Wendell Pierce
| Wendell Pierce | |
|---|---|
Pierce in 2007.
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| Born |
December 8, 1963 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1986–present |
Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in Suits as high-powered attorney Robert Zane, and the father of Rachel Zane played by Meghan Markle, HBO dramas, such as Detective Bunk Moreland in The Wire and trombonist Antoine Batiste in Treme, and as Michael Davenport in Waiting to Exhale. Currently Pierce has a starring role as Teddy on the CBS sitcom The Odd Couple.
Pierce was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, one of three sons of a teacher and a decorated World War II veteran who worked as a maintenance engineer. His father's segregated Army unit helped Marines win the Battle of Saipan in 1944. Pierce has said of his father's experience: "When the country wasn’t loving my father, my father was loving his country. It's the ultimate act of patriotism."
Pierce was raised in the black middle-class community of Pontchartrain Park, the first African-American post-war suburb. His father, along with many black veterans, moved into the neighborhood after returning home from the war. The neighborhood was wiped out during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, including Pierce's family home, which was flooded with 14 feet of water.
After attending Benjamin Franklin High School, Pierce graduated from the New Orleans Centre for Creative Arts, where he was a Presidential Scholar of the Arts. As a young actor, he appeared in The Winter's Tale at the Tulane Shakespeare Festival. He produced and hosted Think About It, a youth-themed talk show, for the local NBC affiliate station, and also hosted a weekly jazz show on WYLD-FM Radio called Extensions from Congo Square.
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