Emmy Award-winning actress S. Epatha Merkerson is set to deliver the address at Talladega College’s 150th Commencement ceremony this May. The university’s 150th Commencement ceremony is set to take place Sunday, May 4, 2025, in the Student Activity Center Arena at 9:00 a.m. Talladega College is the oldest private HBCU in the state of Alabama.
Best known for her role as NYPD Lieutenant Anita Van Buren on NBC’s Law & Order, Merkerson has a career that spans almost 50 years. Her work on various projects has earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, four NAACP Image Awards, two Obie Awards, and two Tony Award nominations. She made her acting debut as Reba the Mail Lady on Pee-wee’s Playhouse, The Cosby Show, and other series. Merkerson appeared in 17 consecutive seasons of Law & Order before leaving the show in 2010. In 2014 she joined the cast of the NBC medical drama Chicago Med as Sharon Goodwin, the Chief of Patient and Medical Services. Chicago Med is now in its tenth season.
She has appeared in a number of television and movie projects, including Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It, Radio, Find Our Missing, The Good Wife, Lackawanna Blues, Black Snake Moan, Terminator II: Judgement Day, Navy SEALS, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, and the entire Chicago franchise. In addition to her many television and film credits, she also has numerous theater credits as well, including Come Back Little Sheba, August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, I’m Not Stupid, The Old Settler, and Conversations with Mary Lou Williams.
Merkerson holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre performance from Wayne State University. She has been awarded honorary doctorates from her alma mater, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Montclair State University, and the University of Pittsburgh.
