Trivia: Gabrielle Union had planned on attending law school, but began acting after the modeling agency she interned with as a college junior asked to represent her. She then won a series of small roles in television and film, including Love and Basketball, 10 Things I Hate About You (both 1999), and a part on the short-lived series City of Angels (2000). But her career really took off after her breakthrough portrayal of a sassy cheerleading captain from Compton in the late-summer surprise hit Bring It On (2000).It's ironic that cheerleading would be the activity that helped launch Union's star. The Omaha, NE, native was born October 29, 1973, and spent much of her youth playing sports, from soccer to basketball to track. She attended high school in Nebraska, where she was an all-star point guard, and, after graduating, moved to Los Angeles to attend school at U.C.L.A.After graduating with honors, Union chose to forego law school, stay in L.A., and concentrate on her acting career, which took off after her sparring with cheerleading rival Kirsten Dunst in Bring It On. After that film's release, Union won a substantial role in The Brothers and was slated to appear with an all-star cast in Welcome to Collinwood, as well as in Oscar-winner Stephen Gaghan's directorial debut Abandon. Her future film line up looking ever more impressive, Union took her biggest role to date as the acerbic titular character in the comedy Deliver Us from Eva, and continue to perform in films including Cradle 2 the Grave and Bad Boys II.In 2012, Union took on a supporting role in the comedy Think Like a Man, an adaptation of author and comedian Steve Harvey's self-help book of the same name.

Trivia: Blaxploitation superstar Richard Roundtree earned screen immortality during the 1970s as the legendary Shaft, "the black private dick that's the sex machine to all the chicks." Born July 9, 1942, in New Rochelle, NY, Roundtree attended college on a football scholarship but later gave up athletics to pursue an acting career. After touring as a model with the Ebony Fashion Fair, he joined the Negro Ensemble Company's acting workshop program in 1967. He made his film debut in 1970's What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?, but was still an unknown when filmmaker Gordon Parks Sr. cast him as Shaft. The role shot Roundtree to instant fame, launching the blaxploitation genre and proving so successful at the box office that it helped save MGM from the brink of bankruptcy. Thanks to the film's popularity -- as well as its two sequels, 1972's Shaft's Big Score! and the following year's Shaft in Africa, and even a short-lived television series -- Roundtree became an icon of '70s-era cool, and his image graced countless magazine covers. Outside of the Shaft franchise, he also appeared in films including the 1974 disaster epic Earthquake, 1975's Man Friday, and the blockbuster 1977 TV miniseries Roots. By the end of the decade, however, the blaxploitation movement was a thing of the past, and Roundtree's stardom waned; apart from the 1981 big-budget flop Inchon, he spent the 1980s appearing almost exclusively in TV roles or low-rent, direct-to-video features. Still, he continued working steadily, and in 1995 appeared in David Fincher's smash thriller Seven. The following year he co-starred in the acclaimed Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored, and also teamed with fellow blaxploitation vets Pam Grier and Fred "the Hammer" Williamson in Original Gangstas. In 1997, Roundtree returned to series television in 413 Hope St.

Trivia: Having worked steadily through the '70s on television and in blaxploitation films, African-American actress Margaret Avery did not become a star until she was cast as Shug in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of The Color Purple (1985), a performance that won her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Though the quality of her films briefly improved, her stardom was only fleeting and she returned to less visible work.

Trivia: Double-majored in science and mathematics in college.Was a standout football player in college and was offered an opportunity to play in the NFL, however he turned it down in favor of pursuing an acting career.First producing credit was on the 2007 drama The Mannsfield 12.Worked as a substitute teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District prior to landing his role on The Bold and the Beautiful.Perhaps known best for playing Justin Barber on the award-winning daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.

Trivia: Began acting in repertory theater at age 14. Often brought her younger sister, actor Christina Vidal, along with her to auditions. Had a recurring role on ER as Sandy Lopez, the girlfriend of Kerry Weaver, played by Laura Innes. The two would later reunite on The Event. Longtime friend Blair Underwood recommended The Event to her after he signed with the series. Owned a children's clothing store, Oodles, in Studio City.

Trivia: Initially gaining widespread exposure thanks to his role as ADA Paul Robinette on Law & Order in the early '90s, stage and screen actor Richard Brooks has expanded his responsibilities to include directing with the release of his freshman feature Johnny B. (1998). A native of Cleveland who studied acting, dance, and voice work at Michigan's Interlochen Academy of Arts, it wasn't long before Brooks was packing his bags for New York. He excelled as a student of the famed Circle in the Square Professional Theater School and his performances in the Eugene O'Neil Theater Conference production of August Wilson's Fences quickly gained him a reputation as a stage force to be reckoned with. A subsequent move to Los Angeles found the burgeoning actor landing numerous television roles, and with such made-for-TV features as Badge of the Assassin (1985) and Resting Place (1986), he began to come into his own as a notable screen presence, as well. With Teen Wolf (1985) and The Hidden (1987), Brooks began his ascent in the world of feature films. Throughout the '90s, most of his popularity came from his role in Law & Order, and the busy actor would constantly find himself alternating between the big screen, the small screen, and the bright lights of the stage. After turning up in The Substitute and terrorizing the undead in The Crow: City of Angels (both 1996), Brooks opted to try his hand at directing, and the result was the refreshingly honest Johnny B. Good. Although his tale of a young, urban black man who makes a positive change after suffering amnesia went largely unseen, those who did give it a chance as a video rental received a pleasant and unexpected surprise. Returning to the small screen for the short-lived G vs E in 1999, many cited Brooks as one of the strongest aspects of the wild, supernatural pop-culture actioner. In addition to his film work, Brooks also founded his own production company Flat Top Entertainment LLC. At the dawn of the millennium, Brooks released his first solo R&B album, Smooth Love, on Flat Top Records.

Trivia: Signed to Elite Model in Atlanta after graduating and used it as a way to break into acting. When he was cast as Antoine 'Trip' Triplett in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, had no knowledge of the MARVEL universe before that and had never read any comic books. When cast as a former NFL quarterback-turned-dating show contestant on UnReal, he worked out six days-a-week and stuck to a special diet for four weeks to get in shape and watched several episodes of The Bachelor for research.

Trivia: Actress Raven Goodwin is a student at Lyndon Hill Elementary School in Prince Georges County, Maryland. She has been acting since the age of four. She made her film debut in Nicole Holofcener's independent comedy drama Lovely & Amazing as Annie Marks, Brenda Blethyn's adopted daughter. She received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance. In 2003, she can be seen in Tom McCarthy's independent comedy drama The Station Agent.

Trivia: Was a fourth-grade spelling-bee champ. Won a role in a regional theater production of The Wizard of Oz by chance after being noticed in the waiting room at his older brother's audition. At age 8, took first place in the National Minority Junior Golf Tournament; has hosted the PGA's First Tee program for kids and appeared in an instructional segment for the Tiger Woods Learning Center. Big break came in 2003 when he was cast as Cory Baxter on That's So Raven; the 2007 spin-off Cory in the House centered on Cory's adventures in the White House, where his father is a chef. Is a talented rapper; his single "It's a Dog" was included in Life Is Ruff, the 2005 made-for-TV movie in which he starred, as well as the 2006 Disney feature The Shaggy Dog. Is the voice of Milo on Disney's Fish Hooks. In 2010, performed on Dancing With the Stars.

Trivia: Best known for his role as Warrick Brown, the detective with a marked predilection for risk (and an ongoing gambling addiction), on CBS's blockbuster series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, the easygoing, congenial, and memorably handsome African-American actor Gary Dourdan has built his life and his public image around uniqueness and originality. Six foot two inches tall, green-eyed, sporting bushy yet sculpted dreadlocks, and straddling the worlds of drama and avant-garde music, Dourdan commented to Ebony magazine, "I've always tried to be unconventional as much as I possibly could...one thing I'm trying to do with my career and with my craft is to blur the lines between what people think African-Americans should play and what I'm doing. I'm not much into fads and fashions and trying to follow things."Born December 11, 1966, in Philadelphia, PA, as the son of Robert and Sandy Durdin (his actual surname), the adolescent Dourdan attended "Freedom Theater," an inner-city program for aspiring actors, during adolescence. Success in this venue prompted him to travel to Manhattan on a weekly basis for musical training and dramatic auditions. Dourdan landed his "big break" as an actor in the early '90s, seemingly without even trying. While dating fashion model Roshumba Williams around 1991 and vacationing with her in France, Dourdan was spotted by powerhouse Debbie Allen, then the producer and director of A Different World; impressed by his looks and manner, she invited him to audition for the series. He played Shazza Zulu, the resident "con man" of Hillman College -- a role he sustained through the end of 1992 (for less than one season), before moving on to new endeavors. Dourdan debuted onscreen inauspiciously, with a bit part as the Second Cartel Man in Weekend at Bernie's II. Additional roles included that of a copy guy in Ron Howard's The Paper (1994), Christie in Alien Resurrection, and Yates in the Andy Wilson-directed medical thriller Playing God (1997). In 2000, Dourdan landed his biggest break with the CSI role, for executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer -- and (when the program instantly shot up to number one) continued the part as the series progressed. The same year that he signed with Bruckheimer and company, Dourdan played Malcolm X in the telemovie Muhammad Ali: King of the World. As mentioned, Dourdan is also a prolific alternative musician (with solo albums to his credit) and a record producer. He married African-American model Williams in 1992; the couple divorced two years later. He has two children, a son, Lyric, and a daughter, Nyla (the daughter of Jennifer Sutton, whom Dourdan dated from 1995 to 2000). He voiced the character of Detective Crispus Allen in 2008's Batman: Gotham Knight, and took on a supporting role as a chef in Jumping the Broom (2011).