CCH Pounder

CCH Pounder plays Detective Claudette Wyms in The Shield. Claudette's authority comes from attention and persistence rather than a need to dominate every exchange. Pounder gives the station a different centre of gravity from Vic Mackey's Strike Team.

Her screen career includes ER, NCIS: New Orleans and the role of Mo'at in the Avatar films. She also plays Savitri Mahabir in Full Circle.

In The Shield, she is especially good at allowing a question to remain uncomfortable. Claudette does not have to match someone else's aggression to make it clear that an answer is inadequate. That steadiness is valuable in a series where so many people are trying to move the conversation on before anyone looks too closely.