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Black Excellence Month: Actors

A guide celebrating African American [Black] Excellence Month!

James Earl Jones
(1931 - 2024)

Growing up with a speech impediment, Jones came to have one of the most recognizable voices in all cinematic history. He began his career in theater, where he earned a Tony Award for his performance as Jack Johnson in The Great White Hope; he also starred in its film adaptation in 1970, which earned him an Academy Award nomination. His theater career continued to flourish, including his titular performance in Othello alongside Christopher Plummer’s Iago, but it was in the film industry where he made a lasting impression. His range was broad, from dramatic roles in Field of Dreams to comedies such as Coming to America, but it was his voiceover work as Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise and as Mufasa in The Lion King that remain the most endearing roles of his vaunted career.


FEATURED: Star Wars: A New Hope (DVD 1227); The Hunt for the Red October (DVD 256); Coming to America (DVD 92)

Samuel L. Jackson
(1948 - )

Born in Washington DC around the outset of the Civil Rights movement, Jackson has lived a unique life, going from a young activist who was an usher at Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral to one of the most consistent box-office draws in Hollywood history. Since his breakout role in Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever in 1991, Jackson has been a part of some of the biggest box office franchises of all time with his roles in Jurassic Park, Star Wars, and the Marvel cinematic universe. His robust acting style and outspoken personality are hallmarks of his career, both as an actor and as a celebrity.


FEATURED: Die Hard with a Vengeance (DVD 211); Jungle Fever (DVD 706); The Legend of Tarzan (DVD 1865); Pulp Fiction (DVD 1625)

Denzel Washington
(1954 - )

One of the most famous African-American actors of the late 20th and early 21st century, Washington has become one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation. His acting range is exceptionally wide, with his early career featuring more dramatic and comedic roles such as a doctor on the TV show St. Elsewhere and movie roles in Malcolm X and The Preacher’s Wife, while his later stage career has been more action-packed blockbusters such as Training Day and The Equalizer franchise. His performances are widely acclaimed and his films continue to excel at the box office to this day.


FEATURED: Malcolm X (DVD 7); American Gangster (DVD 864); The Equalizer (DVD 2173)

Giancarlo Esposito
(1958 - )

Born to an African-American opera singer and an Italian carpenter in Copenhagen, Esposito found his way to New York City at the age of 6, where he soon began his career as an actor. By the mid-1980s, he had drawn the attention of up-and-coming director Spike Lee, which led to his appearances in several of Lee’s films, most notably Do the Right Thing. His career continued throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, but it was his portrayal of Gus Fring in Breaking Bad that launched him into the national spotlight once more. In more recent years, he has appeared in major film and television franchises such as Star Wars: The Mandalorian, The Gentlemen, and Captain America: Brave New World.


FEATURED: Do the Right Thing (DVD 1429); The Jungle Book (DVD 1869); Breaking Bad (TV section)

Viola Davis
(1965 - )

One of the few individuals to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award (or EGOT), Davis is one of the most talented and accomplished actresses in Hollywood today. Her upbringing was impoverished, but she worked her way into the Julliard School, one of the most prestigious art schools in the world. She earned her first Tony from her 1996 Broadway debut in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars. She won an Emmy in 2015 for her performance on the hit TV show How to Get Away with Murder. She was awarded an Oscar for best supporting actress from Fences, which she also performed on Broadway, and a BET Award for Best Actress in The Help. Most recently, she won a Grammy for the audiobook adaptation of her memoir, Finding Me, in 2023.


FEATURED: Fences (DVD 1895); Antwone Fisher (DVD 709); The Help (DVD 827); Suicide Squad (DVD 1913)

Jamie Foxx
(1967 - )

An enthusiastic piano player since childhood, Foxx earned a scholarship to United States International University to study music, but soon realized that his talents branched out even further into the entertainment industry. Firstly breaking out as a comedian on the comic circuit, he landed a spot in the ensemble comedy show In Living Color. After starring in his own TV show, The Jamie Foxx Show, Foxx had a pair of breakout performances on the silver screen in Any Given Sunday and the biopic Ali. His passion for piano assisted with his first Academy Award as best actor for his remarkable portrayal of Ray Charles in 2005’s Ray. He has continued to be a box office draw across a slew of genres, from Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained to Spider-Man: No Way Home. 


FEATURED: Ali (DVD 1220); Django Unchained (DVD 2639); Ray (DVD 457); In Living Color (TV section)

Taraji P. Henson
(1970 - )

Henson has made a career of playing strong, independent women on television and the silver screen. After moving to LA, she began to get recurring roles in procedural dramas such as The Division and Boston Legal. It was her role in Person of Interest, as well as her work on the film Hustle & Flow, that catapulted her into the national spotlight. She earned an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of matriarch Cookie Lyon on the TV drama Empire.


FEATURED: Hidden Figures (DVD 1906); Ralph Breaks the Internet (DVD 2072); The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (DVD 1010)

Kerry Washington
(1977 - )

Since her debut in 2000’s Our Song, Washington has found consistent work and considerable success in Hollywood. Her first breakthrough came in 2001’s Save the Last Dance, but her depiction of Ray Charles’ wife in Ray took her career to a different level. She received critical acclaim for her work on The Last King of Scotland before appearing in Tyler Perry’s rendition of For Colored Girls. Her career continued to hurtle forward with roles in the film Django Unchained and the hit TV show Scandal, which both increased her national profile exponentially. 

 

FEATURED: For Colored Girls (DVD 1276); The Last King of Scotland (DVD 703); Ray (DVD 457)

Michael B. Jordan
(1987 - )

Jordan has risen from a budding star of TV to one of the most prominent African-American leads of the 2020s. Before he had graduated from high school, he had already achieved a breakout performance in season one of The Wire. He found more television success on Friday Night Lights, but soon after he shifted his focus towards film. His collaborations with director Ryan Coogler have sent his career into the stratosphere, with career-defining performances in Fruitvale Station, Black Panther, and the Creed franchise.


FEATURED: Chronicle (DVD 2606); Black Panther (DVD 2035); Creed (DVD 1801)

Hattie McDaniel
(1893 - 1952)

From her youth until her death, McDaniel fought hard to smash through racial boundaries to become the first African-American actor or actress to win an Oscar in any category. Born to a pair of freed slaves, McDaniel and her sister Etta developed their own all-female show in 1914, making them the first recorded black female theater producers. Her first film role was starring opposite Shirley Temple in The Little Colonel. She was credited as the first black woman to ever sing on the radio, and in 1947 became the first black woman to star on her own TV show. The role she is most remembered for is her portrayal of Mammy in Gone with the Wind, where she won her Oscar for best supporting actress. However, due to segregation laws, she was forbidden from attending the film’s premiere in Atlanta, and when she won her Oscar, she had to sit in the back of the room at a segregated table. She appeared in over 300 films during her career, but was only credited with 83.


FEATURED: Gone with the Wind (DVD 2445)

Sidney Poitier
(1927 - 2022)

Poitier was a trailblazing actor who was the first African-American actor to win an Academy Award for best actor for 1963’s Lilies of the Field. He debuted on Broadway in 1946, but it was his cinematic debut in 1950’s No Way Out that Poitier began his career-defining trend of taking roles outside of the racial stereotypes that were often the only roles African-American actors were offered. His most famous role in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was an extraordinary step in cinema as it was the story of an interracial couple around the time that interracial marriage was made legal nationwide. He also directed several films, such as Buck and the Preacher and Stir Crazy, towards the back end of his career.


FEATURED: In the Heat of the Night (DVD 1197); Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (DVD 269)

Morgan Freeman
(1937 - )

Freeman is regarded as one of the most respected actors of his generation, both on screen and on Broadway. After serving in the Air Force, Freeman found his way to the stage, where he made his Broadway debut in an all-black production of Hello Dolly! in 1967. His film career began in earnest during the 1980s, receiving his first Oscar nomination for his role in Street Smart. From there, his career skyrocketed, landing critically acclaimed roles in Driving Miss Daisy, Lean On Me, and Glory in 1989 alone. Over the next three decades, he continued to garner acclaim for films such as The Shawshank Redemption and Million Dollar Baby while also appearing in blockbuster franchises such as Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. 


FEATURED: The Shawshank Redemption (DVD 23); Million Dollar Baby (DVD 426); Glory (DVD 914); Lean on Me (DVD 937)

Alfre Woodard
(1952 - )

Woodard has been a prolific and successful actress in Hollywood with a TV and film career spanning across six decades. Born in Oklahoma, she has won four Emmy awards for her work on four different TV series: The Practice, Hill Street Blues, LA Law, and Miss Evers’ Boys. Her film career has been filled with a broad range of roles, from comedies such as Scrooged, to science fiction like Star Trek: First Contact, to historical dramas like 12 Years a Slave. More recently, she has been known for role as Black Mariah in the Marvel show, Luke Cage.


FEATURED: Love & Basketball (DVD 2280); 12 Years a Slave (DVD 1677); Nat Turner (DVD 411)

Angela Bassett
(1958 - )

One of the most respected actresses of her generation, Bassett has made a career of playing strong women, whether they be fiction or based on reality. After watching James Earl Jones perform live in Of Mice and Men, Bassett began to pursue an acting career, receiving her Master’s degree from Yale University and making her onstage debut in the mid-1980s. Her big break came in Malcolm X, when she portrayed Betty Shabazz, Malcolm’s wife. Other famous women she has portrayed since then include Tina Turner and Rosa Parks. In more recent years, she has been a part of several blockbuster franchises, such as Mission Impossible: Fallout and the Marvel cinematic universe, as well as continuing her television career in both 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 Lonestar.


FEATURED: Malcolm X (DVD 7); Black Panther (DVD 2035); The Rosa Parks Story (DVD 2651)

Don Cheadle
(1964 - )

An aspiring actor since his childhood, Cheadle wasted little time in breaking into the business, appearing in his first film while he was still at the California Institute of the Arts. After several film and TV roles, he gained critical acclaim for his performance in 1995’s Devil in a Blue Dress alongside Denzel Washington. At the start of the new millennium, Cheadle’s career began to pick up steam with roles in Ocean’s 11 and Crash, but it was Hotel Rwanda that earned him an Academy Award nomination for best actor. His career continues to flourish, with his recurring role as James Rhodes in the Marvel cinematic universe as well as his starring roles in the TV series House of Lies and Black Monday, both of which earned him Emmy nominations for his performances.


FEATURED: Hotel Rwanda (DVD 385); Flight (DVD 192); Ocean’s 11 (DVD 1886)

Halle Berry
(1966 - )

One of the most recognizable actresses of her generation, Berry began her entertainment career in modeling, but after appearing in Jungle Fever and Boomerang in the early 1990s, her focus shifted to acting. She earned Emmy and Golden Globes awards for her portrayal of the titular character in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, who was the first African-American actress to be nominated for an Oscar. Ironically, several years later Berry became the first African-American actress to win the award for her role in Monster’s Ball. She has been involved in some of the biggest franchises in Hollywood history, starting off with the X-Men saga to making appearances in the James Bond and John Wick franchises. 


FEATURED: X-Men (DVD 528); X2: X-Men United (DVD 529); Die Another Day (DVD 315); John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (DVD 2500)

Wesley Snipes
(1962 - )

Snipes is regarded as one of the greatest Hollywood action stars of the late 20th century. He began to show an interest in martial arts, acting, and music from a young age, with his debut appearance in the film Wildcats occurring shortly after he graduated college. He got his first big break in Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues, who also cast him again in Jungle Fever two years later. He burst into the upper echelon of Hollywood stars with blockbuster hits like Passenger 57 and Demolition Man. He is best known to younger generations for his portrayal of Blade in the Marvel cinematic universe.


FEATURED: Passenger 57 (DVD 105), Demolition Man (DVD 112), Jungle Fever (DVD 706)

Regina King
(1971 - )

King has been viewed as one of the most versatile actresses in Hollywood, earning acclaim in both comedic and dramatic roles. Her appearances in several John Singleton films (Boyz in the Hood, Poetic Justice) helped raise her portfolio, but her comedic roles in Friday and Jerry Maguire showcased her wide acting range. She later earned two Emmy Awards in 2015 and 2016 for her work on the anthology series American Crime, as well as two more Emmys for her work on the miniseries Seven Seconds (2018)  and The Watchmen (2019).

 

FEATURED: Poetic Justice: A Street Romance (DVD 2281); Jerry Maguire (DVD 2685); Friday (DVD 2493)

Lupita Nyong'o
(1983 - )

One of the most promising actresses of the early 21st century, Nyong’o was born in Mexico City and grew up in Kenya before coming to the United States for her college education. She quickly found success in cinema, with her student film In My Genes appearing in the 2009 New York African Film Festival, before earning her master’s degree at Yale. She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her debut performance in 12 Years a Slave, which launched her career quickly. She has since made appearances in the Star Wars and Marvel cinematic universes, as well as memorable roles in the horror films Us and A Quiet Place: Day One.

 

FEATURED: 12 Years a Slave (DVD 1677), Us (DVD 1882), The Jungle Book (DVD 1869)

Zoe Kravitz
(1988 - )

Born to pop star Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet, Zoe has been on the path to stardom since she could walk. While she was still in high school, Kravitz embarked on her acting career, appearing in No Reservations and The Brave One in 2007. After appearing in X-Men: First Class, Kravitz landed roles in the Divergent series, Mad Max: Fury Road, and the Harry Potter prequel series Fantastic Beasts. Her television career continued to flourish with roles in Big Little Lies and High Fidelity, but most recently she appeared in The Batman as Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman.


FEATURED: Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse (DVD 2079); Mad Max: Fury Road (DVD 1788); Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (DVD 2402)