Sheldon Ingram — on to his next chapter. Leaves WTAE-TV after 34 years to pursue acting career
In 2022, during an episode of the NBC hit show, “Law & Order: SVU,” WTAE-TV’s Sheldon Ingram wasn’t there doing any interviews.
He was in the show, as an actor.
When the play, “Two Trains Running,” the August Wilson classic, was being put on by Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, Sheldon Ingram wasn’t there for Channel 4.
He was in the play, as an actor.
Quite simply, Sheldon Ingram has been bit by the acting bug.
At the end of May, Pittsburgh viewers saw Ingram on Channel 4, reporting on one of the top stories of the day.
It was to be his last report on WTAE.
Ingram, after 34 years, left the TV news business to pursue acting full-time.
There’s no break for Ingram, 64, the man who has been a stalwart for WTAE and Pittsburgh TV news in general for 34 years. On Thursday night, May 28, he’ll go home, catch up on some rest, and then head to WTAE on Friday, May 29 to get the proper in-house sendoff from all of his friends and colleagues at WTAE. A few hours later, he’ll head to the Pittsburgh Public Theater, Downtown, to star in the New Horizon Theater play, “Coconut Cake.” It’s the opening night for the play, a 7:30 p.m. showtime.
Sheldon Ingram. Going from one stage to another.
“My first acting job was in 1990 in Norfolk, Virginia,” Ingram told the New Pittsburgh Courier exclusively, May 25. “I did, ‘A Soldier’s Story’ —my first-ever acting performance.”
Ingram said the director who got him the acting gig in 1990, he saw again 30 years later, in 2020. That same director cast him in another play in 2020, “and it was after that, that I wanted to commit myself to acting,” Ingram said.
That’s when Ingram embarked on a rigorous, 16-month training in acting. “Not just the skill of acting, but the business of acting,” Ingram said. “May 2022 is when I launched myself professionally as an actor and then started booking roles right away.”
Ingram found himself in a dark suit and tie, playing the role of a deputy mayor on NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU.” He earned more roles, as a gynecologist in “The Deliverance,” and as a pediatric surgeon on “Gaslit by My Husband: The Morgan Metzer Story.”
In the past few years, he was seen in local theater, whether it was for Pittsburgh Playwrights, Becoming Arts Collective, or New Horizon Theater.
Ingram was getting local roles, national TV/film roles and working the dayshift as a reporter for WTAE.
Seems like a lot to juggle, but Ingram was all in.
“I was doing everything,” Ingram told the Courier. “It was a grind, but I like that kind of juice, I like staying busy, staying on my feet, keeping it moving, so that kind of busy schedule is…I enjoy it.”
Stepping away from WTAE, the place he’s worked since 1992, affords him the opportunity to not only pursue acting full-time, but the ability to accept any acting role he desires, anywhere, anytime.
Ingram, the Atlantic City, N.J., native, was in TV news in Atlanta, Chattanooga, Tenn., and Norfolk before coming to Pittsburgh.
“I came up here to do the interview, got the gig, and everything else is history,” Ingram said, reflecting on a 40-year career in TV news, the last 34 in Pittsburgh.
“Sheldon Ingram has been one of the most trusted journalists in our newsroom for more than three decades,” said WTAE News Director Baylor Long, in a statement. “His commitment to Pittsburgh, his passion for storytelling, and his connection with our viewers have left a lasting mark on this community.”
“Sheldon brought depth, credibility, and compassion to every story he covered,” said Charles W. Wolfertz III, WTAE President and General Manager, in a statement. “He has been a steady, powerful presence in our newsroom and a journalist our audience could always count on.”
Ingram’s impact on the Pittsburgh community, but particularly the African American community, is cemented. Over the years, he’s emceed hundreds of events, including numerous times as celebrity host for the Courier’s signature events like the “Women of Excellence” in 2022 and 2024.
In the 2022 “Women of Excellence” event, Ingram showed off his dancing chops with that event’s Legacy Honoree, Esther L. Bush, the retired President/CEO of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh.
“It’s been a pleasure to meet so many fascinating people in Pittsburgh,” Ingram said. “So many movers and shakers in the Black community; I appreciate the people who allowed me into their lives to tell their stories, both bitter and sweet. Through my encounters with all of these people, I just became a wiser man, through their experiences, through their knowledge, through their work in the community. That’s how I grew as a man, and that’s how I grew as a storyteller. It’s just been a beautiful ride.”