Vance was born in Detroit, Michigan and later graduated from Harvard with a bachelor of arts degree and the Yale School of Drama with a master of fine arts degree. While attending Harvard, Vance was already working as an actor at the Boston Shakespeare Company. He went on to earn two Tony Award nominations, each in Tony Award-winning productions. He was first nominated for his role in August Wilson?s Pulitzer Prize-winning play ?Fences,? and later for his lead role in John Guare?s ?Six Degrees of Separation.?

Vance?s feature-film roles have won him steady praise. His early credits include ?Hamburger Hill,? ?The Hunt for Red October? and ?The Last Supper? (opposite Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington).

Vance appeared in Robert Altman?s ?Cookie?s Fortune,? Penny Marshall?s ?Preacher?s Wife? and in Clint Eastwood?s ?Space Cowboys.? He also starred in the independent film ?Love and Action in Chicago,? a romantic comedy which he also co-produced.

Vance?s television credits include such cable movies as ?Blind Faith? (opposite Charles S. Dutton, for which he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actor), the William Friedkin-directed ?12 Angry Men? (with Jack Lemmon, George C. Scott and Ossie Davis), the Hallmark presentation ?The Boys Next Door? (alongside Nathan Lane, Tony Goldwyn and Michael Jeter), ?The Tuskegee Airmen? (with Laurence Fishburne and Andre Braugher), the television production of August Wilson?s play ?The Piano Lesson? and ?The Affair,? for which he received a 1996 Cable Ace Award nomination as Best Actor.