Acting · Detroit, Michigan, USA · Born March 12, 1960
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.
MovieGirl Dad
2026
MovieW.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause
2026
as Self
MovieLilo & Stitch
2025
as Cobra Bubbles
MovieDeath Wish
2024
as Pilot (voice)
TVGrotesquerie
2024
as Marshall Tryon
TVPercy Jackson and the Olympians
2023
as Zeus
MovieHeist 88
2023
as Jeremy Horne
TVSherri
2022
as Self - Guest
TVThe Jennifer Hudson Show
2022
as Self
TV61st Street
2022
as Franklin Roberts
TVAmend: The Fight for America
2021
as Self
MovieBetween the World and Me
2020
as Self
TVLovecraft Country
2020
as George Freeman
MovieProject Power
2020
as Captain Craine
MovieUncorked
2020
as Louis
MovieThe Photograph
2020
as Louis Morton
MovieHollywood's Architect: The Paul R. Williams Story
2020
as Self - Narrator
MovieOn Broadway
2019
as Self (archive footage)
TVTamron Hall
2019
as Self - Guest
Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Uncovering America
2019
as Self - Host
MovieBen Is Back
2018
as Mr. Beeby
MovieThe Groveland Four
2018
as Self - Narrator
MovieIsle of Dogs
2018
as Narrator (voice)
MovieThe Mummy
2017
as Colonel Greenway
TVGenius
2017
as C.L. Franklin
MovieThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
2017
as Sir Lord Keenan Coefield
MovieOffice Christmas Party
2016
as Walter Davis
TVAmerican Crime Story
2016
as Johnnie Cochran
TVThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self - Guest
MovieTerminator Genisys
2015
as Miles Dyson
TVVariety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014
as Self
TVMasters of Sex
2013
as Dr. Charles Hendricks
TVGraceland
2013
as Sam Campbell
MovieLet It Shine
2012
as Jacob
TVScandal
2012
as Clarence Parker
TVFinding Your Roots
2012
as Self
MovieJoyful Noise
2012
as Pastor Dale
MovieThe Divide
2012
as Delvin
TVRevenge
2011
as Benjamin Brooks
MovieFinal Destination 5
2011
as Agent Block
MovieHurricane Season
2010
as Mr. Randolph
MovieExtraordinary Measures
2010
as Marcus Temple
TVFlashForward
2009
as Stanford Wedeck
TVWatch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009
as Self - Guest
MovieNothing but the Truth
2008
as Agent O'Hara
MovieThe Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
2006
as Corey (segment "Fences")
TVThe Closer
2005
as Chief Tommy Delk
MovieThe Fight
2005
as Narrator (voice)
MovieUnforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
2004
as Other Voices (voice)
TVGary the Rat
2003
MovieUnchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
2003
MoviePartners of the Heart
2002
as Vivien Thomas (voice)
MovieWhitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story
2002
as Clarence Brandley
MovieD-Tox
2002
as Reverend Jones
TVLaw & Order: Criminal Intent
2001
as Ron Carver
TVBoston Public
2000
as Walter Harrelson
MovieSpace Cowboys
2000
as Roger Hines
MovieThe Tulsa Lynching of 1921: A Hidden Story
2000
MovieThe Acting Class
2000
as Self
MovieLove and Action in Chicago
1999
as Eddie Jones
MovieCookie's Fortune
1999
as Otis Tucker
MovieNaked City: A Killer Christmas
1998
as Officer James Halloran
MovieBlind Faith
1998
as John Williams
MovieNaked City: Justice with a Bullet
1998
as Officer James Halloran
TVThe Wild Thornberrys
1998
as Makai (voice)
TVAny Day Now
1998
MovieAmbushed
1998
as Jerry Robinson
Movie12 Angry Men
1997
as Foreman
TVThe View
1997
as Self
MovieThe Preacher's Wife
1996
as Reverend Henry Biggs
MovieThe Boys Next Door
1996
as Lucien P. Singer
MovieThe Affair
1995
as Travis Holloway
MovieThe Last Supper
1995
as Luke
MovieThe Tuskegee Airmen
1995
as Lt. Glenn
MovieDangerous Minds
1995
as Mr. George Grandey
MoviePanther
1995
as Bobby Seale
MovieThe Piano Lesson
1995
as Lymon
TVER
1994
as Russell Banfield
MovieHoly Matrimony
1994
as Cooper
MovieRace to Freedom: The Underground Railroad
1994
as Thomas
MoviePercy & Thunder
1993
as Wayne 'Thunder' Carter
MovieBeyond the Law
1993
as Conroy Price
MovieThe Adventures of Huck Finn
1993
as Jim
MovieIn the Line of Duty: Street War
1992
as Justice Butler
TVPicket Fences
1992
as Warren Grier
MovieNonsense and Lullabyes: Poems
1992
as (voice)
MovieNonsense and Lullabyes: Nursery Rhymes
1992
as (voice)
MovieThe Emperor's New Clothes
1992
as Scribe (voice)
MovieMemorial: Letters from American Soldiers
1991
as Reader
TVLaw & Order
1990
as Mayor's Assistant
MovieThe Hunt for Red October
1990
as Petty Officer Ronald 'Jonesy' Jones (USS Dallas)
TVAmerican Experience
1988
as Narrator (voice)
TVthirtysomething
1987
MovieHamburger Hill
1987
as Spc. Abraham 'Doc' Johnson
MovieFirst Affair
1983
as Male Student #2
TVNOVA
1974
as Narrator
TVHallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Lucien P. Singer
TVGolden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Audience Member
