Wendell Pierce: An actor’s journey

He’s said that nothing in his career gave him as much anxiety as training at Juilliard: “Yes, the anxiety of, you know, am I doing the right thing? I’m going into an unknown world. Will I have what it takes to be just a working actor? And so, I was reminded looking in that class, it was very touching to see these young people at a point in the journey that I recall with fondness – and with a lot of anxiety, too! But I knew I was exactly where I wanted to be.”

And it’s where he belongs. At 61, Pierce is among the most prolific and respected actors of his generation, with standout roles in “The Wire,” “Treme,” “Suits,” “Selma,” and now, the quirky CBS drama, “Elsbeth.” Later this year, he’ll play editor-in-chief Perry White in the newest Superman movie. He’ll also take on Othello at the Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington, D.C.

No matter the part, Pierce brings his own humanity to it. He said, “In every role, there’s a little part of Wendell in it. At the end of the run, I turn the lights down low in the dressing room and I just see the silhouette in the mirror. And I have a good cry and say goodbye. Right? I say, ‘Man, you taught me so much about myself. I’ve learned so much from you. I hope I see you again. And I know there’ll be times where I will see you again.'”

That sense of self-discovery began in his hometown of New Orleans, and the historical Black neighborhood of Pontchatrain Park. “It was like a Black Mayberry,” he said. “The first Black mayor came out of there, the first Black DA. Lawyers, doctors, postal workers, maintenance men. That was the community I grew up in. It was absolutely wonderful. And it was totally destroyed. We were destroyed by Katrina. We were part of the deepest flooding. And we brought it back, and now we’re on the National Register of Historic Places.”

His mother, Althea, was a beloved schoolteacher. “She taught everybody in the neighborhood. And I just remember how, everywhere I went, I knew that I had to live up to being her son,” Pierce said.

His father, Amos Pierce, Jr., was a World War II veteran. “He was Army unit attached to the 3rd Marines in the invasion of Saipan. And after that, his unit received medals of commendation. And because he was there with the Black unit, the officer didn’t believe him when he told him. He said, ‘Listen, I think we received medals.’ And it was a woman who said, ‘Yeah, right. You? You didn’t receive anything.'”

It would take 65 years for the injustice to be corrected. “We gave him his medals on Veteran’s Day 2010,” Pierce said. “I tell that story to say that he was a man who loved this country even when the country didn’t love him back. And even after receiving the medals, there was a great pride. He didn’t let the anger destroy him. And that was a great lesson.”

Pierce sees his own life as a series of lessons – and acting is part of that journey. He said, “Every audition for me is an opening and closing night, where you get to perform: This is what I would do with this material. You do whatever you like from this point on. And then you leave the room.”

And he says his best work – be it as Detective Bunk Moreland on “The Wire,” or in Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X,” comes from the writing. He said, “The really good material is the thing that will define it, you know, and make it classic. Something that speaks to people across time and place no matter where you are, that’s gonna speak to people years from now.”

A career highlight was in 2022, when Pierce became the first Black actor to play Willy Loman on Broadway, in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.”

Why does he think it took so long? “The ignorance of biases and bigotry, and when people just don’t have the ability to see others’ humanity,” Pierce said. “And it’s something that people are very conscious of at times, and then sometimes they’re not very conscious of it.”

And it’s Pierce’s own compassion that draws people towards him, like Carrie Preston, his co-star on “Elsbeth.” She said, “This kind of connection isn’t always guaranteed. We’ve got it here. I’m grateful for it.”

And it’s what his fellow Juilliard classmate Bradley Whitford recalled when he surprised Pierce with a message during our interview: “Wendell, I miss you. I love you. I am so proud of you, not only for the great actor that you are and the dear friend, but what an amazing citizen you are. I love you!”

“That’s very special,” said Pierce. “Brad and I, we’re part of a very special group here at Juilliard, our class. You know, when you go through the fire together, you’re connected forever.”

Pierce has said he wants to make his mark. I asked, “Do you think that you have? And what is that mark? What do you want to leave for people?”

“I was afraid that I may not have the opportunity to leave my mark, that my best days were behind me,” he replied. “I had that fear, and I tapped into that fear when I did ‘Death of a Salesman.’ And while I still have the fear, now I have courage.

“I hope I can have an impact on someone else that way, the way they have an impact on me.”

To watch a trailer for Season 2 of “Elsbeth” click on the video player below:

       
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Story produced by Gabriel Falcon. Editor: Mike Levine.