Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran | American Crime Story | FX

Courtney B. Vance

Johnnie Cochran

Courtney B. Vance stars as Johnnie Cochran in FX's limited series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.

Career Highlights

Vance’s talents have extended to many notable TV series and movies including the roles of “Dr. Charles Hendricks” on Showtime’s Masters of Sex; Manhattan defense attorney “Benjamin Barnes” in ABC’s Revenge and “Stanford Wedeck” on ABC/Disney’s Flash Forward. He also appeared in Twelve Angry Men and Blind Faith for Showtime; August Wilson's The Piano Lesson for Hallmark; HBO's The Tuskegee Airmen; TNT's The Closer; NBC's ER; and NBC's long-running hit series Law & Order: Criminal Intent, in which he played A.D.A. “Ron Carver.”

After his film debut as “Spc. Abraham ‘Doc’ Johnson” in Hamburger Hill, he appeared in several noteworthy films such as The Hunt for Red October, The Preacher’s Wife, Space Cowboys, The Adventures of Huck Finn, Cookie’s Fortune, The Last Supper, Hurricane Season and Extraordinary Measures. He also played “Pastor Dale” in Joyful Noise, “Agent Jim Block” in Final Destination 5, and “Delvin” in The Divide.

Vance began to hone his craft by appearing with the Boston Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare and Company, the Yale Repertory Theatre, and at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center. He quickly established himself on Broadway by being honored with a Tony Award nomination, the Theater World Award and the Clarence Derwent Award for his debut performance in August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fences. He received his second Tony Award nomination starring in John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation with Stockard Channing. He received an Obie Award for his inspired work in South African playwright Athol Fugard’s My Children! My Africa!, starred as “Mercutio” in Romeo and Juliet at the Public Theater, and performed to rave reviews with his wife, Angela Bassett in John Guare’s U.S. premiere of the stage adaptation of His Girl Friday and The Front Page at Minneapolis’ renowned Guthrie Theater. He was the 2013 winner of the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play in Nora Ephron’s Lucky Guy and also received a Drama League Distinguished Performance Award nomination for this stellar performance.

Vance and his wife Angela Bassett wrote the book, Friends: A Love Story. The inspirational book is their personal love story, and chronicles their story about healthy relationships. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he is a proud Ambassador for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Currently he resides in Southern California with Angela and their twins, Bronwyn Golden and Slater Josiah.

Sterling K. Brown Headshot

Sterling K. Brown

as Christopher Darden