S. Epatha Merkerson says NBC had a problem with her big afro before she was cast as Anita Van Buren on Law & Order. She said Dick Wolf called her in and told her, “It’s your hair. NBC has a problem with your hair,” before the role was hers.
“I said, ‘What do you mean?’ Because I had a big afro,” Merkerson said in the interview. Her answer was blunt: “It’s the hair? I’ll go home and fix it, and I’ll come back,” and she did just that.
Dick Wolf and Van Buren
When she returned, Wolf moved quickly. “When I walked in, he just looked at me and he said, ‘That’s Van Buren.’ That’s how it started,” Merkerson said. The casting hurdle turned into the start of a role that began in season 4 and reached 1993, when she made her debut as the detective squad chief.
Her account gives a rare look at how small appearance disputes can shape a TV hire before a character ever reaches viewers. In this case, the line between no and yes was a hairstyle, and the show’s creator clearly cared enough to wait for the version he wanted.
17 years on Law & Order
Merkerson played Van Buren for 17 years until the original run ended in 2010. She had already guested on the show as a different character two years before her 1993 debut, which makes the final casting even more striking: the network had seen her before, but the right fit still had to be negotiated on sight.
That long run matters because it turned a casting note into one of the franchise’s most durable roles. For viewers, the backstory is simple: the character that lasted 17 years almost did not happen until the hair issue was addressed.
Chicago Med for 11 years
In 2015, Merkerson became a regular cast member of Chicago Med, and she said she has remained on the show for 11 years. That gives the new casting story extra weight, because it shows the same actor still working inside Dick Wolf’s TV universe long after the original Law & Order run ended.
“My relationship with Dick, it was an immediate connection,” she said, and her own account makes clear why that connection endured. The practical takeaway is plain: she fixed what was in the way, walked back in, and turned a hair dispute into a 17-year screen presence.
