A Feature News Story on Acting: Former WVEC-TV Reporter & Stage Actor Finds Pleasure In Both Careers

By Terrance Afer-Anderson

There are but two bits of common ground between reporting television news and working as an actor. Storytelling and the audience. Yet, Sheldon Ingram notes a major distinction. “Television reporting,” he says, “doesn’t even come close to the depth of preparation required to be a strong actor.”

Ingram surely would know. A seasoned news professional, currently serving as a general assignment and special projects reporter, as well as occasionally anchoring the news and hosting a talk show, at WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh, PA, he also began work as a professional actor in 2022 and has been quite busy. After signing with an agent that year, he was twice cast by award-winning director Lee Daniels, portraying an oncologist and doing a voice-over, in the film “The Deliverance,” then later booked a guest starring role on “Law & Order: SVU.” Next up, he was cast in two Lifetime films, as a police sergeant in “A Rose for Her Grave,” and a pediatric surgeon in “Gaslit by My Husband.”

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I became acquainted with Ingram while he served as a general assignment reporter, talk show host, and fill-in anchor at WVEC-TV, Norfolk, VA. Our paths first crossed when I was directing the annual awards show for the Hampton Roads Black Media Professionals. I recognized then that he possessed a great passion for chronicling the human experience. It later occurred to me to see how such interest might translate to the stage. I was not at all disappointed.

I cast Ingram as Lt. Davenport, in an encore production of Charles Fuller’s Pulitzer Prize winning drama “A Soldier’s Play,” presented at the Virginia Stage Company’s Wells Theater. I had originally staged it at Norfolk’s old Riverview Playhouse. For this production, I wanted to look at it afresh, anew. Casting raw talent in a principal role offered great appeal.

As Ingram recalls, “I was the only novice actor in that cast. The rest were skilled artists with many credits to their names.”

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Ingram and I have stayed in touch over the years and had the occasion to talk recently, to reflect on that and other theatre experiences. I thought that Hampton Roads audiences might be interested in knowing what he has been up to since leaving the region. But first, a little personal background.

Sheldon Ingram was born in Atlantic City, NJ. He graduated from Atlantic City High School in 1980 and later attended Morris Brown College, where he majored in Broadcast Journalism, taking core classes at Clark Atlanta University. But his interest in storytelling had begun much earlier, while attending Atlantic City’s Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church.

Ingram shared, “My grandmother Cecelia Ferguson and my mother Constance Ingram demanded that all of the children recite Christmas and Easter poems before the congregation. Reluctantly, I took on the longest reads of all the children, even longer than children significantly older than me.” He added, “Perfection was demanded from my mother, against my will … and laziness. But naturally, I gave in, as an obedient son should.”

It proved an immensely insightful experience for Ingram. “Once I noticed the impact of my work on audiences, I became enamored with the process, and things just clicked.”

He had been “bitten by the bug” as it were. “That was my foundation, followed by a stunning encounter with my eighth grade English teacher, the late Helen Fetter, at Chelsea Junior High School.

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“After class one day, she told me to start writing for the school newspaper. There was no discussion. No questions. End of conversation.

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“She gave me some pointers and then sent me off to start following the school basketball team. It was that introduction to journalism,” he added, “that triggered my interest in current events and the evening news. Immediately, I saw great value as a storyteller, as a television reporter, giving the public what it craved daily. Information!”

He recalled, “From the time I was 15 years old, all I ever wanted to do was work as a television reporter, telling compelling stories.” And things would seem to fall wondrously in place.

While at Morris Brown, he was able to secure an internship as a reporter with the Southeast Bureau of CNN News.  That would be followed with his first professional assignment, at WRCB-TV, Chattanooga, TN. His next stop would be Norfolk’s WVEC, serving there from 1988 to 1992. Now at Pittsburgh’s WTAE, his work can be seen daily during its 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. newscasts.

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It was performing a monologue from Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Mother,” during a college talent show, that his interest in acting was dramatically ignited. “I became attracted to the intricacies of that type of storytelling, immersion in imaginary circumstances, taken from real life moments.

“What appeals to me the most about acting is that it feels like ‘escape time,’ to visit other lifestyles, other personalities and other circumstances. It investigates my ability to tap into a repertoire of my own emotions.”

He recalled his first acting role with a full cast, our 1989 production of “A Soldier’s Play,” and noted, “It was such an impactful experience. I talked about it for years and years. It triggered a greater sensation and love for acting.”

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Albeit unquenched, thirty-one years later, Ingram’s thirst for acting endured. We had run into each other again at the homegoing of Byron Burney, his best friend and an award-winning Chief Photographer and Operations Manager at WVEC-TV.

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It was during COVID, and I had just been recruited by Paul Lasakow, Executive Director, Tidewater Community College Roper Performing Arts Center, to mount a virtual production of my stage play “Cast in History.” I encouraged him to submit a virtual audition. He did and I cast him.

Ingram said, “That was the push I needed to go forward with my dream.”

I wanted to know more about his fascination with the craft of acting. He obliged.

“Being an actor feels electrifying for me. It’s the construction of the character that really turns me on. When acting, I totally submit myself to the character, his mental and emotional state, his attitude towards others, pretty much how he is living at any given moment.”

As any committed actor would do, Ingram intensely studied his craft. He took scene analysis and scene study with different acting programs, making a deep dive into the stories told and character development. He also enrolled in three acting programs in New York and Los Angeles and with a private acting coach in Ireland. “It is a rigorous and insightful ordeal,” he noted, “and tremendously rewarding in the end.”

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The intimacy of live theatre also proved an insatiable draw. He went on to portray Rev. Reginald Maybre in Pittsburgh’s New Horizon Theater’s production of “Chicken & Biscuits,” recently wrapped a production of “Three Blind Mice” by that city’s The Becoming Arts Collective, and later this year will be appearing in two stage productions by the Pittsburgh Playwrights, “Art of Wise” and “Two Trains Running.”

I inquired how his experiences as an actor, portraying different characters, might have enlightened him about his own personal journey.

“I learned that there are always pieces of a character that align with my journey in life, whether it’s personality, life experiences, types of friends, relatives, education, prejudices and biases. My ability to tap into an array of emotions and experiences is truly a profound discovery as an artist.”

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So, I wondered what he found as his most challenging role.

“I would have to say the most challenging role would have to be William Johnson in “Three Blind Mice. He is an alpha male, who owns his own law firm. He is ‘the boss,’ ultra masculine; but is then turned upside down by his own devices in the workplace, brought down to his knees. He self-reflects, deals with his faults like a man, and is basically reshaped for the better. Transitioning through those phases was a fine line, but it worked.”

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The most fun role?

“Rev. Maybre in ‘Chicken & Biscuits’ was definitely the most fun role. Delivering the roof-popping sermon was one of the highlights of the play.” Ingram added, “Some of the things I did even made me laugh at myself.”

Now that he is fully immersed in polishing his chops as a seasoned, prolific actor, I was curious of what he found as his most enlightening role. Exhibiting perfect thespian form, Ingram shared it is the role which he is currently digging his teeth into, Bendoo Ojabe, the patriarch of a slave family in “Art of Wise.”

He shared that Ojabe, “dreams of his family escaping the plantation and returning to Africa. He believes in his dreams, even though they seem unrealistic. His unrelenting belief is there for a reason that is unearthed in the subtext.”

Such character assessment, exploration of the subtext, speaks volumes of Ingram’s capacity to master the craft of acting.

While I only afforded him an early occasion to open a window on the wonder of drama, Ingram richly humbled me with the following assertion. “If there is anyone in this world who can take credit for introducing me to acting,” he said. “It’s Terrance Afer-Anderson. He is the only person with that distinction.”

That may be how he sees it, but indeed I only provided him with an introduction. He possesses the talent, the appetite, the aptitude, and the attitude to bring it all to glorious fruition and I suggest that you stay tuned. Sheldon Ingram’s career as an actor is making news!

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