More Black Celebrities!

1. Danny Glover

Actor, producer and humanitarian Danny Glover has been a commanding presence on screen, stage and television for more than 35 years.

Glover was born in San Francisco, California, to Carrie (Hunley) and James Glover, postal workers who were also active in civil rights. Glover trained at the Black ...

2. Damon Wayans

Writer | My Wife and Kids

A tall (6'2"), sly, cueball-domed comedian of film and television satire, Damon Wayans hit outrageous 90's TV stardom playing various wise guys and streetwise slick characters on older brother Keenen Ivory Wayans' landmark, black-oriented TV sketch comedy In Living Color (1990). The show was pretty...

3. Carl Lumbly

Actor | Men of Honor

Carl Lumbly is an actor respected for his steadfast talent, versatility and class. His prolific career includes over 150 credits in theatre, film, television and voiceover, with extensive critical acclaim for his work.

A familiar face on television, Lumbly's most recent memorable appearance was in ...

4. Cuba Gooding Jr.

Actor | Jerry Maguire

Cuba Gooding Jr. was born on January 2, 1968, in The Bronx, New York. His mother, Shirley (Sullivan), was a backup singer for The Sweethearts. His father, Cuba Gooding, was the lead vocalist for the R&B group The Main Ingredient, which had a hit with the song "Everybody Plays The Fool". His ...

5. Keenen Ivory Wayans

Writer | White Chicks

The trail-blazing linchpin of a sprawling family dynasty of comic entertainers, it was multi-talented writer/director/producer Keenen Ivory Wayans (born June 8, 1958, in New York City) who led the familial pack and was the first to achieve national prominence when he successfully created, launched,...

6. Marlon Wayans

Actor | White Chicks

Marlon Wayans is an American actor, writer and comedian. He is known for playing Tyrone C. Love in Requiem for a Dream, Shorty Meeks from Scary Movie, Marcus Anthony Copeland II from White Chicks and Thunder from Marmaduke. He played Drake Winston/Robin in deleted scenes of Batman Returns and ...

7. Shawn Wayans

Actor | White Chicks

Shawn Mathis Wayans is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Along with his brother Marlon Wayans, he wrote and starred in The WB's sitcom The Wayans Bros.(1995-1999) and in the comedy films Don't Be a Menace (1996), Scary Movie (2000), Scary Movie 2 (2001), White Chicks (2004), Little...

8. Coolio

Soundtrack | Dangerous Minds

With over 17 million records sold worldwide, Grammy award-winning and multi-platinum recording artist Coolio is an artist known around the world as a musical and cooking master of extraordinary reinvention. Growing up during the time of tremendous change in Compton, Calif., Coolio fed on struggle ...

9. 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.

10. Mel B

Actress | Spice World

Born on May 29, 1975 in Leeds, England, Melanie Brown became a member of Spice Girls in 1994. Their three albums sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and they had nine singles at number 1 in the UK.

"Hot" was her first solo album, released on 9th October 2000. It entered the UK charts at #28. ...

11. Moses Gunn

Actor | Shaft

Moses Gunn was born on October 2, 1929 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Shaft (1971), Rollerball (1975) and Heartbreak Ridge (1986). He was married to Gwendolyn Mumma Landes. He died on December 16, 1993 in Guilford, Connecticut, USA.

12. Snoop Dogg

Actor | Training Day

Snoop Dogg is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, media personality, entrepreneur, and actor.

His music career began in 1992 when he was discovered by Dr. Dre and featured on Dre's solo debut, "Deep Cover", and then on Dre's solo debut album, The Chronic. He has since sold over 23 ...

13. LL Cool J

Actor | Deep Blue Sea

L.L. Cool J was born James Todd Smith in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York, the son of Ondrea Griffith and James Louis Smith, Jr.

Todd, as he was called, did not have a very happy childhood. At the age of four, he saw his mother and grandfather shot by his own father. After they recovered from their ...

14. DMX

Soundtrack | Exit Wounds

Earl Simmons (December 18, 1970 - April 9, 2021), known by his stage name DMX ("Dark Man X"), was an American rapper and actor. He began rapping in the early 1990s and released his debut album It's Dark and Hell Is Hot in 1998, to both critical acclaim and commercial success, selling 251,000 copies...

15. Xzibit

Actor | The X Files: I Want to Believe

Xzibit was born in Detroit, where he lived until his mother passed away when he was only nine years old. At the age of ten, he began to rap, very personally because of the loss of his mother. At the age of 14, he got into trouble and was removed from his home for two years after his father refused ...

16. Sean 'Diddy' Combs

Actor | Get Him to the Greek

Sean "Diddy" Combs has cemented himself as one of the most successful entrepreneurs and cultural icons of all-time. Standing as a respected symbol of relentless ambition, for three decades Combs' unrivaled influence is only matched by an unparalleled ability to innovate, evolve, and consistently ...

17. Mario Van Peebles

Actor | How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass

Mario Van Peebles is a highly regarded director, actor, producer and writer. His directorial skills can be seen in the retelling of the epic mini-series "Roots" starring Forest Whitaker and Matthew Goode. Van Peebles has directed award-winning shows such as the recent hit "Empire" and "The Last ...

18. Keith David

Actor | The Princess and the Frog

Keith David is a classically trained actor, winning 3 Emmys out of 6 nominations as well as being nominated for a Tony award. He starred in the recently concluded TV series "Greenleaf" for Oprah Winfrey's OWN network. Upcoming films include "Horizon Line" with Allison Williams ("Get Out") and "...

19. O.J. Simpson

Actor | Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult

Orenthal James Simpson, was an American former football running back, broadcaster, actor, advertising spokesman.

Simpson attended the University of Southern California, where he played football for the USC Trojans and won the Heisman Trophy in 1968. He played professionally as a running back in the ...

20. Philip Akin

Actor | RoboCop

Philip Akin was born on April 18, 1950 in Kingston, Jamaica. He is an actor, known for RoboCop (2014), The Sum of All Fears (2002) and The Ref (1994).

21. Willow Smith

Actress | I Am Legend

Willow Smith was born on October 31, 2000 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for I Am Legend (2007), Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008).

22. Tom Lister Jr.

Actor | Le Cinquième Élément

If you ever wanted a 6' 5", musclebound, broad-shouldered, shaved-head actor to play a terrifying bodyguard, a soldier of fortune or a fearsome gangster, then Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr. was your man. The basketball player turned actor, who notched up appearances in roughly 132 films, first popped up ...

23. Shaquille O'Neal

Actor | Steel

Shaquille O'Neal is a retired professional American basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program Inside the NBA on TNT. He is considered one of the greatest players in National Basketball Association (NBA) history. He was one of the tallest and heaviest players ever. O'Neal ...

24. Dennis Rodman

Actor | Double Team

Dennis Rodman is an American retired professional basketball player who played for the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, and Dallas Mavericks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was nicknamed "The Worm" and is famous for his fierce defensive and ...

25. Barack Obama

Producer | Leave the World Behind

U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama II was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was a white American from Wichita, Kansas. His father, Barack Obama Sr., who was black, was from Alego, Kenya. They were both young college students at the University of Hawaii. When his father left...

26. Dennis Haysbert

Actor | Far from Heaven

Dennis Haysbert was born on June 2, 1954 in San Mateo, California, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Far from Heaven (2002), 24 (2001) and Heat (1995). He was previously married to Lynn Griffith and Elena Simms.

27. James McDaniel

Actor | NYPD Blue

For seven seasons, acclaimed stage, screen and television actor James McDaniel portrayed Lt. Arthur Fancy on legendary television series NYPD Blue (1993). McDaniel recently completed shooting The Battle for Bunker Hill (2008), with director Kevin Willmott (CSA: Confederate States of America). ...

28. Henry Simmons

Actor | Cherish the Day

Henry Simmons was born in Stamford, Connecticut, one of three children to Aurelia, a school teacher, and Henry Simmons, Sr., an IRS agent. One of his sisters is his twin. Simmons earned a basketball scholarship at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire. He graduated with a business degree and ...

29. Rachel Luttrell

Actress | Stargate: Atlantis

Rachel Luttrell is an accomplished actress and singer who has worked in film, television, and on stage. Rachel Zawadi Luttrell was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and is the second-born of four daughters of Veronica Makihiyo Shenkunde Luttrell, the daughter of a powerful medicine man of the ...

30. CCH Pounder

Actress | The Shield

The CCH stands for Carol Christine Hilaria, her birth name. Most of her characters are enriched with positive attributes -- strength, confidence, integrity, strong-mindedness -- and it is a testament to the abilities of this four-time Emmy nominated actress that she continues on such a high plane ...

31. Antoine Fuqua

Producer | The Magnificent Seven

Antoine Fuqua is an American film director, known for his work in the film Training Day as well as The Replacement Killers, Tears of the Sun, King Arthur, Shooter, Brooklyn's Finest, Olympus Has Fallen and The Equalizer.

He has directed music videos for such artists as Arrested Development, Prince, ...

32. Louis Armstrong

Actor | High Society

Louis Armstrong grew up poor in a single-parent household. He was 13 when he celebrated the New Year by running out on the street and firing a pistol that belonged to the current man in his mother's life. At the Colored Waifs Home for Boys, he learned to play the bugle and the clarinet and joined ...

33. Seal

Soundtrack | Batman Forever

His Nigerian mother and Brazilian-born father were still studying when Seal was born. They were barely able to stay afloat with odd jobs. Shortly after his birth, Seal was sent to a foster family, where he grew up in sheltered conditions until he was four years old. In 1967, his mother Adebisi ...

34. Michael Jordan

Actor | Space Jam

Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born in Brooklyn, New York on February 17, 1963. He was the fourth of five children born to James and Deloris. James Jordan was a mechanic and Deloris Jordan was a bank teller. Soon after Michael's birth, James and Deloris felt that the streets of Brooklyn were unsafe to ...

35. Wilt Chamberlain

Actor | Conan the Destroyer

Wilton Norman Chamberlain was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Olivia Ruth (Johnson), a domestic worker, and William Chamberlain, a welder, custodian, and handyman. Wilt didn't come from a race of giants as many thought. Both his parents were no bigger than 5-9, but as a young boy he began a ...

36. Geoffrey Owens

Actor | The Cosby Show

Geoffrey Owens was born on March 18, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is an actor and director, known for The Cosby Show (1984), The Paper (1994) and Fizzle (2020). He has been married to Josette Huber since 1995. They have one child.

37. 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 ...

38. Tina Turner

Soundtrack | Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

With almost fifty years in the music business, Tina Turner became one of the most commercially successful international female rock stars. Her sultry, powerful voice, her incredible legs, her time-tested beauty and her unforgettable story all contributed to her legendary status.

Born to a ...

39. Sticky Fingaz

Actor | Flight of the Phoenix

Kirk Jones better known by his stage name Sticky Fingaz, is an American hardcore rapper, record producer, and actor best known as a member of multi-platinum hardcore rap group Onyx. Sticky Fingaz was discovered by Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C., who signed Onyx on his label JMJ Records provided that ...

40. Rihanna

Actress | Battleship

Rihanna was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988 in Bridgetown, St. Michael, Barbados to Monica Braithwaite, an accountant & Ronald Fenty, a warehouse supervisor. Her mother is Afro-Guyanese and her father is of Afro-Barbadian and British Isles ancestry. Rihanna lived the life of a normal ...