The Black American Glossary

Wendell Edward Pierce is a actor and businessman, known for roles in HBO dramas such as Detective Bunk Moreland in The Wire and trombonist Antoine Batiste in Treme; as well as portraying James Greer in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, high-powered attorney Robert Zane in Suits, and Michael Davenport in Waiting to Exhale.

Wendell Pierce was born on December 8, 1963. His birth place is New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. His mother was a teacher and his father was in American army who served during World War II veteran who worked as a maintenance engineer. Pierce was raised in Pontchartrain Park. Hid nationality is America. According to Wendell's ethnicity he is Afro American. His parents had a three children and he has two brothers.

Wendell Pierce attended Benjamin Franklin High School. After his high school he joined New Orleans Centre for Creative Arts and graduated from there. He also studied in Juilliard School's Drama Division from 1981 to 1985 and earned Bachelor of Fine Arts.

Wendell Pierce made his acting career debut from 1986 American DeLuxe Color comedy film The Money Pit. In 1989 he appeared in two movies, Casualties of War and Family Business. He appeared in the character of Wells Dennard in 1990 American comedy film, A Matter of Degrees. He played the role of Ben Thomas in 1992 movie, Malcolm X. In 1995, he appeared in several movies including Bye Bye Love, Hackers and Waiting to Exhale.

Wendell Pierce has featured in many movies including Get on the Bus (1996), Bulworth (1998), The 24 Hour Woman (1999), Brown Sugar (2002), The Fighting Temptations (2003), Land of Plenty (2004), Stay Alive (2006), I Think I Love My Wife (2007), Night Catches Us (2010), Horrible Bosses (2011), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ‐ Part 2 (2012), Parker (2013), Elsa & Fred (2014) and The Runner (2015).

Wendell Pierce has also appeared in many television series and some of his TV credit includes A Man Called Hawk (1989), Law & Order (1992), New York Undercover (1996), The Gregory Hines Show (1997), God, the Devil and Bob (2000), Girlfriends (2000), Judging Amy (2004), Close to Home (2006), Women's Murder Club (2008), Fear Itself (2009), Treme (2010), Ray Donovan (2014) and The Odd Couple (2015).

Wendell Pierce is very talented actor with numerous movie and television appearance, but he has kept his personal life under his wraps. Wendell has not revealed any of his personal details or his dating and affair till the date. Wendell Pierce's sexual orientation seems to be straight but it is not confirmed, he might be gay or homosexual or bisexual.

In the past, there were rumors of Wendell Pierce's dating with his co worker, but he refused those rumors and in defense he told she was just her friend. Wendell's marriage information is unknown, there is no any exact information either he is married or had a divorce; there is also no any information about his children and spouse. He love sports, mainly football and he is supporter of St. Patrick's Athletic FC.

Quick Facts

Birth Date:
December 8, 1963

Attended Benjamin Franklin High School and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA).
Both the part of Antoine Batiste on Treme and the part of Owen Thoreau, Jr., on Men of a Certain Age (2009) were created with him in mind. He was offered both parts around the same time but had to choose Treme since it was about New Orleans, his hometown.
According to the Marketplace radio program, in December, 2011, he opened Sterling Express, the first in a chain of grocery stores selling fresh produce and other staples in his hometown of New Orleans.
After losing his childhood home to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Wendell suffered yet another devastating loss in August 2016 when another home was taken from him due to widespread flooding in Louisana. The recent flooding is almost 11 years to the day when Katrina made landfall.
Was classmates with Bradley Whitford, Thomas Gibson, and Michel Gill while studying acting at Juilliard.
2020 Laurence Olivier Award nominee for Best Actor for playing ‘Willy Loman’ in the 2019 West End revival of Death of a Salesman.