COURTNEY B. VANCE
The former Law & Order: Criminal Intent TV star won an Emmy for his portrayal of Johnnie Cochran in The People
v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Now Vance, 57, takes on a fight of another kind as Col. Gideon Forster, waging war against The Mummy, in theaters June 9.
Tell us about your character in The Mummy.
I’ve played these types before—the police chief, the bring-me-theevidence guy in Law & Order. He’s trying to keep [co-star] Tom Cruise in line, trying to make sure that the whole shebang doesn’t collapse on itself and that the collateral damage is not catastrophic.
What did you know about the O.J. trial before you started The People v. O.J. Simpson?
[O.J.] was my hero, and when that whole thing went down, I tuned it out. It was too much for me. So in doing my research, everything that happened in that trial in terms of the investigation was new to me. It was an amazing journey. I had met Johnnie Cochran, but I didn’t know anything about his life. He had one of those big lives, like Muhammad Ali and Nelson Mandela.
You’re a Harvard grad, and you went to drama school at Yale. Did your Ivy League background help you in Hollywood?
No. In fact, a couple of times it hindered me. I remember I was up for the role of Jim in Huck Finn, and they didn’t think I would be able to play a slave. I said, “Oh,
please.” I had to go in there and prove to them that I [could] play a slave.