Courtney B. Vance
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- March 12, 1960
- Birthplace
- Detroit, Michigan, USA
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
Girl Dad 2026
Actor
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause 2026
as Self
Lilo & Stitch 2025
as Cobra Bubbles
Death Wish 2024
as Pilot (voice)
Heist 88 2023
as Jeremy Horne, Executive Producer
Between the World and Me 2020
as Self
Project Power 2020
as Captain Craine
Uncorked 2020
as Louis
The Photograph 2020
as Louis Morton
Hollywood's Architect: The Paul R. Williams Story 2020
as Self - Narrator
On Broadway 2019
as Self (archive footage)
- Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Uncovering America
Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Uncovering America 2019
as Self - Host
Ben Is Back 2018
as Mr. Beeby
The Groveland Four 2018
as Self - Narrator
Isle of Dogs 2018
as Narrator (voice)
The Mummy 2017
as Colonel Greenway
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 2017
as Sir Lord Keenan Coefield
Office Christmas Party 2016
as Walter Davis
Terminator Genisys 2015
as Miles Dyson
Let It Shine 2012
as Jacob
The Divide 2012
as Delvin
Joyful Noise 2012
as Pastor Dale
Final Destination 5 2011
as Agent Block
Hurricane Season 2010
as Mr. Randolph
Extraordinary Measures 2010
as Marcus Temple
Nothing but the Truth 2008
as Agent O'Hara
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays 2006
as Corey (segment "Fences")
The Fight 2005
as Narrator (voice)
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson 2004
as Other Voices (voice)
Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives 2003
Actor
Partners of the Heart 2002
as Vivien Thomas (voice)
Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story 2002
as Clarence Brandley
D-Tox 2002
as Reverend Jones
Space Cowboys 2000
as Roger Hines
The Tulsa Lynching of 1921: A Hidden Story 2000
Actor
The Acting Class 2000
as Self
Love and Action in Chicago 1999
as Eddie Jones
Cookie's Fortune 1999
as Otis Tucker
Naked City: A Killer Christmas 1998
as Officer James Halloran
Blind Faith 1998
as John Williams
Naked City: Justice with a Bullet 1998
as Officer James Halloran
Ambushed 1998
as Jerry Robinson
12 Angry Men 1997
as Foreman
The Preacher's Wife 1996
as Reverend Henry Biggs
The Boys Next Door 1996
as Lucien P. Singer
The Affair 1995
as Travis Holloway
The Last Supper 1995
as Luke
The Tuskegee Airmen 1995
as Lt. Glenn
Dangerous Minds 1995
as Mr. George Grandey
Panther 1995
as Bobby Seale
The Piano Lesson 1995
as Lymon
Holy Matrimony 1994
as Cooper
Race to Freedom: The Underground Railroad 1994
as Thomas
Percy & Thunder 1993
as Wayne 'Thunder' Carter
Beyond the Law 1993
as Conroy Price
The Adventures of Huck Finn 1993
as Jim
In the Line of Duty: Street War 1992
as Justice Butler
Nonsense and Lullabyes: Poems 1992
as (voice)
Nonsense and Lullabyes: Nursery Rhymes 1992
as (voice)
The Emperor's New Clothes 1992
as Scribe (voice)
Memorial: Letters from American Soldiers 1991
as Reader
The Hunt for Red October 1990
as Petty Officer Ronald 'Jonesy' Jones (USS Dallas)
Hamburger Hill 1987
as Spc. Abraham 'Doc' Johnson
First Affair 1983
as Male Student #2
Credits from TMDB.