Trivia: As an actor, writer, producer, and director of films and stage plays, the New Orleans-born Tyler Perry began his career as a dramatist in 1992. When inspired by Oprah Winfrey to channel his creativity through writing, Perry put pen to paper as a method of healing the wounds that lingered from a painful childhood. His first production, entitled I Know I've Been Changed, hit the stage to rapturous reviews in 1997, and following a collaborative period with Bishop T.D. Jakes that resulted in the plays Woman, Thou Art Loosed and Behind Closed Doors, Perry flew solo to create cantankerous 68-year-old grandmother Mabel "Madea" Simmons (whom Perry played, in full drag) in I Can Do Bad All by Myself around 2000 A slew of Madea-based projects were quick to follow, and shortly thereafter Perry joined Grammy Award-winner Kelly Price for the play Why Did I Get Married?. His plays garnered countless fans thanks to Perry's trademark practice of releasing them on home video. Throughout this period, many credited Perry with resuscitating (and reinventing) African-American theater; in the process, Perry's first eight plays reportedly earned a cumulative gross of over 75 million dollars in ticket and video sales.Perry didn't fully enter the public spotlight, however, until he cropped up in mid-2005 with the oddball A-lister Diary of a Mad Black Woman, self-adapted from his own hit play. This story of an African-American woman Helen McCarter (Kimberly Elise) struggling to rebound after a painful separation, whose life is invaded (in more ways than one) by the obnoxious, loudmouthed, chainsaw-wielding (!) Madea, Diary -- a bizarre combination of domestic melodrama, violent, racially-oriented farce, and Christian proselytizing -- understandably left many critics running for the exit, but, of course, ticket buyers prevailed. The film scored with its intended African-American audience and grossed a healthy 50 million dollars (it ranked as number one at the box office during February 2005), leading to an early 2006 sequel, Madea's Family Reunion, this one written and directed by Perry. Either because Perry's talent had matured within a year or because the press had grown accustomed to the playwright-cum-filmmaker's defiantly unconventional style, critics were slightly kinder about the sophomore Madea outing, which benefits from finely-felt supporting turns by the legendary Cicely Tyson and Maya Angelou. Like its predecessor, Reunion struck box office gold, and even topped Diary's net, reeling in an estimated 63.3 million dollars in international grosses. Perry then scrapped the Madea character for a tertiary cinematic outing, Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls. This romantic dramedy concerns Monty (Idris Elba), a financially strapped African-American mechanic who loses custody of his children to his drug-pushing ex-wife, and then falls in love with the beautiful attorney (Gabrielle Union) whom he hires to get the children back. Increasingly prolific on stage and screen in the following years, Perry continued packing fans into theaters with Madea Goes to Jail (2009), I Can Do Bad All By Myself (also 2009), Good Deeds (2012) and Madea's Witness Protection while simultaneously making a mark on television as creator of the hit sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Perry also began to take some acting roles in films that he didn't write/direct/producer, like the titular character in Alex Cross (2012) and a supporting role in David Fincher's Gone Girl (2014).

Trivia: Of the many siblings of mega-star Michael Jackson, Michael's youngest sister Janet is one of the few with enough genuine talent to succeed without her family ties. Jackson's fame rests largely on her successful, elaborately produced music videos, wherein the talented singer and dancer projects a more accessible, realistic image than her otherworldly brother. She is also a skilled and agreeable actress, as witness her series-TV stints on Good Times (1977-78), Diff'rent Strokes (1981-82) and Fame (1984). In 1993, Janet Jackson made her movie debut as a South Central L.A. beautician in director John Singleton's Poetic Justice (1993); the film was no classic, but Janet dominated every scene she was in, even those shared with notorious rap artist Tupac Shakur.

Trivia: A writer who evolved into a triumphant R&B performer and then a stage and film actress, Jill Scott grew up in Philadelphia and wrote lyrical, evocative poetry -- poetry that prompted her discovery by Amir, drummer of the R&B band the Roots. A studio collaboration between Scott and that band yielded the 1999 Top 40 pop hit "You Got Me"; afterward, in lieu of doing the expected by issuing her first solo recording, Scott first garnered legions of fans by touring across Canada in a powerhouse revival of the Jonathan Larson musical Rent; she then began issuing solo recordings in the summer of 2000. Scott's film career largely grew out of her music act, beginning as it did with solo performances in the 2005 Dave Chappelle's Block Party and the 2006 documentary Finally Sayin' What I Really Mean.... She segued into pure dramatic roles in 2007, with a pair of memorable performances -- one in the comedy drama Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? and an outstanding turn as blues maven Big Mama Thornton in the coming-of-age period piece Hounddog. She returned for the sequel to Why Did I Get Married, and was cast in TV series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Scott continued to split her time between her singing and acting careers, releasing albums in 2011 and 2015 and appearing in films like Baggage Claim and the 2012 television movie remake of Steel Magnolias.

Trivia: So elegant and striking that she deservedly won Ebony magazine's Celebrity Beauty of the Month designation in January 2004 -- with the asset of outstanding dramatic instincts -- actress Sharon Leal achieved stardom in the early 2000s with her multi-season portrayal of no-nonsense schoolteacher Marilyn Sudor on David E. Kelley's groundbreaking small-screen drama Boston Public. The daughter of a Filipino military policeman and an African-American homemaker, raised by a succession of stepfathers, Leal graduated from Roosevelt School of the Arts in Fresno, CA, in 1990, and subsequently landed two ongoing dramatic roles, on the daytime soap Guiding Light and the prime-time UPN drama Legacy (1998). The Public role arrived two years after that, with Leal cast in the program from its inception; after the series folded, the actress segued into movie roles, with turns in the smash musical Dreamgirls (2006) and Tyler Perry's comedy drama Why Did I Get Married? (2007). She had prominent roles in Soul Man, the sequel to Why Did I Get Married, and in Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day.

Trivia: Despite the phenomenon of many young actors struggling for years to break into Hollywood -- driving taxicabs and waiting tables until determination, persistence, and raw ability reel in a breakthrough -- a select few stumble into acting and celebrity by sheer happenstance. Malik Yoba epitomizes this idea. While working in a field with virtually no connection to the entertainment industry, Yoba decided, simply for fun, to attend a casting call session for a forthcoming Disney comedy called Cool Runnings. When his phone rang one month later, that single call changed Yoba's life forever.Born September 17, 1967, in New York City, Yoba came of age in the crime-ridden ghettoes of the Bronx and Harlem -- so crime-ridden and dangerous, in fact, that he found it impossible to escape the reach of violence. He fell into the path of a bullet at age 15, which hit him in the neck but (fortunately) did not inflict permanent injury or disability. A self-described "misunderstood child," Yoba empathized deeply, as a young man, with troubled inner-city youth, and regarded many as the victims of widely held racial and social misperceptions. Yoba thus opted to devote himself to volunteering, and later (in his early twenties) to full-time counseling, with endless exhaustive hours spent in NYC youth organizations. His specialties and passions in this role included teaching music and acting to school-age children and adolescents, and he would often organize teenagers around a specific cause, to pass on the flame of activism -- encouraging them to mount their own grass-roots social activism. These years found Yoba paying fervent and frequent visits to such institutions as secondary schools, homeless shelters, and penitentiaries.The open casting call for Cool Runnings arrived in late 1991, and Yoba reportedly only sought it out on a lighthearted note, at a friend's request. By all accounts, he auditioned and then promptly forgot about it, only to be astonished one month later by the studio's callback and invitation to co-star in the picture alongside John Candy, Leon, and Doug E. Doug. Released in October 1993, the comedy stars Candy as the out-of-shape Olympic gold medalist Irv Blitzer, recruited by a bunch of happy-go-lucky Jamaicans to coach their bobsledding team in the 1988 Olympic Games; Yoba played irascible and cantankerous team member Yul Brenner. Critics responded coolly to the film (many attacking it as yet another in a seemingly endless string of formula sports pictures), but audiences disagreed, and Cool Runnings shot up to break the 68-million-dollar mark at the domestic box office.Yoba then landed one of the two highly coveted lead roles in the first season of the Fox series drama New York Undercover. Something of an ethnic update of ABC's controversial smash hit NYPD Blue (which had premiered exactly one year earlier), the gritty program co-starred Yoba and Michael de Lorenzo as, respectively, J.C. Williams and his partner, the Puerto Rican detective Eddie Torres, assigned to the Harlem beat and juggling personal difficulties (including extramarital parenthood, the ups and downs of "playing the field," and family members with substance-abuse problems) with routine drug busts and criminal pursuits. Critics heavily lauded the series for its intense, take-no-prisoners realism, high-voltage street slang, and careful reliance on hip contemporary music (via a slew of pop and R&B guest stars who turned up, one per week, for a live musical performance at the end of each episode).New York Undercover lasted four seasons and wrapped in late June 1998; in the meantime, a brief supporting role as cigar-store patron named The Skunk in Wayne Wang and Paul Auster's beautifully wrought and understated slice-of-life drama Smoke (released stateside in the late summer of 1995) reunited Yoba with occasional Undercover co-star Giancarlo Esposito. A turn in Wang's improvisational follow-up (and semi-sequel), Blue in the Face, ensued that fall.At around the same time, Yoba returned to activism with full force, helming a series of interactive lectures for troubled urban youth called "Why Are You on This Planet?" The program combined exercises in reading, writing, art, music, and visualization to teach children self-empowerment and the wisdom of solid decision-making. "Why Are You on This Planet?" qualified as an instant, triumphant success and continued seemingly without end; in the meantime, Yoba perpetuated his dramatic efforts as well, with contributions to innumerable motion pictures. He essayed a pair of small, impressive performances in two very different 1997 indie dramas -- first as Detective Carson in James Mangold's all-star New Jersey policier CopLand (1997), then as a studio engineer in George Tillman Jr.'s ensemble comedy drama Soul Food, alongside Vivica A. Fox and Vanessa L. Williams.These options suggested that Yoba had an inherent strategy of signing for parts in small, finely wrought low-budget pictures outside of the Hollywood mainstream. Nevertheless, several of Yoba's project choices during the late '90s and early 2000s (though in keeping with this trend) brought the him decidedly mixed success and thus challenged the "foolproof wisdom" of this strategy. The films Oh Happy Day (2004), Kids in America (2005), and They're Just My Friends (2006), for instance, scarcely made a splash with critics or the public, and thus did little to advance Yoba's career. On the small screen, the stock-market series drama Bull (2000), co-starring Yoba and Donald Moffat, appeared and disappeared almost instantly. Yoba fared far better with his second billing in an acclaimed 2006 crime series, Thief; he plays Elmo, a member of master thief Andre Braugher's safecracking team. Thief premiered on the FX network in March 2006 to excellent ratings. In 2007 he appeared in the TV Series Raines, and also starred in Tyler Perry's Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? He appeared in that film's sequel three years later and also tried his hand at small-screen success again in the show's Defying Gravity and Alphas.

Trivia: African-American supporting player Richard T. Jones boasts a resumé exhibiting the genre versatility of the most gifted character actors. Jones made his first significant onscreen appearance in 1993, with a bit part as Ike Turner Jr. in the harrowing drama What's Love Got to Do With It? He then branched out into supporting roles in such pictures as the military comedy Renaissance Man, the goofy Pauly Shore yuck-fest Jury Duty, the sci-fi horror film Event Horizon, and the psychological thrillers Kiss the Girls (1997) and Twisted (2004). In addition, Jones played Officer Clement Johnson on the short-lived cop drama Brooklyn South in the late '90s. The actor was particularly memorable in his regular role opposite Amy Brenneman on the legal drama series Judging Amy (1999-2005), as Court Services officer Bruce Van Exel. After taking appearing in multiple episodes of the sitcom Girlfriends as Aaron and in supporting roles in films such as Why Did I Get Married? and Vantage Point, Jones scored a regular part on the hit sci-fi series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, playing FBI agent James Ellison, who is constantly on the hunt for the fugitive Sarah Connor. He also appeared in J. J. Abrams 2011 Spielberg homage Super 8.

Trivia: A black belt in seven karate styles who made his feature debut in The Toxic Avenger II and has appeared in numerous off-Broadway plays, Michael Jai White has a curiously eclectic career and is likely a recognized face to action movie aficionados. A Brooklyn, NY, native who was raised in the sometimes harsh limbo between the impoverished Bridgeport and well-to-do Westport, CT, Jai White grew from an introverted youth to a man comfortable in multiple surroundings. Eventually gaining a reputation as a fearsomely tough street fighter by the age of 14, the strikingly mature-appearing youngster earned his keep by offering karate lessons at the YMCA before graduating high school with honors and setting his sights on college. Bouncing from school to school unsure of what direction to take in life, Jai White took a few acting classes but eventually ended up as a junior high school teacher specializing in emotionally disturbed children. Soon auditioning for roles in Manhattan with the blessing of his students, Jai White would rise through the ranks and eventually land roles in such features as Universal Soldier (1992) and Full Contact (1993). After appearing as Mike Tyson in the 1995 television movie Tyson, the tough actor was cast in the role of a double-crossed assassin who seeks vengeance from the fiery depths of Hell in the eagerly anticipated film adaptation of the cult comic book Spawn. Later appearing in such features as Breakfast of Champions (1999) and Exit Wounds (2001), Jai White gained solid footing as a reliable supporting action figure.

Trivia: Louis Gossett Jr. ranks as one of the most respected African-American actors of stage, screen, and television. Tall, lanky, and bald-pated, Gossett was a basketball player in high school until a leg injury benched him and his interest turned toward acting. In 1953, at the age of 17, Gossett made his Broadway debut in Take a Giant Step, and ended up with a Donaldson Award for the year's best newcomer. Though working steadily on stage and television, Gossett was still interested in basketball. The New York Knicks drafted him out of college in 1958 and he played with them briefly before returning to performing. In 1961, Gossett reprised on film the role he played in the theatrical production of A Raisin in the Sun. It was a well-regarded beginning, and he continued to appear on stage and television, and beginning in 1967, the occasional feature film or television movie. During this early period, he also occasionally sang in nightclubs. Gossett did not become a bona fide star until his Emmy-winning performance in the landmark television miniseries Roots (1977). His career picked up considerably after that. In 1982, Gossett earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing a deceptively heartless drill sergeant in An Officer and a Gentleman. That same year, he also starred in another television series as the wise mentor to an alien prince in The Powers of Matthew Star (1982-1983). After the success of An Officer and a Gentleman, Gossett reprised his roll as the tough sergeant, albeit using different character names, in several films, including the Iron Eagle series, The Punisher (1989), and others. But though he makes an excellent rough guy, Gossett has showed a willingness to let his softer side show through in such made-for-TV movies as Sudie and Simpson (1990).

Trivia: One of America's most respected dramatic actresses, Cicely Tyson has worked steadily as a television, film, and stage actress since making her stage debut in a Harlem YMCA production of Dark of the Moon in the 1950s. The daughter of Caribbean immigrants, Tyson was raised in Harlem. After working as a secretary and a successful model, she became an actress, landed her first jobs in off-Broadway productions, and eventually made it to the Great White Way in the late '50s.Tyson got her first real break in 1963, playing a secretary to George C. Scott on the TV series East Side/West Side, and in 1966 signed on with the daytime soap The Guiding Light. That same year, she made her credited screen debut starring opposite Sammy Davis Jr. in the drama A Man Called Adam (her first uncredited film role was in 1959's Odds Against Tomorrow). More film, television, and stage work followed, but Tyson did not truly become a star until her Oscar-nominated performance in the Depression drama Sounder (1972). An unusual beauty with delicate features, expressive black eyes, and a full, wide mouth, Tyson next hid her good looks beneath layers of old-age makeup to convincingly portray a 110-year-old former slave who tells her extraordinary life story in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974). A well-wrought effort, it won Tyson her first Emmy for her title role, which required her to age 91 years on the screen. Tyson subsequently had great success on television, particularly with her role in the legendary miniseries Roots (1977) and her work in The Women of Brewster Place (1989). She also continued to do a fair amount of film work, appearing in films like Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (1994), The Grass Harp (1995), and Hoodlum (1997). In 1997, Tyson again donned old woman's makeup to offer a delightfully crotchety version of Charles Dickens' Scrooge in the 1997 USA Network original production Ms. Scrooge. Two years later, she had another television success -- and another Emmy nomination -- with A Lesson Before Dying, a drama set in the 1940s about a black man sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. Tyson was later featured in a trio of popular Tyler Perry movies, including Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005), Madea's Family Reunion (2006) and Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010). She also had a small, but pivotal, role in 2011's Oscar-nominated The Help, as Contstantine, the loving and elderly maid of Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone).

Trivia: A Broadway actress by training, Valarie Pettiford earned a Tony nomination for her role in the principal cast of the musical Fosse. She would also earn critical acclaim for roles in shows like Chicago, but most viewers would become acquainted with Pettiford for her film at TV work. Beginning with appearances on shows like Another World and Walker, Texas Ranger, Pettiford spent the '90s building up her résumé. In 2002, she was cast in the recurring role of Gayle Noland on the crime drama The District. Around the same time, she took on the role of Big Dee Thorn on the comedy series Half and Half, which she'd stay with for the next four years. In 2008, she began a professional relationship with Tyler Perry, playing Sandra on the sitcom House of Payne, and playing weary wife Harriet in Perry's 2010 dramedy Why Did I Get Married Too?

Trivia: Has studied martial arts since his teen years, and has a black belt in tae kwon do. Worked as a stockbroker before becoming a model for Versace, Armani, Calvin Klein and Valentino, which led to acting in the late 1990s. For first major role, on the NBC soap Days of Our Lives in 1999, had the added pressure of being followed by a film crew from Entertainment Tonight. In 2002, named one of People magazine's 50 Most Eligible Bachelors.

Trivia: When the sensual and alluring African-American actress Keesha Sharp first came to national attention in the early 2000s, she did so via a series of bit roles in urban comedies and dramas, such as the goofy Lance Crouther-headlined superhero farce Pootie Tang (2001) and Laurice Guillen's ethnic ensemble piece American Adobo (2002). Following small appearances in the 2003 duds Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood and Malibu's Most Wanted, Sharp signed for her most prominent turn, that of Monica in the syndicated series Girlfriends. She could also be seen in a recurring role on the family sitcom Everybody Hates Chris starting in 2005.