Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder (born December 25, 1952) is a Guyanese actress based in the United States. She is best known for portraying Claudette Wyms on the American police drama series The Shield (2002–08), Mo'at in the Avatar franchise (2009–present), and medical examiner Dr. Loretta Wade on NCIS: New Orleans (2014–21). She has received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her roles in The X-Files (1994), ER (1994–97), The Shield, and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (2009).
Pounder portrayed recurring roles on television such as Irene Frederic in Warehouse 13 (2009–14) and District Attorney Tyne Patterson in Sons of Anarchy (2013–14). Pounder was also the voice of Amanda Waller in the animated series Justice League Unlimited (2004–06), a role that she has reprised in various later DC Comics media.
In film, she appeared in All That Jazz (1979), Go Tell It on the Mountain (1984), Prizzi's Honor (1985), Bagdad Cafe (1987), Postcards from the Edge (1990), Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990), Benny & Joon (1993), Demon Knight (1995), Face/Off (1997), End of Days (1999), Orphan (2009), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and The Naked Gun (2025).
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Early life and education
Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder was born in British Guiana (now Guyana) on December 25, 1952. Her name was given in honor of her grandmothers and godmothers. She was raised on a sugar plantation managed by her father, Ronald Arlington Pounder. At one point, her family moved to London, where her mother, Betsy Enid Arnella James, worked at the United States Embassy. Pounder attended a Catholic boarding school in Sussex, England.
Pounder enrolled at Hastings College of Arts and Technology where she studied painting, but dropped out in her first year after moving to the United States. Her family had already settled in New York while she was attending school. Pounder graduated from Ithaca College in 1975. She said her parents did not support her choice to be an actress; her mother wanted her to be a newscaster.
Career
Pounder made her film debut in Bob Fosse's musical drama All that Jazz (1979). She continued her career in New York City theater, where she starred in Shakespeare in the Park productions of Coriolanus and The Mighty Gents in 1979, and the Broadway play Open Admissions in 1984. She moved to Los Angeles in 1982. She starred in the film Bagdad Café, and has made smaller appearances in many other films.
Pounder focused primarily on her television career. In the early 1980s, she first appeared in guest roles on Hill Street Blues, and then on several shows (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 also co-starred in the Tales From the Crypt feature film Demon Knight (1995). She then returned to guest appearances on other shows, including The Practice, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Millennium, The West Wing (where she was considered for the role of C. J. Cregg), and the short-lived sitcom Women in Prison.
From 2002 to 2008, she starred as Detective Claudette Wyms in the FX police drama The Shield. For this role she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2005 and an NAACP Image Award. She had previously been nominated for an Emmy in 1995 for guest starring in The X-Files and in 1997 for her supporting role on ER. She 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 as Desdemona and Coldfire, and Justice League Unlimited as government agent Amanda Waller, which role she reprised for the animated film adaptation of the comic book Superman/Batman: Public Enemies as well as the video game Batman: Arkham Origins, its sequel Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, and another animated film that takes place in continuity with the games, Batman: Assault on Arkham.
Pounder was also one of the readers for the HBO film Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narrative (2003). She appeared on the Syfy series Warehouse 13 from 2009 until its finale on May 19, 2014. Pounder also was one of the stars of Fox's cancelled 2009 sitcom Brothers. Pounder was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her appearance in the BBC/HBO series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. She had a recurring role as DA Thyne Patterson on the FX crime drama series Sons of Anarchy (2013–14). She co-starred in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013). In Disney's The Lion Guard she voices Kongwe, the wise old turtle.
Advocacy
As one of the founders of Artists for a Free South Africa (later renamed Artists for a New South Africa) in 1989, along with a number of other Hollywood actors, including Alfre Woodard, Pounder helped to energize awareness of post-apartheid and HIV/AIDS issues. In an interview, she said about the pandemic: "When it's this massive disease, and it's affecting things in 5,000 different ways, it requires great strength and power – and there is power in numbers. So we need to involve as many people as we can, like we do with ANSA. I call it my little engine that could. It is a remarkable, tiny organization with a huge outreach. We use actors and artists with the biggest voices so they can use every opportunity to talk about AIDS."