Courtney B. Vance

From studying history at Harvard to making history in Hollywood, Courtney B. Vance has carefully cultivated an exceptional career that showcases his passion, talent, and intellect. His penchant for successfully finding the dignity and honor in each character he explores has made this award-winning actor a powerful presence from the theatrical boards to the silver screen.

Courtney appears this season in Showtime’s Masters of Sex as Dr. Charles Hendricks, Chief of Staff at Buell Green Hospital; and is currently filming the role of Myles Dyson in Terminator: Genesis.

Courtney was honored as the winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play and received a Drama League Distinguished Performance Award nomination for his stellar performance as Hap Hairston in Nora Ephron’s Lucky Guy. He was also seen as FBI Special Agent Section Chief Sam Campbell in Jeff Eastin’s new drama for USA Network, “Graceland” and Manhattan defense attorney, Benjamin Barnes in ABC’s hit show “Revenge.”

Courtney walked into his first theater rehearsal while a student at Harvard University and found “home” for the first time. There he began to hone his craft by appearing with the Boston Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare and Company. During his tenure at the Yale School of Drama, he appeared with Yale Repertory Theatre and at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center. Soon, he headed to New York and quickly established himself on Broadway by being honored with a Tony Award nomination, the Theater World Award and Clarence Derwent Award for his debut performance in August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fences. He then received his second Tony Award nomination when he starred in John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation with Stockard Channing. Courtney received an Obie Award for his inspired work in South African playwright Athol Fugard’s My Children! My Africa!, starred in Vaclav Havel’s Temptationwith David Strathairn and as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet at the Public Theater, and performed to rave reviews with his wife, Angela Bassett, in John Guare’s U.S. premiere of the stage adaptation of His Girl Friday and The Front Page at Minneapolis’ renowned Guthrie Theater.

Courtney has easily transferred his talents from the stage to the silver screen. After his film debut as Spc. Abraham ‘Doc’ Johnson in Hamburger Hill, he appeared in several noteworthy films such as The Preacher’s Wife, Space Cowboys, The Adventures of Huck Finn, The Hunt for Red October, Cookie’s Fortune, The Last Supper, Hurricane Season,and Extraordinary Measures to name a few. Most recently he has been seen as Pastor Dale in Joyful Noise, Agent Jim Block in Final Destination 5, and Delvin in The Divide.

In addition to his prolific film career, Courtney’s talents have extended to many notable TV series and movies including Stanford Wedeck on ABC/Disney’s “Flash Forward;” Showtime’s “Twelve Angry Men” with the late George C. Scott and Jack Lemmon, and “Blind Faith” also for Showtime; August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” for Hallmark; HBO’s Emmy-nominated “The Tuskegee Airmen;” TNT’s “The Closer;” NBC’s “ER;” and NBC’s long-running hit series “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” in which he played A.D.A. Ron Carver. Courtney was the recipient of an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Drama series for his long-time portrayal of this role.

Courtney and his wife Angela Bassett wrote the book, FRIENDS: A LOVE STORY. The inspirational book is their personal love story, and chronicles their story about healthy relationships. He and Ms. Bassett are U.S. Ambassadors for UNICEF, and Courtney a native of Detroit, Michigan, is also an Ambassador for the BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA. They currently reside in Southern California with their twins, Bronwyn Golden and Slater Josiah.