Trivia: An actress whose eyes seem able to peer directly into the souls of audience members, Kimberly Elise has garnered notable critical acclaim for her roles in such features as Beloved and The Ditchdigger's Daughters. Though many actresses might have been intimidated at the prospect of portraying a character from the Toni Morrison novel that is often cited as one of the most important works in American literary history, Beloved, Elise's ability to channel her characters gave her all of the confidence and strength needed to truly bring the character to life and hold her own opposite such formidable talents as Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. For as far back as Elise can remember, she wanted to become an actress, and she even wrote a letter to the local newspaper's "Fix-It" column at the age of ten asking for information on how to achieve her goal. Elise had already been doing stage work before the fateful letter was penned, so it was obvious to all who knew her that she was ready and capable to put in the effort needed to become a true star. Elise began acting in Minneapolis professionally around the age of 20, and though she studied communications at the University of Minnesota, the prospect of becoming an actress full-time was always at the forefront of her intentions. Her dreams became a reality when a short film she had directed served as her entrance into the American Film Institute, and the experience of moving to Los Angeles and studying at the prestigious and fiercely competitive school gave Elise all the confidence needed to make a name for herself in Hollywood. Shortly after making her debut in the television series In the House, Elise made the leap to feature films as a down-on-her-luck young mother who participates in a robbery in Set It Off. Though Elise did make quite an impression with her feature debut, the film was only a moderate success, and it wasn't until receiving critical acclaim and a Cable Ace award that her career truly took off. Her remarkable performance in Beloved followed shortly thereafter. In 2000, Elise stepped into the lead for the made-for-television feature The Loretta Claiborne Story, playing the mentally and physically disabled athlete who made a name for herself by overcoming tremendous odds and becoming a competitor in the Special Olympics. The film provided an excellent showcase for the versatile young actress, with roles in Bait and Bojangles quickly following. By the time she appeared in John Q as a financially strained mother whose husband's insurance won't cover their son's heart transplant, Elise had been singled out by many critics to be one of Hollywood's brightest young stars, and her strong performance in the film opposite Denzel Washington only helped to strengthen that sentiment. In 2004, Elise would once again appear with Washington -- an actor for whom she has publicly voiced great admiration -- in the cautiously anticipated but warmly received remake The Manchurian Candidate. She worked with Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker in The Great Debaters, a 2007 drama following the temperamental debate coach of a small town college, and co-starred with Bernie Mac and Terrence Howard in the inspirational drama Pride the same year. In 2010 she took a starring role in the film adaptation of the Obie Award-winning play For Colored Girls.

Trivia: With his bald pate and imposing frame -- the press once listed him as 6' tall and 215 pounds -- actor Steve Harris found it relatively easy to usher in a threatening and dominating screen presence when necessary, so it was scarcely surprising that he often found himself cast as heavies on both sides of the law in films such as Street Hunter (1990), The Mod Squad (1999), and The Skulls. Harris escaped from the confines of that typecast, however (and netted a substantial amount of critical attention) with two roles: that of mythical heavyweight Sonny Liston in the 2000 telemovie Muhammad Ali: King of the World, directed by John Sacret Young, and that of defense attorney Eugene Young on the ABC legal drama series The Practice (beginning in 1997). The smashing success of that program opened up many doors for the actor, including roles in Steven Spielberg's sci-fi thriller Minority Report (2002) and the urban seriocomedy Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005). With the grisly horror outing Quarantine (2008) and the Renny Harlin-directed actioner 12 Rounds (2009), it seemed that Harris' career had come full circle. He would go on to appear on shows like Friday Nights and Awake.A native of the Chicago suburb of Westchester, IL, Harris grew up as the son of a homemaker and a bus driver. He initially embarked on a promising football career, with the position of linebacker at Northern Illinois University, but torn ligaments in his ankles made it impossible for him to continue, and he instead hearkened off to the stage, establishing his dramatic roots behind the footlights with roles in regional productions of Julius Caesar and Macbeth.

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: California-born Shemar Moore parlayed a successful modeling stint into an acting career that began in 1994 with a lead role on the soap opera The Young and the Restless. Moore played Malcolm Winters for eight years, and earned a Daytime Emmy for his performance in 2000. After leaving The Young and the Restless, Moore landed a role on the short-lived WB superhero series Birds of Prey. A prominent supporting role in the surprise hit Diary of a Mad Black Woman followed in 2005, and that same year, he was cast on the CBS drama Criminal Minds alongside Mandy Patinkin and Thomas Gibson. In 2007, Moore made headlines in the gossip rags for a DUI arrest. He would go on to star on the proceedural Criminal Minds.

Trivia: Canadian-born Tamara Taylor first caught the eyes of fans with a recurring role on the '90s series Party of Five. She would make numerous appearances on various shows over the coming years, but Taylor's next big break came in 2006, with a starring role on the crime series Bones playing Dr. Camille Saroyan.

Trivia: Enrolled in a fashion course when she was 11, at her aunt's urging.Started modeling at age 13.Left modeling after 8 years to pursue an acting career.Made her theatrical film debut playing Bride in 2003's The Visual Bible: The Gospel of John.

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).