CCH Pounder

Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder, widely known as CCH Pounder, was born on December 25, 1952, in British Guiana (now Guyana). Named after her grandmothers and godmothers, she was raised on a sugar plantation managed by her father. Her mother worked at the United States Embassy in London, where the family lived for a time. CCH attended a Catholic boarding school in Sussex, England, before studying painting at Hastings College of Arts and Technology. She moved to the United States and finished her education at Ithaca College in 1975. Her acting debut was in the film All That Jazz (1979). Thereafter, she focused primarily on her television career. In the early 1980s, she appeared in guest roles on Hill Street Blues, The Cosby Show, L.A. Law, The X-Files, Living Single, and Quantum Leap, before landing a long-running recurring role as Dr. Angela Hicks on ER from 1994 to 1997. She has portrayed several influential characters in various shows and movies such as Mo'at in the Avatar franchise, Amanda Waller in DC media, and Claudette Wyms in The Shield. Her performances have earned her four Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Pounder has also lent her voice to several video games and animated projects, including Aladdin and the King of Thieves, True Crime: Streets of LA, Gargoyles, and Justice League Unlimited. Highly regarded for her role as Detective Claudette Wyms in the FX police drama The Shield, she received both a Primetime Emmy Award nomination and an NAACP Image Award for it. Pounder also appeared on the Syfy series Warehouse 13 and on the FX crime drama series Sons of Anarchy. Besides her rich acting career, Pounder has been a long-term advocate of post-apartheid and HIV/AIDS awareness and was one of the founders of Artists for a New South Africa to energize awareness of these issues.