S. Epatha Merkerson

S. Epatha Merkerson is the kind of actress who makes authority feel human. As Lieutenant Van Buren on Law & Order she anchored that squad room for seventeen seasons, the longest-running Black female character in American prime-time history, and she did it with a steadiness that never tipped into stiffness. Then Lackawanna Blues showed her full range and rightly swept her into Emmy and Golden Globe territory. I love that she came up through the theater, because you can feel that discipline in every scene. Decades in, she's still working steadily on Chicago Med, proving consistency is its own kind of greatness.

S. Epatha Merkerson (born 1952) is an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best known for her long-running role as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren on the NBC drama Law & Order, which she played from 1993 to 2010, and later as administrator Sharon Goodwin on Chicago Med. A graduate of Wayne State University, she won acclaim on stage and received an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in the 2005 HBO film Lackawanna Blues.

Name (English)

S. Epatha Merkerson

Name (Japanese)

S・エパサ・マーカーソン

Reading

S・えぱさ・まーかーそん

Born

November 28, 1952 (age 73)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Sagittarius / Dragon

Origin

Saginaw, Michigan, United States

Occupation

Actor / Stage Actor / Television Actor / Film Actor / Film Director

University

Wayne State University

Awards & achievements

• 2005 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film

Motto

Private

• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/merk2577/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A8%E3%83%91%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9E%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BD%E3%83%B3

Tags

• From Michigan
• Actor
• Stage Actor
• Television Actor

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.