Courtney B. Vance
Acting • Born 1960-03-12
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.
Filmography
101 credits
Memorial: Letters from American Soldiers
Movie • 1991
Reader
The Hunt for Red October
Movie • 1990
Petty Officer Ronald 'Jonesy' Jones (USS Dallas)
Holy Matrimony
Movie • 1994
Cooper
Hamburger Hill
Movie • 1987
Spc. Abraham 'Doc' Johnson
D-Tox
Movie • 2002
Reverend Jones
Space Cowboys
Movie • 2000
Roger Hines
The Preacher's Wife
Movie • 1996
Reverend Henry Biggs
The Tuskegee Airmen
Movie • 1995
Lt. Glenn
12 Angry Men
Movie • 1997
Foreman
Cookie's Fortune
Movie • 1999
Otis Tucker
Extraordinary Measures
Movie • 2010
Marcus Temple
The Last Supper
Movie • 1995
Luke
Dangerous Minds
Movie • 1995
Mr. George Grandey
The Adventures of Huck Finn
Movie • 1993
Jim
Panther
Movie • 1995
Bobby Seale
Nothing But the Truth
Movie • 2008
Agent O'Hara
Joyful Noise
Movie • 2012
Pastor Dale
The Divide
Movie • 2012
Delvin
Lilo & Stitch
Movie • 2025
Cobra Bubbles
Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
Movie • 2003
Beyond the Law
Movie • 1993
Conroy Price
The Boys Next Door
Movie • 1996
Lucien P. Singer
On Broadway
Movie • 2019
Self (archive footage)
The Affair
Movie • 1995
Travis Holloway
Ambushed
Movie • 1998
Jerry Robinson
Let It Shine
Movie • 2012
Jacob
Heist 88
Movie • 2023
Jeremy Horne
Blind Faith
Movie • 1998
John Williams
Nonsense and Lullabyes: Nursery Rhymes
Movie • 1992
(voice)
Nonsense and Lullabyes: Poems
Movie • 1992
(voice)
Percy & Thunder
Movie • 1993
Wayne 'Thunder' Carter
Naked City: Justice with a Bullet
Movie • 1998
Officer James Halloran
Race to Freedom: The Underground Railroad
Movie • 1994
Thomas
Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story
Movie • 2002
Clarence Brandley
Naked City: A Killer Christmas
Movie • 1998
Officer James Halloran
The Groveland Four
Movie • 2018
Self - Narrator
Terminator Genisys
Movie • 2015
Miles Dyson
Hollywood's Architect: The Paul R. Williams Story
Movie • 2020
Self - Narrator
Final Destination 5
Movie • 2011
Agent Block
Office Christmas Party
Movie • 2016
Walter Davis
The Mummy
Movie • 2017
Colonel Greenway
Isle of Dogs
Movie • 2018
Narrator (voice)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Movie • 2017
Sir Lord Keenan Coefield
In the Line of Duty: Street War
Movie • 1992
Justice Butler
Ben Is Back
Movie • 2018
Mr. Beeby
The Fight
Movie • 2005
Narrator (voice)
The Piano Lesson
Movie • 1995
Lymon
Love and Action in Chicago
Movie • 1999
Eddie Jones
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
Movie • 2006
Corey (segment "Fences")
Project Power
Movie • 2020
Captain Craine
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Movie • 2004
Other Voices (voice)
Partners of the Heart
Movie • 2002
Vivien Thomas (voice)
The Tulsa Lynching of 1921: A Hidden Story
Movie • 2000
The Photograph
Movie • 2020
Louis Morton
Uncorked
Movie • 2020
Louis
Between the World and Me
Movie • 2020
Self
Hurricane Season
Movie • 2010
Mr. Randolph
The Acting Class
Movie • 2000
Self
First Affair
Movie • 1983
Male Student #2
Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Uncovering America
Movie • 2019
Self - Host
Death Wish
Movie • 2024
The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Movie • 2016
Johnnie Cochran
The Emperor's New Clothes
Movie • 1992
Scribe (voice)
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause
Movie • 2026
Self
Boston Public
TV • 2000
Walter Harrelson
Law & Order
TV • 1990
Mayor's Assistant
thirtysomething
TV • 1987
The View
TV • 1997
Self
Any Day Now
TV • 1998
NOVA
TV • 1974
Narrator
Finding Your Roots
TV • 2012
Self
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
TV • 2001
Ron Carver
The View
TV • 1997
Self - Guest
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Lucien P. Singer
ER
TV • 1994
Russell Banfield
FlashForward
TV • 2009
Stanford Wedeck
The Wild Thornberrys
TV • 1998
Makai (voice)
Graceland
TV • 2013
Sam Campbell
Revenge
TV • 2011
Benjamin Brooks
American Crime Story
TV • 2016
Johnnie Cochran
Tamron Hall
TV • 2019
Self - Guest
American Experience
TV • 1988
Narrator (voice)
Law & Order
TV • 1990
Benjamin Greer
Sherri
TV • 2022
Self - Guest
Lovecraft Country
TV • 2020
George Freeman
Masters of Sex
TV • 2013
Dr. Charles Hendricks
Grotesquerie
TV • 2024
Marshall Tryon
Scandal
TV • 2012
Clarence Parker
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
TV • 2009
Self - Guest
Amend: The Fight for America
TV • 2021
Self
61st Street
TV • 2022
Franklin Roberts
Genius
TV • 2017
C.L. Franklin
The Closer
TV • 2005
Chief Tommy Delk
The Closer
TV • 2005
Chief Tommy Delk (archive footage) (uncredited)
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
TV • 2014
Self
The Jennifer Hudson Show
TV • 2022
Self
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Audience Member
Gary the Rat
TV • 2003
Picket Fences
TV • 1992
Warren Grier
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
TV • 2023
Zeus
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV • 2015
Self - Guest