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Fresh Air

Wendell Pierce is a proud journeyman actor

6/23/202644 min

Wendell Pierce is working as hard as ever. He says he's motivated by the "ticking clock of mortality" — and the desire to challenge himself as an actor. He's currently starring in the Shakespeare Theatre Company production of “Othello.” He spoke with Tonya Mosley about aiming for a trifecta of TV, film and theater roles, why he almost left ‘The Wire,’ and caring for his late father.

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Clips

One Line’s Dangerous History
Refusing Historical Erasure
Stages Of Actor Fame
Hijacking A Fosse Audition
Father’s Final Moments
Decoding Shakespeare’s Verse

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Speaker 10:00

    This message comes from Capella University. That spark you feel? That's your drive for more. Capella University's FlexPath learning format lets you earn your degree at your pace without putting life on pause. Learn more at capella.edu.

  2. Tonya Mosley· Host0:14

    This is Fresh Air. I'm Tonya Mosley. My guest today, actor Wendell Pierce, is taking on a part he's wanted to play for years, Shakespeare's Othello, one of the most demanding roles ever written for the stage. The classic is a story of a celebrated military leader who is slowly manipulated into doubting his own wife until jealousy and deception consume him. Pierce is known to many as Detective Bunk Moreland on The Wire and Antoine Batiste on HBO's Treme. On Broadway, he became the first Black actor to play Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, earning a 2023 Tony nomination for the role. His range these days runs just as wide, a police captain on CBS's Elsbeth, a CIA officer in Jack Ryan: Ghost War, and a villain in Raising Kanan on Starz. He plays Othello at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. until June 28th. Wendell Pierce, welcome to Fresh Air.

  3. Wendell Pierce· Guest1:17

    Thank you for having me, Tonya.

  4. Tonya Mosley· Host1:19

    Okay, so we are talking just a few hours before you go on stage there in D.C. as Othello.

  5. Wendell Pierce· Guest1:25

    Mm-hmm.

  6. Tonya Mosley· Host1:26

    And what, what is your head like a few hours before you

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