Photo: Behind The Velvet Rope TV / CC BY 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
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.
Overview
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.
1. Profile
- 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
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- Actor / Stage Actor / Television Actor / Film Actor / Film Director
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Wayne State University
Awards & achievements
- 2005 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Actor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.