Courtney B. Vance
Biography
Courtney B. Vance
From Harvard to Hollywood, Courtney B. Vance has graced both stage and screen with astounding talent. This combined with his extreme passion makes Vance a force to be reckoned with. Most recently, Vance and wife Angela Bassett completed their first book about healthy relationships, love and family.
Vance may be best known for his five-year run on NBC’s drama “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and was nominated for the NAACP Image Award (Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series), for his role as New York Assistant District Attorney Ron Carver.
Vance’s talents have also translated well to the big screen and are apparent in his roles in films such as Clint Eastwood’s Space Cowboys, Penny Marshalls’ The Preacher’s Wife opposite Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington, John Mc Tiernan’s The Hunt for Red October and the big budget thriller D-Tox. He was also seen in Robert Altman’s small town mystery, Cookie’s Fortune, as well as in Disney’s Huckleberry Finn. Vance’s other feature film work includes Hamburger Hill, Love and Action in Chicago, which he also co-produced, a starring role in the darkly comedic satire, The Last Supper andhis critically acclaimed portrayal of “Bobby Seale” in Gramercy Pictures’ Panther.
On the small screen, Vance starred in the Emmy nominated Hallmark Hall of Fame production of The Boys Next Door, as well as the Emmy nominated HBO Original Movie, The Tuskegee Airmen opposite Laurence Fishburne and Andre Braugher. He starred alongside Charles S. Dutton in the Showtime feature Blind Faith, for which he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Actor. He also appeared in the Showtime production of 12 Angry Men alongsideJack Lemmon and George C. Scott; the HBO Original Movie Ambushed; Showtime’s The Naked City; Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story as Clarence Brandley and TNT’s Percy & Thunder alongside James Earl Jones.
Vance received recognition for his starring role in the HBO Original Movie, The Affair, in the form of a Cable Ace Award nomination for Best Actor and also his brilliant performance in the Emmy nominated Hallmark Hall of Fame production of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson.
Vance, who was born in Detroit, Michigan, graduated from Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts degree and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale School of Drama. After moving to New York, he quickly established himself on the theatrical scene with numerous theatrical appearances and two Tony Award nominations. The first, for his mesmerizing performance in August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fences, which earned him not only a Tony Award nomination, but the Theater World Award, and the Clarence Derwent Award. His second Tony nomination was for John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation, in which he portrayed a frighteningly seductive con man who passes himself off as the son of Sidney Poitier.
Vance currently resides in Southern California with his wife, actress Angela Bassett and their twins.
Courtney B. Vance
