Wendell Pierce

Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1962) is an American actor and businessman.^[1] Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor of stage and screen. He first gained recognition portraying Detective Bunk Moreland in the HBO drama series The Wire from 2002 to 2008.

Pierce's 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 nomination for the Tony Award for Best Play 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 nominations for the Laurence Olivier Award and Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play.

Early life and education

Wendell Pierce was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, one of three sons of a teacher and a decorated World War II veteran who worked as a maintenance engineer.^[2] His father's segregated Army unit helped Marines win the Battle of Saipan in 1944. Pierce has said of his father's experience:

My father fought in World War II, loved this country when this country wasn't loving him back. My father fought in Saipan, came back, was awarded medals and were denied them by a white officer who said, "no, not you, not your unit." There was nothing that this country was doing for him or to him that would make him love this country. And in spite of all of that, he gave us a love for country because of the values that we are aspiring to as a nation.^[3]

Pierce was raised in the black middle-class community of Pontchartrain Park, the first African-American postwar suburb. His father, along with many other black veterans, moved there after returning from the war. The neighborhood was wiped out during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, including Pierce's family home, which was flooded by 14 feet (4.3 m) of water.^[4][5]

Pierce graduated in 1981^[6] from both Benjamin Franklin High School^[7] and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (most NOCCA students attend traditional secondary school in the mornings and the arts school in the afternoons). In 1981, he was named a Presidential Scholar of the Arts.^[8] As a young actor, he appeared in The Winter's Tale at the Tulane Shakespeare Festival. He produced and hosted Think About It, a youth-themed talk show, for the local NBC affiliate station, and also hosted a weekly jazz show on WYLD-FM Radio called Extensions from Congo Square.^[9]

Pierce then attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division from 1981 to 1985, graduating as a member of Group 14 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.^[10] In May 2023, Pierce received an honorary doctorate from the Juilliard School.^[11]

Career

Pierce made his television debut on the HBO anthology series Vietnam War Story in the third episode, "The Pass", along with Ching Valdes-Aran, Tony Becker, and Merritt Butrick.^[12] His second television role was Dr. Wolff in two episodes of The Equalizer (1988, 1989).

Pierce worked on the HBO dramas The Wire and Treme. When first cast in The Wire, he and his castmates doubted the show would be a hit: "I remember the first time we all sat around and watched the pilot. We all turned to each other and said, 'Man, I don't think this shit is going anywhere.'"^[13] For his role in Treme, Pierce learned to play trombone, though he relied on "sound double" Stafford Agee of the Rebirth Brass Band.^[4] Agee played off-camera for Pierce, syncing his trombone with Pierce's motions for authenticity.^[14]

In 2012, he played J. Jenks in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.^[15]

Pierce was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for his portrayal of Joe, a married and closeted gay man who steps out on his family with a young white man he met online, in Four. The film was released in September 2013, around the same time that The Michael J. Fox Show debuted on NBC, in which Pierce played Michael J. Fox's character's boss. The show was canceled five months later.^[16][17]

Pierce wrote and published a book in 2015, The Wind in the Reeds: A Storm, A Play, and the City That Would Not Be Broken^[18] on his experiences with the Beckett play Waiting for Godot, and the flooding of New Orleans in 2005.

From 2015 to 2017, Pierce starred alongside Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon in CBS's revival of the sitcom The Odd Couple, playing the role of Teddy.

When Mike Henry stepped down as the voice of Cleveland Brown on Family Guy in June 2020, in light of the George Floyd protests, Pierce launched a campaign to become Henry's replacement.^[19] He lost the role to YouTube personality Arif Zahir.^[20]

Stage

Pierce has been in numerous stage productions. He was lauded for his performance as Holt Fay in Queenie at the John F. Kennedy Center. He has performed on Broadway in staged productions of The Piano Lesson, Serious Money, and The Boys of Winter. He has performed off-Broadway in The Cherry Orchard (for which he was nominated for a VIV Award for Lead Actor), Waiting for Godot (which was set on a New Orleans rooftop post-Hurricane Katrina), and Broke-ology performed at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.^[21] Other performances include Cymbeline (at The Public Theater), The Good Times Are Killing Me, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Tis Pity She's a Whore, and Ms. Ever's Boys performed at the ACT Theatre.

Pierce is also a theater producer, and produced the Broadway show Clybourne Park. The show was nominated for four Tony Awards and won the Tony Award for Best Play in 2012.^[22] In 2015, Pierce returned to the stage to star in the Billie Holiday Theatre production of Jackie Alexander's Brothers from the Bottom in New York.^[23]

In 2019, Pierce starred in the acclaimed Arthur Miller play Death of a Salesman at the Young Vic Theatre in London and its successful transfer to the West End.^[24] For this performance, he received a nomination for the Olivier Award for Best Actor.^[25] The show made its Broadway transfer in 2022, returning with Pierce, Sharon D. Clarke, and Andre De Shields. In December 2022, on one of the nights of its production run, a woman disrupted the beginning of Act 2, shouting at the stage. Pierce tried to calm her down from the stage. She was eventually escorted out of the building by authorities and the play's producers issued a statement saying, "We're grateful to the entire team at the Hudson Theatre for working together to resolve the situation and resume the performance as quickly as possible."^[26] Videos of the event and Pierce's attempts to reason with the patron went viral online.^[27][28] Pierce received a 2023 Tony Award nomination for the production.^[29]

Radio

In 2009, Pierce became the host of the nationally syndicated, Peabody Award-winning radio program Jazz at Lincoln Center, which featured live recordings from Jazz at Lincoln Center's House of Swing.

Music

In 2016, Pierce started appearing on several albums recorded in New Orleans. He recorded the song "Make America Great Again" with Delfeayo Marsalis in 2016, one song with Kermit Ruffins on Irvin Mayfield's 2017 album A Beautiful World, and one with Stanton Moore on his 2017 album With You In Mind.

In 2020, Pierce recorded "The Ever Fonky Lowdown" with Wynton Marsalis.

Business and philanthropy

Pierce considers himself a "true capitalist" and a "classic entrepreneur".^[4][5]

In 2013, Fast Company named Pierce one of the "100 Most Creative People in Business".^[30]

Nonprofit work

Pierce started the nonprofit Pontchartrain Park Community Development Corp. to build new affordable solar and geothermal homes in the area for families displaced by Hurricane Katrina.^[31]

Sterling Farms

In 2012, inspired in part by Michelle Obama's initiative to bring more supermarkets to food deserts where residents lack easy access to fresh produce, Pierce, along with partners Troy Henry and James Hatchett, started Sterling Farms, a chain of grocery stores in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans.^[13] The chain closed 13 months later.^[32] Sterling Farms also had a convenience store division, Sterling Express. The stores were named after Sterling Henry, Troy Henry's father, who ran a pharmacy for about 40 years in the Lower Ninth Ward.^[33]

Personal life

Pierce describes himself as "tri-coastal", splitting his time among Los Angeles, New York City, and New Orleans.^[34] He is a New Orleans Saints supporter, and locals have nicknamed him "Saints Wendell".^[13] He is also an avid supporter of St. Patrick's Athletic FC.^[35] He is Catholic.^[36]

Pierce was a vocal supporter of Hillary Clinton and was on the board of Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a campaign created by the Clinton Foundation.^[37] He attended the 2012 Democratic National Convention, was one of President Barack Obama's top campaign fundraisers in 2012, and once escorted Gwen Ifill to a White House state dinner.^[5][38][39] Pierce announced the ceremonial delegate casting for Louisiana at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.^[40]

On May 15, 2016, Pierce was arrested and charged with simple battery for an alleged attack against a female Bernie Sanders supporter outside Atlanta Loews Hotel. He was booked and released on $1,000 bond from Fulton County Jail.^[41][42] Pierce subsequently completed a pretrial diversion program, including counseling and community service, resulting in dismissal of the charge.^[43]

Acting credits

Film

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations