S. Epatha Merkerson has spent more than four decades building one of the most distinctive careers in American theater, television and film, including playing Lt. Anita Van Buren on Law & Order for 17 seasons. And, she is still adding to it.
The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress was in Atlanta in March to receive the On Her Shoulders Preservation Award from the Black Women Film Network and to attend the opening of a new exhibit at the Apex Museum on Auburn Avenue, featuring costumes from her decade-long run as hospital administrator Sharon Goodwin on NBC’s “Chicago Med.”
Merkerson sat down with WABE Arts and Culture Editor Sherri Daye Scott to talk about the women who shaped her career, the research behind her characters, why theater remains her first love, and what it means to find herself on the receiving end of honors she once only watched others receive. The Apex Museum exhibit, which is free and open to the public, runs through April 16.
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