S. Epatha Merkerson (born Sharon Epatha Merkerson) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has won a Golden Globe, Emmy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, Obie Award, 4 NAACP Image Awards, and 2 Tony Award nominations. She is best known for her role as NYPD Lieutenant Anita Van Buren (1993–2010) on the long-running NBC police procedural drama series Law & Order, as well as the Law & Order TV movie Exiled. She appeared in 390 episodes of the series, more than any other cast member. She has a starring role as Sharon Goodwin on NBC's Chicago Med. She also had a recurring role as Reba (the mail carrier) on Pee-wee's Playhouse, and Ms. St. Marth on the TV series Here and Now. She has appeared in feature films including She's Gotta Have It, Loose Cannons, Jacob's Ladder, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Random Hearts, Radio, Black Snake Moan, Lincoln (2012), and Peeples. She has also appeared in TV movies including A Place for Annie, A Mother's Prayer, Breaking Through, Lackawanna Blues, and The Gabby Douglas Story.

Filmography

• 2025Eye for an Eye — May
• 2024We Grown Now — Anita
• Poker Face — Joyce Carter
• 2021Desmond's Not Here Anymore — Selma
• 2020Barbecue — Lillie Anne
• 2020Blood Sugar Rising — Narrator (voice)
• 2020The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America — Belize
• 2016Year by the Sea — Liz
• 2016You Can Go — Mrs. Bryant
• Chicago Med — Sharon Goodwin
• 2015The Challenger — Jada
• Chicago P.D. — Sharon Goodwin
• 2014The Gabby Douglas Story — Miss Caroline
• 2013Peeples — Daphne Peeples
• 2013The Contradictions of Fair Hope — Director
• Chicago Fire — Sharon Goodwin
• 2012Lincoln — Lydia Smith
• 2010We Heard the Bells: The Influenza of 1918 — Narrator (voice)
• 2009Mother and Child — Ada
• The Good Wife — Judge Melanie Ellis
• 2009The Six Wives of Henry Lefay — Effa
• 2008Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun — Narrator (voice)
• 2007Girl, Positive — Ariel Winters
• 2007Slipstream — Bonnie
• 2006Black Snake Moan — Angela
• 2006The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays — Berniece (segment "The Piano Lesson")
• 2005Lackawanna Blues — Rachel 'Nanny' Crosby
• Law & Order: Trial by Jury — Anita Van Buren
• The Closer — Dr. Rebecca Dioli
• 2004Jersey Girl — Doctor #1
• 2003Radio — Maggie
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent — Anita Van Buren
• 2001The Rising Place — Lessie Watson
• 1999Paul Robeson: Here I Stand — Eslanda Robeson (voice)
• 1999Random Hearts — Nea
• 1998An Unexpected Life — Beverly Hawkins
• 1998Exiled — Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
• 1996After the SIlence — Barbara
• 1995A Mother's Prayer — Ruby
• 1994A Place for Annie — Alice
• Frasier — Dr. McCaskill
• 1993It's Nothing Personal — Louise Waters
• Here and Now — Claudia St. Marth
• Mann & Machine — Capt. Margaret Claghorn
• 1992Second Chances — Ruth Clayton
• 1991Terminator 2: Judgment Day — Tarissa Dyson
• 1990Jacob's Ladder — Elsa
• Law & Order — Anita Van Buren, Denise Winters
• 1990Loose Cannons — Rachel
• 1990Moe's World
• 1990Navy Seals — Jolena
• 1988Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special — Reba
• Pee-wee's Playhouse — Reba
• 1986She's Gotta Have It — Doctor Jamison
• The Cosby Show — Elena
• After All
• Sexual Healing — Alberta Gay

Appearances as themselves (10)

• 2014Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee — Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon — Self
• Finding Your Roots — Self
• Rachael Ray — Self
• The Ellen DeGeneres Show — Self
• The View — Self
• LIVE with Kelly and Mark — Self - Guest
• Tony Awards — Self - Nominee
• Today — Self
• The Emmy Awards — Self