Black Beauty in Hollywood
by MovieBuff1922 | created - 14 Apr 2013 | updated - 27 Apr 2013 | PublicStars of Past and Present.
No requests to add Halle Berry, Alicia Keys, or any other celebrity representative of biracial beauty will be honored...and Beyoncé is just plain overrated. =P
1. Tamala Jones
Actress | Blue Streak
Tamala Jones was born on November 12, 1974 in Pasadena, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Blue Streak (1999), Can't Hardly Wait (1998) and Booty Call (1997).
2. Meagan Good
Actress | Think Like a Man
Meagan Monique Good was born on 8 August 1981 in Panorama City, California, USA, to Tyra Wardlow-Doyle, who worked as her manager, and Leondis "Leon" Good, an LAPD officer. She began appearing on commercials at the age of four. Then she started guest-starring on series like The Parent 'Hood (1995), ...
3. Robin Givens
Actress | Boomerang
Robin Simone Givens was born on November 27, 1964 in New York City, to Ruth (Newby) and Reuben Givens. Her father left his family when Robin was a young girl, and she seldom saw him after that. Robin's mother raised her and her younger sister in Westchester, Connecticut. Her mother (once linked to ...
4. Lynn Whitfield
Actress | Madea's Family Reunion
With roots leading back to Louisiana southern aristocracy, lovely leading lady Lynn Whitfield was born in 1953, the eldest of four children and a third-generation BFA graduate from Howard University. Her dentist father was instrumental in developing Lynn's initial interest in acting as he was a ...
5. Janelle Monáe
Soundtrack | Hidden Figures
Janelle Monáe is an American musical recording artist, actress and model signed to their own imprint, Wondaland Arts Society, and Atlantic Records.
They were born in Kansas City, Kansas, to Janet, a janitor, and Michael Robinson Summers, a truck driver. In 2010, Monáe released her first full-length ...
6. Keshia Knight Pulliam
Actress | The Cosby Show
Keshia Knight Pulliam was born on April 9, 1979 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress and director, known for The Cosby Show (1984), House of Payne (2006) and Madea Goes to Jail (2009). She has been married to Brad James since September 25, 2021. They have one child. She was previously ...
7. Demetria McKinney
Actress | House of Payne
Demetria Dyan McKinney (born August 27, 1979) is an American actress and singer. From 2006 to 2012 she starred in the TBS sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Her other series regular roles include Tv One sitcom The Rickey Smiley Show, Bounce TV prime time soap opera Saints & Sinners and Syfy ...
8. N'Bushe Wright
Actress | Blade
Beautiful N'Bushe Wright started out as a dancer, trained at the prestigious Alvin Ailey Dance Center and the Martha Graham School of Dance, but then switched to acting, enrolling at Stella Adler's studio. Within a year, Wright was starring in Anthony Drazan's Zebrahead (1992). That year, she won ...
9. Dola Rashad
Actress | Sex and the City 2
Dola Rashad was born on December 11, 1986 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Sex and the City 2 (2010), Money Monster (2016) and Billions (2016).
10. Aaliyah
Soundtrack | Romeo Must Die
Talented. Beautiful. Modest. These three words described R&B singer-turned-actress Aaliyah perfectly.
Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Diane (Hankerson) and Michael Haughton. Her uncle was music manager Barry Hankerson and her brother is director Rashad Haughton. Aaliyah was ...
11. Nia Long
Actress | The Best Man
Stunning pop culture icon, Hollywood leading lady and three-time NAACP award winner Nia Long returns to the big screen this fall in the highly anticipated Universal Pictures sequel The Best Man Holiday (in theaters November 15th) where she reunites with original castmates Taye Diggs ("Private ...
12. Angela Bassett
Actress | Strange Days
Captivating, gifted, and sensational, Angela Bassett's presence has been felt in theaters and on stages and television screens throughout the world. Angela Evelyn Bassett was born on August 16, 1958 in New York City, to Betty Jane (Gilbert), a social worker, and Daniel Benjamin Bassett, a ...
13. Taraji P. Henson
Actress | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Taraji Penda Henson is an American actress and singer. She studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in Baby Boy (2001). She played a prostitute in Hustle & Flow (2005), for which she received a ...
14. Gabrielle Union
Actress | Bring It On
Gabrielle Union was born on October 29, 1972, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Theresa (Glass), who managed a phone company, and Sylvester E. Union, a military sergeant and business executive. When she was eight, her family moved to Pleasanton, California, where she grew up and attended high school. There, ...
15. Kerry Washington
Actress | Scandal
Kerry Washington is an African-American actress, television show producer and film director who is known for her roles in Scandal, Ray, the Tim Story Fantastic Four film series, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Confirmation, Django Unchained, Little Fires Everywhere, Cars 3 and The Last King of Scotland. She ...
16. Solange
Actress | Johnson Family Vacation
Solange was born on June 24, 1986 in Houston, Texas, USA. She is an actress and director, known for Johnson Family Vacation (2004), Bring It on: All or Nothing (2006) and Solange: Almeda (2019). She has been married to Alan Ferguson since November 16, 2014. She was previously married to Daniel ...
17. Joy Bryant
Actress | Bobby
Joy Bryant was born in a modest home in The Bronx, New York and as a young woman, was enrolled in an inner-city outreach organization called "A Better Chance," designed to encourage minority talent. Joy was also blessed with brains as well beauty and remained an excellent student throughout her ...
18. Jill Scott
Actress | Why Did I Get Married?
Three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, New York Times best-selling poet, and critically acclaimed actor are only a few titles held by Jill Scott. Before having the #1 album in the country with "The Light of The Sun", performing at The White House, being named People Magazine's Top TV ...
19. Raven-Symoné
Actress | That's So Raven
Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman was born on December 10, 1985 in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Ossining, New York to Lydia Louise Pearman (née Gaulden) & Christopher Blaize Pearman. While they lived there, Raven signed with the Ford Modeling Agency, who sent her out on an audition for a movie called...
20. Denise Boutte
Actress | Why Did I Get Married?
Denise Boutte was born on January 19, 1982 in Maurice, Louisiana, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Why Did I Get Married? (2007), Kombucha Cure (2023) and Extreme Movie (2008). She has been married to Kevin Boutte since 2003. They have one child.
21. Shannon Kane
Actress | Brooklyn's Finest
Shannon Kane was born on September 14, 1986 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. She is an actress, known for Brooklyn's Finest (2009), The Collection (2012) and Blood and Bone (2009).
22. Sanaa Lathan
Actress | AVP: Alien vs. Predator
Sanaa Lathan is an actor, director, producer, and activist, well-known for starring in such hit films as LOVE & BASKETBALL, THE BEST MAN and BEST MAN HOLIDAY, BROWN SUGAR, ALIEN VS. PREDATOR, and NAPPILY EVER AFTER.
She recently made her feature directorial debut for Paramount Pictures' ON THE COME ...
23. Lela Rochon
Actress | Waiting to Exhale
Lela Rochon was born on April 17, 1964 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Waiting to Exhale (1995), Any Given Sunday (1999) and Gang Related (1997). She has been married to Antoine Fuqua since April 9, 1999. They have two children. She was previously married ...
24. Camille Winbush
Actress | The Bernie Mac Show
Camille Winbush was born on February 9, 1990 in Culver City, California, USA. She is an actress, known for The Bernie Mac Show (2001), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) and Eraser (1996).
25. Lisa Arrindell
Actress | Madea's Family Reunion
Lisa Arrindell was born at Parkchester General Hospital in the Bronx, New York, and brought straight home to Brooklyn, where she was raised. She is a graduate of The High School of Performing Arts, now called The Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Arts and Performing Arts, and earned her ...
26. Jill Marie Jones
Actress | Girlfriends
Jill Marie Jones was born on January 4, 1975 in Dallas, Texas, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Girlfriends (2000), Drool (2009) and Sleepy Hollow (2013).
27. Kellita Smith
Actress | The Bernie Mac Show
Kellita Smith was born January 15, 1969 as Kellita A. Smith in Chicago, Illinois. She is an actress who has appeared on House Party 3 (1994), The Bernie Mac Show (2001-2006), Sister, Sister (1994-1999), Moesha (1996-2001), In Living Color (1990-1994), Living Single (1993-1998), and The First Family...
28. Caryn Ward
Actress | Craig Ross Jr.'s Monogamy
Caryn Ward is a professionally trained dancer/choreographer who studied at the prestigious Alvin Ailey Dance Academy in New York City, NY. She danced on stage, screen and video with Janet Jackson, Usher, Rosie Perez, Debbie Allen to name a few. Caryn has recurred and co-starred on HBO's Entourage, ...
29. Pam Grier
Actress | Jackie Brown
Pam Grier was born in Winston-Salem, NC, one of four children of Gwendolyn Sylvia (Samuels), a nurse, and Clarence Ransom Grier Jr., an Air Force mechanic. Pam has been a major African-American star from the early 1970s. Her career started in 1971, when Roger Corman of New World Pictures launched ...
30. BernNadette Stanis
Actress | Good Times
BernNadette Stanis is best known as Thelma from Good Times (1974), but there's much more to her than that. In the 1970s she was the personification of black beauty. As sophisticated and graceful as she was, she still became TV's first black sex symbol or "It" girl. Thelma/BernNadette and the Evans ...
31. Tracey Heggins
Actress | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
Tracey Heggins is known for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012), Bad Samaritan (2018) and John Tucker Must Die (2006).
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