| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1979 | Emergency! | Beutel | Episode: "What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing...?" |
| Undercover with the KKK | Reverend Lowell | Television film |
| 1980 | Lou Grant | Beutel | Episode: "Hazard" |
| Taxi | Customer | Episode: "Fantasy Borough" |
| 1981 | The Jeffersons | Jimmy | Episode: "And the Doorknobs Shined Like Diamonds" |
| B. J. and the Bear | Telephone Representative | Episode: "Intercepted Pass" |
| 1981–1988 | Cagney & Lacey | Marcus Petrie | Main role |
| 1985 | Great Performances | Theseus | Episode: "The Gospel at Colonus" |
| 1987 | Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8 | Bobby Seale | Television film |
| 1989–1990 | Law | Earl Williams | 6 episodes |
| 1991 | Eyes of a Witness | Mambulu | Television film |
| Brother Future | Denmark Vesey | Television film |
| American Experience | Narrator | Episode: "Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind" |
| 1992 | Back to the Streets of San Francisco | Charlie Walker | Television film |
| 1992–1993 | Going to Extremes | Dr. Norris | Main role |
| 1993 | Tribeca | Ernest | Episode: "The Box" |
| 1994–1995 | M.A.N.T.I.S. | Miles Hawkins | Main role |
| 1994 | Out of Darkness | Addison | Television film |
| SeaQuest 2032 | Lamm | Episode: "The Last Lap of Luxury" |
| On Promised Land | Floyd Ween | Television film |
| 1994 | Cagney & Lacey: The Return | Marcus Petrie |
| 1996 | America's Dream | Cal | Television film; segment: "The Boy Who Painted Christ Black" |
| Chicago Hope | Michael Johnson | Episode: "Life Lines" |
| Nightjohn | John | Television film |
| Touched by an Angel | Willis Thompson | Episode: "Sins of the Father" |
| The X-Files | Marcus Duff | Episode: "Teliko" |
| 1996–1997 | EZ Streets | Christian Davidson | 9 episodes |
| 1997 | The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest | William Marcus (voice) | Episode: "Other Space" |
| The Ditchdigger's Daughters | Donald Thornton | Television film |
| Buffalo Soldiers | John Horse |
| 1997–1998 | Superman: The Animated Series | Alterus, Mayor of Metropolis (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 1998 | The Wedding | Lute McNeil | Television film |
| 1999 | Any Day Now | Nathan | 2 episodes |
| Border Line | Detective Mollo | Television film |
| ER | Graham Baker | 2 episodes |
| Strange World | Kevin Manus | Episode: "Eliza" |
| 1999–2000 | Batman Beyond | Stalker (voice) | 2 episodes |
| The Wild Thornberrys | Red Colobus, Tumbulu (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 2000 | The Color of Friendship | Ron Dellums | Television film |
| Little Richard | Bud Penniman |
| The West Wing | Jeff Breckenridge | Episode: "Six Meetings Before Lunch" |
| The Magnificent Seven | Obediah Jackson | Episode: "The Trial" |
| Family Law | Tom Calloway | Episode: "Affairs of the State" |
| 2001 | American Experience | Frederick Douglass | Episode: "The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry |
| Kate Brasher | Jackson Turner | Episode: "Jackson Turner" |
| Night Visions | Dan | Episode: "A View Through the Window" |
| 2001–2004 | Justice League | J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter (voice) | Main cast |
| 2001–2006 | Alias | Marcus Dixon | Main role |
| 2002 | Toonami | Swayzak | Episode: "Trapped in Hyperspace" |
