S. Epatha Merkerson portrays Lieutenant Anita Van Buren in Universal Television's award-winning one-hour crime/drama series LAW & ORDER for NBC-TV. Van Buren is a tough catalyst of logic and wisdom who enforces accurate conclusions drawn from the detailed investigations of Detectives Briscoe season marks Merkerson's fourth as a series regular.

Merkerson is familiar to film audiences for her role as "the screaming wife" in the feature film "Terminator II." Her other film credits include "Jacob's Ladder," "Navy Seals" and "Loose Cannons." Merkerson's first television role was Reba, the Mail Lady on "Pee Wee's Playhouse." Her other television credits include "The Cosby Show," Hallmark's "A Place for Annie" with Sissy Spacek and two NBC series, "Mann and Machine" and "Here and Now." For the USA Network, Merkerson co-starred with Linda Hamilton in "A Mother's Prayer" and can be seen this fall with Jobeth Williams in the ABC-TV movie, "Breaking Free."

Merkerson and her husband, Toussaint L. Jones, split their time between New York City and Maryland.