| Movie | 2005 | Syriana | Bennett Holiday | |
| Movie | 2005 | Broken Flowers | Winston | |
| Movie | 2000 | Shaft | Peoples Hernandez | |
| Movie | 1996 | Basquiat | Jean Michel Basquiat | |
| Movie | 2008 | W. | Colin Powell | |
| Movie | 2011 | The Ides of March | Senator Thompson | |
| Movie | 2000 | Hamlet | Gravedigger | |
| Movie | 2008 | Quantum of Solace | Felix Leiter | |
| Movie | 2007 | The Invasion | Dr. Stephen Galeano | |
| Movie | 2023 | Rustin | Rep. Adam Clayton Powell | |
| Movie | 1999 | Ride with the Devil | Daniel Holt | |
| Movie | 2001 | Ali | Howard Bingham | |
| Movie | 2006 | Lady in the Water | Mr. Dury | |
| Movie | 2021 | Marvel Studios' 2021 Disney+ Day Special | The Watcher (voice) (archive footage) | |
| Movie | 2008 | Chicago 10 | Bobby Seale (voice) | |
| Movie | 2014 | The Final Shot: A Farewell to Boardwalk Empire | Self | |
| Movie | 2006 | Casino Royale | Felix Leiter | |
| Movie | 2004 | The Manchurian Candidate | CPL Al Melvin | |
| Movie | 2008 | Cadillac Records | Muddy Waters | |
| Movie | 2011 | Source Code | Dr. Rutledge | |
| Movie | 2007 | Blackout | Nelson | |
| Movie | 2015 | The Gospel According to Mac | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 2022 | Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches | Self | |
| Movie | 2013 | Broken City | Carl Fairbanks | |
| Movie | 2013 | Only Lovers Left Alive | Dr. Watson | |
| Movie | 2005 | Lackawanna Blues | Mr. Paul | |
| Movie | 2013 | A Single Shot | Simon | |
| Movie | 2013 | The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete | Henry | |
| Movie | 2000 | Cement | Ninny | |
| Movie | 2004 | With All Deliberate Speed | Narrator (Voice) | |
| Movie | 2024 | Atrabilious | Vincent Daugherty | |
| Movie | 2001 | Boycott | Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | |
| Movie | 2003 | Sam Cooke: Legend | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 2002 | D-Tox | Jaworski | |
| Movie | 2011 | Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close | William Black | |
| Movie | 1991 | Jumpin' at the Boneyard | Derek | |
| Movie | 2014 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 | Beetee Latier | |
| Movie | 1996 | Faithful | Young Man at Rolls | |
| Movie | 2011 | A Child's Garden of Poetry | Self (voice) | |
| Movie | 2006 | Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner | Self | |
| Movie | 1998 | Celebrity | Greg | |
| Movie | 1997 | Critical Care | Rafael ("Bed Two") | |
| Movie | 1998 | Too Tired to Die | Balzac Man | |
| Movie | 2004 | Sin's Kitchen | Rex | |
| Movie | 2013 | The Hunger Games: Catching Fire | Beetee Latier | |
| Movie | 2015 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 | Beetee Latier | |
| Movie | 2015 | The Good Dinosaur | Poppa (voice) | |
| Movie | 2027 | Untitled The Batman Sequel | Lt. James Gordon | |
| Movie | 2023 | American Fiction | Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison | |
| Movie | 2025 | Highest 2 Lowest | Paul Christopher | |
| Movie | 2020 | American Pathogen | Self - Narrator | |
| Movie | 2016 | Confirmation | Charles Ogletree | |
| Movie | 1990 | Presumed Innocent | Prosecuting Attorney | |
| Movie | 1991 | Separate But Equal | William Coleman | |
| Movie | 2018 | Age Out | Detective Portnoy | |
| Movie | 2014 | Mass Extinction: Life at the Brink | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 2018 | Hold the Dark | Russell Core | |
| Movie | 2019 | The Public | Anderson | |
| Movie | 2017 | Unseen Enemy | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 2000 | Crime + Punishment in Suburbia | Chris | |
| Movie | 2006 | Blood Diamonds | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 2021 | Monster | Mr. Harmon | |
| Movie | 2019 | The Goldfinch | James 'Hobie' Hobart | |
| Movie | 2018 | O.G. | Louis Menkins | |
| Movie | 1999 | The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Mystery of the Blues | Sidney Bechet | |
| Movie | 1999 | The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Scandal of 1920 | Sidney Bechet | |
| Movie | 1993 | In the Wings: Angels in America On Broadway | | |
| Movie | 2020 | All Day and a Night | JD | |
| Movie | 2018 | Moynihan | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 2019 | Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 2019 | The Laundromat | Malchus Irvin Boncamper | |
| Movie | 2018 | We Are Not Done Yet | Self | |
| Movie | 2007 | New Orleans | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 2021 | The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun | Roebuck Wright | |
| Movie | 2021 | No Time to Die | Felix Leiter | |
| Movie | 2004 | Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson | Other Voices (voice) | |
| Movie | 2002 | The Topdog Diaries | Self / Lincoln | |
| Movie | 2022 | The Batman | Lt. James Gordon | |
| Movie | 2015 | The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 | Self - Beetee | |
| Movie | 2018 | Game Night | FBI Agent Henderson (uncredited) | |
| Movie | 2020 | The Oedipus Project | Tiresias | |
| Movie | 2005 | The True Story of Hannibal | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 2019 | Marvel Studios: Expanding the Universe | Self | |
| Movie | 2006 | Becoming Bond | Self | |
| Movie | 2012 | Bond on Location | Self / Felix Leiter | |
| Movie | 2023 | Asteroid City | General Gibson | |
| Movie | 2026 | The Wizard of the Kremlin | Rowland | |
| Movie | 2025 | The Phoenician Scheme | Marty | |
| Movie | 2022 | Say Hey, Willie Mays! | Jackie Robinson (voice) | |
| Movie | 2016 | Hero With A Thousand Faces | Self | |
| Movie | N/A | Death of a Salesman | Willy Loman | |
| Movie | 2014 | Forgotten Four: The Integration of Pro Football | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 2025 | Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery | Bp. Langstrom | |
| Movie | N/A | Samo Lives | | |
| TV Show | 1992 | The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | Sidney Bechet | 2 |
| TV Show | 2012 | Finding Your Roots | Self | 1 |
| TV Show | 1993 | Homicide: Life on the Street | | 3 |
| TV Show | 2024 | ARK: The Animated Series | Henry Townsend (voice) | 6 |
| TV Show | 2003 | Angels in America | Norman "Belize" Ariaga / Mr. Lies / Homeless man / The Angel Europa | 6 |
| TV Show | 2023 | Bill Russell: Legend | Bill Russell (voice) | 2 |
| TV Show | 2013 | Rick and Morty | Tony (voice) | 1 |
| TV Show | 2016 | Westworld | Bernard Lowe | 36 |
| TV Show | 2023 | Digman! | (voice) | 1 |
| TV Show | 2021 | Marvel Studios Assembled | Self | 1 |
| TV Show | 2022 | Lincoln's Dilemma | Self - Narrator (voice) | 4 |
| TV Show | 2015 | The Late Show with Stephen Colbert | Self | 2 |
| TV Show | 2022 | I Am Groot | The Watcher (voice) | 1 |
| TV Show | 1988 | LIVE with Kelly and Mark | Self - Guest | 3 |
| TV Show | 2014 | Late Night with Seth Meyers | Self | 2 |
| TV Show | 2019 | Green Eggs and Ham | McWinkle (voice) | 13 |
| TV Show | 1988 | American Experience | Narrator (voice) | 1 |
| TV Show | 2022 | The Jennifer Hudson Show | | 1 |
| TV Show | 2003 | Jimmy Kimmel Live! | Self | 1 |
| TV Show | 2023 | Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter | Self | 2 |
| TV Show | 2019 | The Kelly Clarkson Show | Self | 2 |
| TV Show | 1994 | New York Undercover | Andre Foreman | 1 |
| TV Show | 2014 | Variety Studio: Actors on Actors | Self | 1 |
| TV Show | 1953 | The Oscars | Self | 1 |
| TV Show | 2021 | What If...? | The Watcher (voice) | 26 |
| TV Show | 2004 | House | Dr. Walter Cofield | 1 |
| TV Show | 2014 | BoJack Horseman | Cuddlywhiskers (voice) | 2 |
| TV Show | 2014 | BoJack Horseman | Cuddlywhiskers / Father (voice) | 1 |
| TV Show | 2015 | Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter | Self | 1 |
| TV Show | 2010 | Boardwalk Empire | Valentin Narcisse | 20 |
| TV Show | 2024 | The Agency: Central Intelligence | Henry Ogletree | 10 |
| TV Show | 2022 | The Jennifer Hudson Show | Self | 1 |
| TV Show | 1991 | Separate but Equal | William Coleman | 2 |
| TV Show | 2023 | The Last of Us | Isaac Dixon | 2 |
| TV Show | 2004 | The Venture Bros. | Think Tank / Dr. Nidaba (voice) | 1 |
| TV Show | 2007 | Chelsea Lately | Self | 1 |
| TV Show | 2023 | Digman! | Uncle Christ (voice) | 1 |
| TV Show | 1956 | Tony Awards | Self - Presenter | 1 |
| TV Show | 2025 | Dispatch | Chase | 8 |
