Trivia: Towson State College graduate Howard E. Rollins Jr. has been a stage leading man since the mid-1970s. The tall, imposing African-American actor earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of fiercely proud Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Ragtime (1981). As impressive as his theatre and film resumés are his TV credits, including such roles as Andrew Young in the 1978 miniseries King and George Haley in the 1979 multiparter Roots: The Next Generation. Howard E. Rollins was seen on a more regular basis on the ABC daytime drama Another World (for which he was Emmy-nominated); as explosives expert Bannister Parks on the 1985 "buddy western" series Wildside; and as Virgil Tibbs on the long-running (1988-92) TV adaptation of In the Heat of the Night. He made his final feature film appearance in Drunks (1995), a slice-of-life drama set at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Six weeks before he died on December 8, 1997, the 42-year-old Rollins had been diagnosed with lymphoid. Complications from the disease caused his demise.

Trivia: Dynamic African American actor Adolph Caesar studied drama at NYU after a hitch in the navy. He worked as an announcer on ethnically oriented radio stations, then joined the Negro Ensemble Company, the first of many specialized repertory groups to be graced by his talents. In between his stage and TV assignments, Caesar made a good living as a commercial spokesman and cartoon voice-over artist. Though in films since 1969's Che, Caesar did not achieve movie prominence until he repeated his blistering stage performance as a vicious, self-hating Army sergeant in A Soldier's Story (1985), a role which won him an Oscar nomination. Adolph Caesar died of a heart attack suffered on the set of the Kirk Douglas-Burt Lancaster vehicle Tough Guys (1986).

Trivia: Lead actor, onscreen from the '80s.

Trivia: Black supporting actor Art Evans appeared onscreen in the '70s and '80s.

Trivia: David Alan Grier may be best known as a dexterous TV comedy star, but he is also a multi-talented veteran of musicals, plays, and numerous films. Born in Detroit, Grier graduated with a B.A. in radio, TV, and film from the University of Michigan. Shortly after earning his master's degree at the Yale School of Drama, Grier made his Tony award-nominated Broadway debut in 1981, starring in the musical The First. Along with a stint in the hit musical Dreamgirls, Grier also did Shakespeare and acted in the off-Broadway drama A Soldier's Play. Moving to film, Grier earned the Venice Film Festival's Best Actor prize for his first feature, Robert Altman's Streamers (1983). Grier was subsequently one of several cast members to make the transition from stage to screen when A Soldier's Play was adapted into the critically lauded, Best Picture nominee A Soldier's Story (1984). Grier moved to lighter cinematic fare with a starring role in the advertising parody Beer (1985) and appeared in a series of undistinguished films, including From the Hip (1986) and Almost an Angel (1990). Grier's brief role in Keenen Ivory Wayans' dead-on blaxploitation spoof I'm Gonna Git You Sucka! (1988), however, turned into an even more fruitful collaboration when Wayans cast Grier in his comedy sketch show In Living Color. Throughout In Living Color's 1990-1994 run, Grier created some of the show's most memorable characters, including flamboyant, circle-snapping critic Antoine Merriweather of "Men On. . ." Grier maintained his film career by appearing as himself in Altman's Hollywood satire The Player (1992) and co-starring in the Eddie Murphy vehicle Boomerang (1992), as well as Damon Wayans' superhero spoof Blankman (1994). After the show ended, Grier continued to alternate between TV and films, executive producing and starring in the short-lived series The Preston Chronicles (1995), as well as appearing in the Robin Williams hit Jumanji (1995). Grier re-teamed with his "Men On" cohort Damon Wayans for the latter's 1998 sitcom Damon, but it failed to match In Living Color's popularity. Grier notched a ratings hit, and got to display his dramatic chops with his performance as a Black Panther in the miniseries The 60s (1999). After appearing in the lackluster Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000) and Return to Me (2000), Grier took another shot at sitcom success as the title Secret Serviceman in DAG (2000). He subsequently tried starring in a number of sitcoms that failed to take off, but always found consistent supporting work, with recurring roles on Life with Bonnie, Crank Yankers, and in several feature films. Grier also returned to the stage in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and in 2008, he was given his own show, a no-holds-barred mock-news program in the style of the Daily Show called Chocolate News, which presented both real and fictional news stories from an African American perspective. In 2009 he competed on the eighth season of the reality show Dancing With the Stars, and also appeared in the spoof film Dance Flick. He lent his voice to the animated project Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil.

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from the '80s.

Trivia: Handsome, outgoing African American leading man Larry Riley attended Memphis State University. Riley made his Broadway debut in the generically-titled 1978 production A Broadway Musical. He played GI ballplayer/C&W singer C.J. Memphis in Charles Fuller's 1981 Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play, then repeated the role in the 1984 film version, A Soldier's Story. This and Crackers (1985) were Riley's only big-screen appearances, though he was seen in the made-for-TV Long Gone (1987) and Polly (1988). His last major Broadway gig was as Jim in Roger Miller's Huckleberry Finn-inspired musical Big River. Larry Riley died of AIDs two weeks before his 40th birthday.

Trivia: After seriously pursuing a baseball career, African American actor/writer/director Robert Townsend decided upon a life in show business. An alumnus of Illinois State University and Hunter College, Townsend worked as a stand-up comic, and with such organizations as Second City, the Negro Ensemble Theater and the Experimental Black Actor's Guild. In films from 1975, Townsend satirically encapsulated his frustrating experiences as a black performer in a white-dominated Hollywood with his first directorial effort, Hollywood Shuffle (1987), a labor of love which was largely financed with credit cards and chutzpah. He went on to direct the popular concert film Eddie Murphy Raw (1987), then tripled as actor, director and writer on The Five Heartbeats (1991) and Meteor Man (1993). Attempting to transfer his style and personality to the small screen, Townsend came up with the 1993 Fox Network variety weekly Townsend Television, which despite laudatory reviews folded after three months. Robert Townsend had better luck as star and co-executive producer of the WB network's The Parent 'Hood, a distressingly conventional 1995 sitcom which somehow caught on with its target audience.

Trivia: One of Hollywood's sexiest and most magnetic leading men, Denzel Washington's poise and radiantly sane intelligence permeate whatever film he is in, be it a socially conscious drama, biopic, or suspense thriller. More importantly, Washington's efforts, alongside those of director Spike Lee, have done much to dramatically expand the range of dramatic roles given to African-American actors and actresses.The son of a Pentecostal minister and a hairdresser, Washington was born in Mount Vernon, NY, on December 28, 1954. His parents' professions shaped Washington's early ambition to launch himself into show business: from his minister father he learned the power of performance, while hours in his mother's salon (listening to stories) gave him a love of storytelling. Unfortunately, when Washington was 14, his folks' marriage took a turn for the worse, and he and his older sister were sent away to boarding school so that they would not be exposed to their parents' eventual divorce. Washington later attended Fordham University, where he attained a B.A. in Journalism in 1977. He still found time to pursue his interest in acting, however, and after graduation he moved to San Francisco, where he won a scholarship to the American Conservatory Theatre. Washington stayed with the ACT for a year, and, after his time there, he began acting in various television movies and made his film debut in the 1981 Carbon Copy. Although he had a starring role (as the illegitimate son of a rich white man), Washington didn't find real recognition until he joined the cast of John Falsey and Joshua Brand's long-running TV series St. Elsewhere in 1982. He won critical raves and audience adoration for his portrayal of Dr. Phillip Chandler, and he began to attract Hollywood notice. In 1987, he starred as anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko in Richard Attenborough's Cry Freedom alongside Kevin Kline, and though the film itself alienated some critics (Pauline Kael called it "dumbfounding"), Washington's powerful performance earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.Two years later, Washington netted another Best Supporting Actor nod -- and won the award -- for his turn as an embittered yet courageous runaway slave in the Civil War drama Glory. The honor effectively put him on the Hollywood A-List. Some of his more notable work came from his collaboration with director Spike Lee; over the course of the 1990s, Washington starred in three of his films, playing a jazz trumpeter in Mo' Better Blues (1990), the title role in Lee's epic 1992 biopic Malcolm X (for which he received a Best Actor Oscar nomination), and the convict father of a high-school basketball star in He Got Game (1998).Washington also turned in powerful performances in a number of other films, such as Mississippi Masala (1991), as a man in love with an Indian woman; Philadelphia (1993), as a slightly homophobic lawyer who takes on the cause of an AIDS-stricken litigator (Tom Hanks); and Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), as a 1940s private detective, Easy Rawlins. Washington also reeled in large audiences in action roles, with the top box-office draw of such thrillers as The Pelican Brief (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), and The Siege (1998) attesting to his capabilities. In 1999, Washington starred in another thriller, The Bone Collector, playing a paralyzed forensics expert who joins forces with a young policewoman (Angelina Jolie) to track down a serial killer. That same year, he starred in the title role of Norman Jewison's The Hurricane. Based on the true story of a boxer wrongly accused of murdering three people in 1966, the film featured stellar work by Washington as the wronged man, further demonstrating his remarkable capacity for telling a good story. His performance earned him a number of honors, including a Best Actor Golden Globe and a Best Actor Oscar nomination.After another strong performance as a high-school football coach in Boaz Yakin's Remember the Titans, Washington cut dramatically against his "nice guy" typecast to play a corrupt policeman in Training Day, a gritty cop drama helmed by Antoine Fuqua. Washington surprised audiences and critics with his change of direction, but in the eyes of many, this change of direction made him a more compelling screen presence than ever before. (It also netted him an Oscar for Best Actor.) 2002 marked an uneven year for Washington. He joined the cast of Nick Cassavetes' absurd melodrama John Q., as a father so desperate to get medical attention for his ailing son that he holds an entire hospital hostage and contemplates killing himself to donate his own heart to the boy. Critics didn't buy the film; it struck all but the least-discriminating as a desperate attempt by Washington to bring credulity and respectability to a series of ludicrous, manipulative Hollywood contrivances. John Q. nonetheless performed healthily at the box (it grossed over a million dollars worldwide from a 36-million-dollar budget). That same fall, Washington received hearty praise for his directorial and on-camera work in Antwone Fisher (2002), in which he played a concerned naval psychiatrist, and even more so for director Carl Franklin's 2003 crime thriller Out of Time. Somewhat reminiscent of his role in 1991's crime drama Ricochet, Out of Time casts Washington as an upstanding police officer framed for the murder of a prominent citizen. In 2004, Washington teamed up with Jonathan Demme for the first occasion since 1993's Philadelphia, to star in the controversial remake of 1962's The Manchurian Candidate. Washington stars in the picture as soldier Bennett Marco (the role originally performed by Frank Sinatra), who, along with his platoon, is kidnapped and brainwashed during the first Gulf War. Later that year, Washington worked alongside Christopher Walken and Dakota Fanning in another hellraiser, director Tony Scott's Man on Fire, as a bodyguard who carves a bloody swath of vengeance, attempting to rescue a little girl kidnapped under his watch. Washington made no major onscreen appearances in 2005 -- and indeed, kept his activity during 2006 and 2007 to an absolute minimum. In '06, he joined the cast of Spike Lee's thriller Inside Man as a detective assigned to thwart the machinations of a psychotically cunning burglar (Clive Owen). The film opened to spectacular reviews and box-office grosses in March 2006, keeping Washington on top of his game and bringing Lee (whose last major feature was the disappointing 2004 comedy She Hate Me) back to the pinnacle of success. That same year, Washington joined forces once again with Tony Scott in the sci-fi action hybrid Déjà Vu, as an ATF agent on the trail of a terrorist, who discovers a way to "bridge" the present to the past to view the details of a bomb plot that unfolded days earlier. The Scott film garnered a fair number of respectable reviews but ultimately divided critics. Déjà Vu bowed in the U.S. in late November 2006. Meanwhile, Washington signed on for another action thriller, entitled American Gangster -- this time under the aegis of Tony Scott's brother Ridley -- about a drug-dealing Mafioso who smuggles heroin into the U.S. in the corpses of deceased Vietnam veterans.Washington appeared as New York City subway security chief Walter Garber in the 2009 remake of the 1974 thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, and begun filming the post-apocalyptic drama The Book of Eli in the same year. He earned a Best Actor nomination in 2012 for his work as an alcoholic pilot in Robert Zemeckis' drama Flight.

Trivia: Discovered acting at age 13; at 15 won a scholarship to study at the famed Inner City Acting Academy in Los Angeles. Was the first African American to be ranked as the No. 1 college speaker in the nation (for two consecutive years); led USC Trojan Debate Squad to a national championship. In 1987 founded the Young Foundation to help youth achieve success; reorganized in 2000 as the Young Center for Academic and Cultural Enrichment to focus on youth leadership training. Was named an Ambassador of Goodwill by President Bill Clinton. Was an adjunct professor of English and Dramatic Arts at Woodbury University. Was inducted into the African American Hall of Education. Is the recipient of several distinguished awards, including the Ford Foundation Freedom Unsung Award, NAACP Social Achievement Award, President's Icon Award, and Man of the Year Award from the National Organization of Women at Work. Best known as Brandy Norwood's father, Frank Mitchell, on Moesha. Is a sought after motivational speaker.

Trivia: Born Patricia Holt. Black singer/actress, onscreen from the '80s.

Trivia: The years of struggle and near-starvation for actor Wings Hauser began paying off when, in 1977, he was cast as Greg Foster on the daytime drama The Young and the Restless. Fans of the series may remember that, at the time, the actor billed himself as J.D. Hauser. In the 1982 movie melodrama Vice Squad, Hauser forever sealed his cinematic future by playing the most scurrilous, hate-inducing bad guy this side of Richard Widmark. While he'd occasionally show up in a sympathetic role, Hauser spent most of his time "down and dirty" in "B" actioners and direct-to-video flicks. A much pleasanter chap in his TV appearances, Hauser has been seen on two TV sitcoms, 1986's The Last Precinct (as Lt. Hobbs) and the long-running Roseanne (as the Conners' off-and-on next-door neighbor).

Trivia: Lead actor, onscreen from the early '80s.

Trivia: American stage and film actor Trey Wilson first gained a measure of public exposure on a very short-lived satirical TV series, The News Is the News, in 1983. Though only in his mid-thirties, Wilson's gravelly voice and bulky frame enabled him to play a variety of middle-aged toughs. He was seen in this capacity as Jimmy Hoffa in the 1985 TV miniseries Robert F. Kennedy and His Times. Wilson's least menacing screen role was as Skip, the laconic minor league baseball manager, in 1988's Bull Durham. Trey Wilson died the following year of a cerebral hemmorhage; he was barely 40 years old.

Trivia: Awarded the Papal knighthood well into his struggle with cancer and days before his death, British actor Michael Williams responded to the honor with typical zeal and sincerity, "This has been one of the best days I have had. Could I have a match replay?" A respected and versatile actor of stage and screen as comfortable with Shakespeare as with sitcoms, Williams was well known to U.K. television audiences through his role in the popular sitcom A Fine Romance, though his tireless on-stage career is a testament to an actor with a great love for classical roles.Born in Manchester in 1935, and attending Liverpool's St. Edward's Christian Brothers school in his youth, Williams was a devout Roman Catholic who maintained a close relationship with the church throughout his life, serving as an enthusiastic and supportive member of the Catholic Stage Guild for a number of years. Gaining popularity through his powerful roles in such productions as The Taming of the Shrew and perhaps most notably in Troilus and Cressida (opposite Helen Mirren's Cressida), Williams married actress Judi Dench in 1971. Remaining close friends long before matrimony (not unlike their fictional counterparts on Romance), Dench and Williams remained together until Williams' death in 2001, often appearing together on stage (The Pack of Lies) and in film (Tea With Mussolini). In 1972 Williams and Dench had their only child, actress Finty Williams (The Secret Rapture) (1993). His other popular television parts included that of a brilliant Oxford scholar reduced to hamburger slinging in Double First, and a co-starring role opposite actress Gwen Taylor in the mid-life marital drama Conjugal Rites (1993). Taking a cue from his Shakespearean stage roles, Williams' film roles were often geared towards the more classically dramatic. After making an early appearance in Marat/Sade (1966), Williams appeared with other well-respected classically trained actors such as John Gielgud (Eagle in a Cage, 1971), and Kenneth Branagh (Henry V, 1989). Williams was widely praised for his dramatic abilities and the remarkable depth of character he brought to his portrayals.In the 1990s Williams teamed with wife Dench and fellow Shakespearean actor John Moffatt for a charitable series of comedy, song, drama, and poetry under the title Fond & Familiar, one program of which was broadcast live on Radio 4. Retaining much of the same remarkable charisma on the radio as in his film and stage appearances, Williams other radio roles included that of Watson on a late-'90s adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles and a monologue performance titled The Packer which was written for him by Peter Tinniswood.

Trivia: Receiving his undergraduate education at Malvern Collegiate Institute, Victoria College and University of Toronto, Ontario-born director and producer Norman Jewison also studied piano and music theory at the Royal Conservatory. Following service in the navy and a brief sojourn as a cab driver, Jewison worked as an actor and scenarist in London. From 1953 through 1958, he was one of the top directors with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television service; he continued to turn out top-ranked TV work when he was signed by CBS in New York, winning three Emmys between 1958 and 1961. His first feature film was 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962), which led to a long-term contract with Universal. In 1963, Jewison took on the daunting task of executive producing the much-troubled Judy Garland Show, emerging from this failed 26-week project with little if any egg on his face. The first of Jewison's films to be greeted with the same critical effusion as his TV work was The Cincinnati Kid (1965). He went on to earn Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for his direction of In the Heat of the Night (1967). Not all of his subsequent films were treated kindly by the press, though he continued to enjoy respectable box-office showings. One of his biggest critical and commercial hits was Fiddler on the Roof (1971), despite complaints from devotees of the original Broadway version that Jewison weeded out too much of the musical's colorful ethnicism (some wags referred to the director as "Norman Christianson"). Jewison again hit it big with 1988's Moonstruck, for which he won the "Best Director" prize at the Berlin Film Festival. His next major directorial effort was The Hurricane in 1999; the story of a champion middle-weight boxer unjustly jailed for a murder he didn't commit, it starred Denzel Washington in the title role.

Trivia: Thomas Howard was a special effects photographer for Alexander Korda's production studio and worked on many British films, most notably Quo Vadis (1951). Before coming to film, Howard worked as a theater projectionist. He earned Oscars for two of his films, Blithe Spirit and Tom Thumb.