# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/s-epatha-merkerson
# Generated: 2026-08-15T06:46:43.633Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/s-epatha-merkerson"
name: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
slug: "s-epatha-merkerson"
description: "S. Epatha Merkerson is an American actress. She has received accolades for her work, including 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 is known for her portrayal of NYPD Lieutenant Anita Van Buren on the NBC police procedural drama series Law & Order, a role she played from 1993 to 2010, appearing in 388 episodes of the series. She is also known for playing Reba the Mail Lady on Pee-wee's Playhouse and Sharon Goodwin in the NBC medical drama Chicago Med since the series premiered in November 2015."
tagline: "American actress"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/S._Epatha_Merkerson_on_Behind_The_Velvet_Rope.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "female"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Actors"
  slug: "actors"
profileType:
  name: "Actor"
  slug: "actor"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q33999"
birthDate: "1952-11-28"
livingStatus: "LIVING"
scores:
  popularity:           56.84
  momentum:             0.2329609939669076
  historical:           23.30009866666667
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     70
  profileCompleteness:  80
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
platforms:
  - platform:  "INSTAGRAM"
    url:       "https://www.instagram.com/merk2577/"
    handle:    "merk2577"
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0580924/"
    handle:    "nm0580924"
sources:
  - url: "https://musicbrainz.org/artist/b5e7a14b-524f-438b-80cd-22c7683011f2"
    title: "MusicBrainz"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B3._%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AB%D8%A7_%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%86"
    title: "س. إيباثا ماركرسون"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B3._%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AB%D8%A7_%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%86"
    title: "س. ايباثا ماركرسون"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D8%B3_%D8%A7%D9%BE%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%A7_%D9%85%D8%B1%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%86"
    title: "اس اپاتا مرکرسون"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A9._%D7%90%D7%A4%D7%90%D7%AA%D7%94_%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%A7%D7%A8%D7%A1%D7%95%D7%9F"
    title: "ש. אפאתה מרקרסון"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ht.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "Sharon Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A8%E3%83%91%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9E%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BD%E3%83%B3"
    title: "S・エパサ・マーカーソン"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._%EC%9D%B4%ED%8E%98%EC%9D%B4%EC%82%AC_%EB%A8%B8%EC%BB%A4%EC%8A%A8"
    title: "S. 이페이사 머커슨"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BD%2C_%D0%AD%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0"
    title: "Меркерсон, Эпата"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A8._%D0%95%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0_%D0%9C%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BD"
    title: "Ш. Епата Меркерсон"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Epatha_Merkerson"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%95%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0_%D0%9C%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BD"
    title: "Епата Меркерсон"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ur.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B3_%D8%A7%DB%8C%D9%BE%D8%AA%DA%BE%D8%A7_%D9%85%D8%B1%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%86"
    title: "ایس ایپتھا مرکرسن"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1198897"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://www.themoviedb.org/person/3978"
    title: "S. Epatha Merkerson"
    type:  "DATABASE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump