Mo’ Better Blues 1990 premiere

1. Denzel Washington

Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. was born on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. He is the middle of three children of a beautician mother, Lennis, from Georgia, and a Pentecostal minister father, Denzel Washington, Sr., from Virginia. After graduating from high school, Denzel enrolled at ...

2. Pauletta Washington

Soundtrack | Philadelphia

Pauletta Washington was born on September 28, 1950 in the USA. She is an actress, known for Philadelphia (1993), Antwone Fisher (2002) and Genius (2017). She has been married to Denzel Washington since June 25, 1983. They have four children.

3. Ossie Davis

Actor | Do the Right Thing

Ossie Davis was born on December 18, 1917 in Cogdell, Georgia, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Do the Right Thing (1989), Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) and Grumpy Old Men (1993). He was married to Ruby Dee. He died on February 4, 2005 in Miami Beach, Florida, USA.

4. Michael Moore

Director | Bowling for Columbine

Michael Francis Moore was born in Flint, Michigan on April 23, 1954, and was raised in its Davison suburb. He is the son of Helen Veronica (Wall), a secretary, and Francis Richard Moore, who worked on an auto assembly line. He has Irish, as well as English and Scottish, ancestry.

Moore studied ...

5. Maria Shriver

Actress | Last Action Hero

Maria Shriver was born on November 6, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is a producer and actress, known for Last Action Hero (1993), Still Alice (2014) and Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert (2014). She was previously married to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

6. Gordon Parks

Director | The Learning Tree

The pre-eminent American photojournalist of sub-Saharan descent. An acclaimed photographer for Life magazine from the late 40s through late 60s, he turned to directing films, his second of which, the blaxploitation movie Shaft (1971), achieved success at the box office. In 1989 his first film ...

7. James Woods

Actor | Vampires

James Howard Woods was born on April 18, 1947 in Vernal, Utah, the son of Martha A. (Smith) and Gail Peyton Woods, a U.S. Army intelligence officer who died during Woods' childhood. James is of Irish, English, and German descent. He grew up in Warwick, Rhode Island, with his mother and stepfather ...

8. Danny Aiello

Actor | Do the Right Thing

Danny Aiello was an American actor of Italian descent, and enjoyed a lengthy career in film. He was once nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Salvatore "Sal" Frangione in the comedy-drama film "Do the Right Thing" (1989).

Aiello was born in Manhattan, New York ...

9. Ahmad Rashad

Actor | Space Jam

Ahmad Rashad was born on November 19, 1949 in Portland, Oregon, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Space Jam (1996), Best of the Best (1989) and Monsters (1988). He has been married to Ana Luz Rodriguez-Paz since April 30, 2016. He was previously married to Sale Johnson, Phylicia Rashad, ...

10. Phylicia Rashad

Actress | The Cosby Show

Phylicia Rashad was born in Houston, Texas to African-American parents Vivian Elizabeth (Ayers), a poet and art director, and Andrew Arthur Allen, an orthodontist. As a child, Phylicia, her older brother Andrew (called Tex), and younger sister, dancer and actress Debbie Allen, lived in Mexico. She ...

11. Tracey Ullman

Actress | The Tracey Ullman Show

Tracey Ullman (born Trace Ullman) is a multiple award-winning television, stage and film actress who performs as a comedian, singer, dancer, as well as works as a screenwriter, producer, director, author, and businesswoman. She holds dual British and American citizenship.

Ullman's early appearances ...

12. Jim Jarmusch

Director | Paterson

Moved to New York City at the age of seventeen from Akron, Ohio. Graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in English, class of '75. Without any prior film experience, he was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts, New York.

13. Kadeem Hardison

Actor | A Different World

Kadeem Hardison was born on July 24, 1965 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and director, known for A Different World (1987), White Men Can't Jump (1992) and Drive (1997). He was previously married to Chanté Moore.

14. Cree Summer

Actress | Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Cree Summer Francks is a Canadian-American voice actress and singer from Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of Canadian actor and singer Don Francks. She is most well-known for voicing Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Tiff Crust and Queen Vexus (when Eartha Kitt is unavailable) from ...

15. Cynda Williams

Actress | One False Move

Cynda Williams was born on May 17, 1966 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for One False Move (1991), Mad As Hell (2021) and Mo' Better Blues (1990). She has been married to Roderick Plummer since July 26, 2001. They have one child. She was previously married to Arthur...

16. Rubén Blades

Actor | Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Rubén Blades was born on July 16, 1948 in Panama City, Panama. He is an actor and composer, known for Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), The Counselor (2013) and Safe House (2012). He has been married to Luba Mason since 2006. He was previously married to Lisa Lebenzon.

17. Steven Van Zandt

Actor | The Sopranos

Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, producer, actor, activist and author. He is best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin. He is also ...

18. Maureen Van Zandt

Actress | The Sopranos

Maureen Van Zandt is known for The Sopranos (1999), The Christmas Chronicles (2018) and Iron Terry Malone. She has been married to Steven Van Zandt since December 31, 1982.

19. Kim Wayans

Actress | In Living Color

Kim Wayans was born on October 16, 1961 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for In Living Color (1990), My Wife and Kids (2000) and Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996). She is married to Kevin Knotts.

20. David Dinkins

Actor | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

David Dinkins is an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th Mayor of New York City, from 1990 to 1993. He was the first and, to date, the only African American to hold that office.

Before entering politics, Dinkins was among the more than 20,000 Montford Point Marines, the ...

21. Spike Lee

Director | Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from artistic, education-grounded background; his father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a schoolteacher. He attended ...

22. Joi Lee

Producer | City of Funk

Joi Lee is known for City of Funk (2016), Rio in Motion (2016) and Rio Postcards (2016).

23. Bill Lee

Composer | Do the Right Thing

Bill Lee was born on July 23, 1928 in Snow Hill, Alabama, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Do the Right Thing (1989), Jungle Fever (1991) and She's Gotta Have It (1986). He was married to Susan Kaplan and Jacquelyn Shelton. He died on May 24, 2023 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, ...

24. Suzette Charles

Actress | Frank's Place

Suzette Charles was born on March 3, 1963 in Mays Landing, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress, known for Frank's Place (1987), The Young and the Restless (1973) and Loving (1983). She is married to Leonard Bley. They have two children.

25. Eddie Murphy

Actor | The Nutty Professor

Edward Regan Murphy was born April 3, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York, to Lillian Lynch (born: Lillian Laney), a telephone operator, and Charles Edward Murphy, a transit police officer who was also an amateur comedian and actor. After his father died, his mother married Vernon Lynch, a foreman at a ...

26. Wesley Snipes

Actor | Blade

Wesley Trent Snipes was born in Orlando, Florida, to Marian (Long), a teacher's assistant, and SMSGT Wesley Rudolph Snipes, an aircraft engineer. He grew up on the streets of the South Bronx in New York City, where he very early decided that dance and the theatre were to be his career. He attended ...

27. Giancarlo Esposito

Actor | Breaking Bad

Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to an Italian carpenter/stagehand father from Naples, Italy, and an African-American opera singer mother from Alabama. His parents, working in Europe at the time of his birth, settled in Manhattan by the time he was 6, and ...

28. Bill Nunn

Actor | Spider-Man 3

Commanding performer Bill Nunn made his feature debut in fellow Morehouse College graduate Spike Lee's School Daze (1988), but really etched himself into moviegoers' minds as a formidable screen presence in his second film with Lee, Do the Right Thing (1989), playing Radio Raheem, whose ...

29. Jeff 'Tain' Watts

Music_department | Do the Right Thing

Jeff 'Tain' Watts is known for Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990) and School Daze (1988).

30. Dick Anthony Williams

Actor | Edward Scissorhands

Dick Anthony Williams was born on August 9, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Jerk (1979) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975). He was married to Gloria Edwards. He died on February 16, 2012 in Van Nuys, California, USA.

31. Abbey Lincoln

Actress | Nothing But a Man

Abbey Lincoln was born on August 6, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress and composer, known for Nothing But a Man (1964), For Love of Ivy (1968) and Drugstore Cowboy (1989). She was married to Max Roach. She died on August 14, 2010 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

32. John Turturro

Actor | Fading Gigolo

Highly talented, lightly built American actor who always looks unsettled and jumpy has become a favourite of cult/arthouse film aficionados with his compelling performances in a broad range of cinematic vehicles.

Turturro was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian-American parents, Katherine (...

33. Nicholas Turturro

Actor | NYPD Blue

The whole Turturro clan and their extended family seem to have gotten into the show biz act at one time or another. The youngest of three boys, including famous older brother (by five years) John Turturro, Nicholas Turturro was born on January 29, 1962, in Queens, New York, and grew up in its ...

34. Samuel L. Jackson

Actor | Pulp Fiction

Samuel L. Jackson is an American producer and highly prolific actor, having appeared in over 100 films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000), Formula 51 (2001), Black Snake Moan (2006), Snakes on a Plane (2006), and the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999-2005), ...

35. Leonard L. Thomas

Actor | Black Snake Moan

It was the casting of Spike Lee's "School Daze" when Leonard answered the call of duty in the role of

"Big Brother General Patton"! Landing this role created a whirlwind of success, with the garnering of

seven additional starring roles in a series of Spike Lee Joints! Continuing in this vein, Mr. ...

36. Charlie Murphy

Actor | Norbit

Charlie Murphy was born on July 12, 1959 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Norbit (2007), Night at the Museum (2006) and Chappelle's Show (2003). He was married to Tisha Taylor Murphy. He died on April 12, 2017 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, ...

37. Coati Mundi

Soundtrack | On the Road

Andy (Coati's birth name) was raised in Spanish Harlem, New York City. He has a degree in business from NYU. At college he discovered his passion for the arts thus he would spend most of his free time hanging out with musicians, actors and poets. He worked briefly as a Social Worker prior to his ...

38. Diahann Carroll

Actress | Julia

One of television's premier African-American series stars, elegant actress, singer and recording artist Diahann Carroll was born Carol Diann (or Diahann) Johnson on July 17, 1935, in the Bronx, New York. The first child of John Johnson, a subway conductor, and Mabel Faulk Johnson, a nurse; music ...

39. Ernest R. Dickerson

Director | Juice

Ernest Roscoe Dickerson A.S.C., aka. Ernest R. Dickerson, is an American film director and cinematographer. As a cinematographer, he is known for his frequent collaborations with Spike Lee. As a director, he is known for films such as Juice (1992), Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995), Bones (...

40. Sam Pollard

Director | Mr. Soul!

Sam Pollard is known for Mr. Soul! (2018), Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me (2017) and MLK/FBI (2020).

41. Branford Marsalis

Music_department | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Branford Marsalis is the eldest son in the "first family of jazz." Born August 26, 1960, Marsalis is an established saxophonist and outspoken iconoclast. He has collaborated with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Art Blakey, Terence Blanchard, Sting, Guru, Miles Davis, Bruce Hornsby and brother Wynton. ...

42. Kenny Kirkland

Soundtrack | Mo' Better Blues

Kenny Kirkland was born on September 28, 1955 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Mo' Better Blues (1990), School Daze (1988) and Sting: If You Love Somebody Set Them Free (1985). He died on November 13, 1998 in New York City, New York, USA.

43. Robert Hurst

Music_department | No Sudden Move

Robert Hurst is known for No Sudden Move (2021), The Good German (2006) and Do the Right Thing (1989).

44. Terence Blanchard

Composer | BlacKkKlansman

A world renowned trumpeter/composer/band leader and Blue Note recording artist, Terence Blanchard is the most prolific jazz musician to ever compose for motion pictures. Blanchard was born and raised in New Orleans where he studied with the Marsalis brothers at the famed New Orleans Center for the ...

45. Guru

Soundtrack | Training Day

Guru was born on July 17, 1961 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Training Day (2001), The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) and Addams Family Values (1993). He died on April 19, 2010 in Suffern, New York, USA.

46. Lolis Eric Elie

Producer | The Man in the High Castle

Lolis Eric Elie is known for The Man in the High Castle (2015), Treme (2010) and Cherish the Day (2020).

47. DJ Premier

Soundtrack | Inside Man

DJ Premier was born on March 21, 1966 in Houston, Texas, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Inside Man (2006), Skyline (2010) and Training Day (2001).

48. Exetta Harris

Producer | Robin Harris: Live from the Comedy Act Theater

Exetta Harris is known for Robin Harris: Live from the Comedy Act Theater (2006), Eve After Dark (2023) and One Night Stand (1989). She was previously married to Robin Harris.