Wendell Edward Pierce was born on December 8, 1963 in New Orleans, Louisiana to a teacher and a decorated World War II veteran who worked as a maintenance engineer. He also has two brothers. Pierce was raised in the black middle-class community of Pontchartrain Park, the first African-American post-war suburb. The neighborhood was wiped out during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, including Pierce's family home.
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Wendell attended Benjamin Franklin High School, and after graduation he studied in New Orleans Centre for Creative Arts, where he was a Presidential Scholar of the Arts. Then he moved to New York City, where he attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division from 1981 to 1985. He graduated as a member of Group 14 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
Pierce began his acting career in the late of 80s. He appeared with a minor role in TV series “” in the 1987. His early projects include “The Money Pit”, “Casualties of War”, “Family Business”, “A Matter of Degrees”, “Vietnam War Story”, “A Man Called Hawk” and “Capital News”. He got his first breakthrough from the TV serial The Equalizer playing the role of Dr. Wolff. He also appeared on a stage being a young actor in “The Winter's Tale” at the Tulane Shakespeare Festival. He has performed on Broadway in staged productions of The "Piano Lesson", "Serious Money" and "The Boys of Winter". He has played off Broadway in "The Cherry Orchard" for which he was nominated for a VIV Award for Lead Actor. Wendell played detective Bunk Moreland in “The Wire” and trombonist Antoine Batiste in TV series “Treme”. He also appeared as Michael Davenport in Waiting to Exhale. He has made his appearances in a number of movies like “Brown Sugar”, “Land of Plenty”, “Parker” and “Stay Alive”.
In the 2016 Pierce appeared in musical chops by portraying Coach Calhoun in the live TV airing of “Grease!” Pierce also returned to HBO's lineup that spring for the controversial, critically well-received TV movie “Confirmation”. Currently Pierce involved in TV series sitcom The Odd Couple, along with Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon.
He also became the host of the nationally syndicated, Peabody Award-winning radio program, Jazz at Lincoln Center, which features live recordings from Jazz at Lincoln Center's House of Swing in the 2009. Pierce also is a businessman, the Fast Company named Pierce one of the "100 Most Creative People in Business." in 2013. He is owner of a grocery store in New Orleans. He also is one of the top fundraisers for Obama during the 2012 presidential election. Pierce was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for his portrayal of "Joe" in the movie “Four”. He is the person, who doesn’t like to show his personal life for public. He never revealed anything about his girlfriends and dating history. Currently he is married but the couple is never been in news and he never told about his wife. He has a net worth of $2 million dollars.
Last Modified: Apr 7, 2020
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