NEW ORLEANS — Wendell Pierce, an acclaimed actor from New Orleans who has played an array of notable roles on stage, in movies, and on TV over the years has been nominated for a Tony Award for his performance of salesman Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, which won much acclaim during its Broadway run following a successful launch in England.
The Associated Press said that Pierce, upon hearing of the nomination, wept openly and said his emotions were “the culmination of years of work that can have an impact on people.” He added: “Getting that recognition from your colleagues, I did not know how profoundly moving it would be. And I burst into tears. But they were tears of joy.”
Pierce won a Tony Award for producing Clybourne Park on Broadway in 2012 but this is his first major award nomination for his acting work despite a litany of noteworthy and celebrated performances on HBO's The Wire, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan and HBO's Treme.
He also had a somewhat recurring role as a defense attorney on Law and Order.
Pierce grew up in New Orleans and attended Ben Franklin High School and NOCCA, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.
Pierce will face off against both stars of Suzan-Lori Parks’ “Topdog/Underdog” — Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Corey Hawkins — as well as former “Will & Grace” star Sean Hayes from “Good Night, Oscar,” and Stephen McKinley Henderson, who earned his second nomination for “Between Riverside and Crazy,” having gotten one in 2019 for “Fences.”
"This definitely is a role of a lifetime," he said of the role of Loman, which drew rave reviews in London and on Broadway. "This is, this will be the high watermark of my career. Definitely, this is the role that is iconic. It is an American classic. It is the equivalent of playing Lear or Hamlet, I actually call it the American Hamlet and Death of a Salesman puts you into a fraternity of, of actors who have been challenged by the role and has done the role since he was introduced, you know, 70 years ago."
Pierce has stayed involved in New Orleans and has been a vocal presence on both the city's promise and its problems.
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