Robinson
- 12 Angry Men · Foreman
- The View · Self
- The Preacher's Wife · Reverend Henry Biggs
- The Boys Next Door · Lucien P. Singer
- The Affair · Travis Holloway
- The Last Supper · Luke
- The Tuskegee Airmen · Lt. Glenn
- Dangerous Minds · Mr. George Grandey
- Panther · Bobby Seale
- The Piano Lesson · Lymon
- ER · Russell Banfield
- Holy Matrimony · Cooper