Biography
Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1963) is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor portraying roles on both stage and screen. He first gained recognition portraying the role of Detective Bunk Moreland in the acclaimed HBO drama series The Wire from 2002 to 2008. His other notable television roles include the trombonist Antoine Batiste in Treme (2010–2013), James Greer in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (2018–2023), the a...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Highest 2 Lowest
2025
as Gabe
When a titan music mogul, widely known as having the "best ears in the business", is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death m...

Superman
2025
as Perry White
Superman, a journalist in Metropolis, embarks on a journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent.

Thunderbolts*
2025
as Congressman Gary
After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, seven disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront th...

Becoming Frederick Douglass
2022
as Frederick Douglass (voice)
In Becoming Frederick Douglass, acclaimed director Stanley Nelson and co-director Nicole London bring to life the story of an American icon. Using Dou...

Don't Hang Up
2022
as Chris Daniels
Follows Chris Daniels, a man who receives a call that his daughter has been kidnapped. The kidnappers demand that he completes a series of different m...

Some Old Black Man
2021
as Calvin Jones
In the play, Calvin Jones (Pierce), a hip, coolly intellectual African American college professor moves his 82-year-old ailing but doggedly independen...

Between the World and Me
2020
as Self
Based on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ #1 New York Times bestseller and originally adapted and staged by the Apollo Theater, this special combines elements of tha...

Clemency
2019
as Jonathan Williams
Years of carrying out death row executions have taken a toll on prison warden Bernadine Williams. As she prepares to execute another inmate, Bernadine...

Burning Cane
2019
as Reverend Tillman
Set among the cane fields of rural Louisiana, Burning Cane follows a deeply religious mother struggling to reconcile her convictions of faith with the...

Burning Cane
2019
Producer
Set among the cane fields of rural Louisiana, Burning Cane follows a deeply religious mother struggling to reconcile her convictions of faith with the...

Piercing
2019
as The Doctor
After kissing his wife and baby goodbye for a seemingly normal business trip, Reed checks himself into a hotel room to accomplish something he’s alway...

27 Years: The Exoneration of Valentino Dixon
2018
as Narrator (voice)
Valentino Dixon is a talented artist that used art to keep his sanity while in prison, often drawing up to ten hours a day after he was wrongfully con...

One Last Thing
2018
as Dylan
Dylan Derringer, a lonely dentist in Florida, is confronted by a figure from the past bringing news that sends him on an eventful and ultimately life-...

Rodents of Unusual Size
2017
as Narrator (voice)
After decades of hurricanes and oil spills, Louisiana faces a new threat - hordes of monstrous 20 pound swamp rats. Known as "nutria", these invasive ...

The Forever Tree
2017
as Doctor Willow
In 1920, a young African-American woman sets off to Africa to find a tree that promises eternal life.

Bad Moms
2016
as Principal Daryl Burr
When three overworked and under-appreciated moms are pushed beyond their limits, they ditch their conventional responsibilities for a jolt of long ove...

Confirmation
2016
as Clarence Thomas
Judge Clarence Thomas' nomination to the United States' Supreme Court is called into question when former colleague, Anita Hill, testifies that he had...

Grease Live
2016
as Coach Calhoun
After enjoying a holiday romance, high school students Danny and Sandy are unexpectedly reunited when she transfers to Rydell High, where she must con...

The Runner
2015
as Frank Legrand
In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician (Nicolas Cage) finds his plans of restoration unraveling as h...

The Gift
2015
as Detective Mills
Simon and Robyn are a young married couple whose life is going as planned until a chance run-in with Simon's high school acquaintance sends their worl...

Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band
2015
as Andy Kirk (voice)
Jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams was a genius ahead of her time. From child prodigy to "Boogie-Woogie Queen" to groundbreaking composer to mentoring som...

Selma
2014
as Rev. Hosea Williams
"Selma," as in Alabama, the place where segregation in the South was at its worst, leading to a march that ended in violence, forcing a famous stateme...

Elsa & Fred
2014
as Armande
After his daughter persuades him to move into a new apartment, aged widower Fred strikes up a friendship with his eccentric 74-year-old neighbour Elsa...

Foreclosure
2014
as Virgil
The story of a broken family striving to stay together while a curse and the ghosts of a haunted house try to tear them apart.

Runaway Hearts
2014
as Paul
Two kids on the run from a scary life come across two adults running away from their past.

Four
2013
as Joe
Adapted from a stage play by Christopher Shinn, the debut feature from Joshua Sanchez is a provocative rumination on race and sexuality set on a swelt...

Möbius
2013
as Bob
An FSB officer falls in love with his agent, an American woman who works as a trader in a Russian bank.

Parker
2013
as Carlson
A thief with a unique code of professional ethics is double-crossed by his crew and left for dead. Assuming a new disguise and forming an unlikely all...

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
2012
as J. Jenks
After the birth of Renesmee, the Cullens gather other vampire clans in order to protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family in fron...

Lay the Favorite
2012
as Dave the Rave
A former stripper's talent with numbers lands her a job with a professional gambler who runs a sports book in Las Vegas.

Horrible Bosses
2011
as Detective Hagan
For Nick, Kurt and Dale, the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses into dust. Quitting ...

The Mortician
2011
as Clinger
Alienated and cold, The Mortician (Method Man) processes the corpses with steely disregard. He is lonely and isolated. He is introduced to his new emp...

A Plea for Modernism
2011
as Narrator (voice)
Phillis Wheatley Elementary School was a significant landmark in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, serving as an important educational institutio...

Night Catches Us
2010
as David Gordon
After growing up during the tumultuous 1960s, ex-Black Panther Marcus returns to his home in Philadelphia in 1976 and reconnects with Pat, the widow o...

Love Ranch
2010
as Naasih Mohammed
Story of a couple that starts the first legal brothel in Nevada and a boxer they own a piece of.

New Orleans: A Living Museum of Music
2010
as Narrator (voice)
an intimate look at the traditions associated with New Orleans’ music and the preservation of those traditions through the work of local musicians and...

Beyond All Boundaries
2009
as Sgt. Thomas McPhatter
A visual, 4-D experience of the battles of World War II featuring stories, archival footage and advanced special effects.

The Wire: The Last Word
2007
as Self
A documentary exploring the role of the media in relation to the acclaimed series The Wire.

The Wire Odyssey
2007
as Self
A retrospective documentary of the first four seasons of the acclaimed series The Wire.

2000: Bunk and McNulty
2007
as Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland
Det. Moreland does not like his new partner, McNulty, until they find they have a common hobby.

Tapping the Wire
2007
as Self
Long-time Wire fan Charlie Brooker takes a journey to the mean streets of Baltimore to meet the cast and crew of the series, and undertakes a mission ...

Pariah
2007
as Arthur
A lesbian teenager unsuccessfully juggles multiple identities to avoid rejection from her friends and family. Mounting pressure from home, school, and...

Life Support
2007
as Slick
The true-life story of a mother who overcame an addiction to crack and became a positive role model and an AIDS activist in the black community.

I Think I Love My Wife
2007
as Sean
Richard Cooper is a married man and father of two who is just plain bored with married life. Not getting any sex from his wife, he resorts to ogling r...

Stay Alive
2006
as Detective Thibodeaux
After the brutal death of a friend, a group of friends find themselves in possession of a video-game called "Stay Alive," a blood-curdling true story ...

Ray
2004
as Wilbur Brassfield
Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make h...

Land of Plenty
2004
as Henry
After living abroad, Lana returns to the United States, and finds that her uncle is a reclusive vagabond with psychic wounds from the Vietnam War.

A Hole in One
2004
as Dan
A gangster makes an employee pose as a doctor to prevent his troubled girlfriend from getting a lobotomy.

The Fighting Temptations
2003
as Reverend Lewis
Darrin Hill, a slick-talking but down-on- his-luck NYC advertising exec, returns to his hometown in Georgia to claim the inheritance his aunt left him...

Brown Sugar
2002
as Simon
Sidney and Dre can attribute their lifelong friendship and the launch of their careers to one single childhood instant... witnessing the birth of hip-...

The Gilded Six Bits
2001
as Otis D. Slimmons
The lives of a loving husband and wife collide with that of a wealthy hustler.

Abilene
1999
as Reverend Tillis
When he finds out that his estranged brother is dying, a proud but stubborn old man decides to drive in his lawnmower all the way to the far away hosp...

The 24 Hour Woman
1999
as Roy Labelle
Grace tries to be the perfect mother and TV producer but finds trouble in juggling both.

Bulworth
1998
as Fred
A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by affecti...

The Advocate's Devil
1997
as Justin
A charismatic basketball star (Holt McCallany) is accused of rape. A lawyer (Ken Olin) in need of a big win is brought in to get the star off. The law...

Sleepers
1996
as Little Caesar
Two gangsters seek revenge on the state jail worker who during their stay at a youth prison sexually abused them. A sensational court hearing takes pl...

Get on the Bus
1996
as Wendell
Several Black men take a cross-country bus trip to attend the Million Man March in Washington, DC in 1995. On the bus are an eclectic set of character...

Never Give Up: The Jimmy V Story
1996
as John Saunders
The biography of Jimmy Valvano, American sports reporter and basketball coach, who died of cancer in 1993.

Waiting to Exhale
1995
as Michael
Cheated on, mistreated and stepped on, the women are holding their breath, waiting for the elusive "good man" to break a string of less-than-stellar l...

Hackers
1995
as S.S. Agent Richard Gill
Along with his new friends, a teenager who was arrested by the US Secret Service and banned from using a computer for writing a computer virus discove...

Bye Bye Love
1995
as Hector
With varying degrees of success, recently divorced friends Dave, Vic and Donny are trying to move on with their lives. Vic feels vilified by his ex-wi...

It Could Happen to You
1994
as Bo Williams
Charlie Lang is a simple, kindhearted New York City cop. When he realizes he has no money to tip waitress Yvonne Biasi, Lang offers her half the winni...

Strapped
1993
as District Attorney
Ex-con attempting to go straight runs across serious problems. His girlfriend gets arrested for dealing crack to an undercover police officer. In a de...

Manhattan Murder Mystery
1993
as Policeman
A middle-aged couple suspects foul play when their neighbor's wife suddenly drops dead.

Malcolm X
1992
as Ben Thomas
A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he b...

Unnatural Pursuits
1992
as Cabbie
An English playwright sacrifices his health waiting for his play's make-or-break opening on Broadway.
A Matter of Degrees
1991
as Wells Dennard
Max can't face his yuppie future. Graduation's only weeks away and he's having second thoughts. Inspired by the campus radio station, he decides to ge...

A Rage in Harlem
1991
as Louis
A beautiful black gangster's moll flees to Harlem with a trunkload of gold after a shootout, unaware that the rest of the gang, and a few other unsavo...
The 10 Million Dollar Getaway
1991
as Parnell "Stacks" Edwards
Jimmy Burke and his friends steal 10 million from the Lufthansa office in New York. The FBI has no idea who the thieves are until Burke girlfriend giv...

Family Business
1989
as Prosecutor
Jessie is an aging career criminal who has been in more jails, fights, schemes, and lineups than just about anyone else. His son Vito, while currently...

Casualties of War
1989
as MacIntire
During the Vietnam War, a soldier finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.

The Money Pit
1986
as Paramedic
After being evicted from their Manhattan apartment, a couple buy what looks like the home of their dreams—only to find themselves saddled with a bank-...
King of the South
N/A
Upcoming biopic of Master P, the hip-hop mogul, CEO, and founder of No Limit Records.

The Thrill Is On
N/A
as B.B. King
A drama centered on the friendship between B.B King and young musician Michael Zanetis.
Untitled Jack Ryan Film
N/A
as James Greer
Described as the next evolutionary step to the Amazon series of the same name.