Trivia: One of the most powerful and uncompromising artists in rap music, Ice Cube enjoyed a surprisingly smooth transition into a career in motion pictures, first distinguishing himself as an actor and later branching out into writing, producing, and directing. Born O'Shea Jackson in South Central Los Angeles on June 15, 1969, Ice Cube came from a working class family, with both his father and mother employed by U.C.L.A. Ice Cube began writing lyrics when he was in ninth grade; a friend in a high school typing class challenged him to see who could come up with a better rap, and when he won the contest, Cube began honing his hip-hop skills in earnest. Before long, Ice Cube had formed a rap group called CIA with a friend, a DJ known as Sir Jinx. CIA began playing parties organized by Dr. Dre (born Andre Young), a member of a popular local hip-hop group called The World Class Wrecking Cru, and Cube and Dre both got to know Eazy-E (born Eric Wright), a rapper with a group called HBO who had started his own record company, financed by his successful career as a drug dealer. In time, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E joined forces with DJ Yella (born Antoine Carraby) and MC Ren (born Lorenzo Patterson) to form the group N.W.A. With their 1988 album Straight Outta Compton, N.W.A.'s profane and provocative lyrics (particularly the infamous "F -- -- Tha Police") made them one of the most controversial groups in the history of rap music, and if they weren't the first gangsta rappers, they certainly brought the sound to a mass audience for the first time. In 1989, Cube, dissatisfied with N.W.A.'s management (and the fact he had been paid a mere 30,000 dollars for writing and performing on an album which sold three million copies), decided to leave the group and strike out on his own. He released his first solo album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, in 1990, and the disc's blunt, forceful sound and aggressive blend of street life and political commentary proved there was life for the rapper after N.W.A.. The following year, after releasing the follow-up EP Kill at Will, and a second album, Death Certificate, Cube made his acting debut in John Singleton's gritty look at life in South Central Los Angeles, Boyz N The Hood, which drew its name from an early N.W.A. track. Cube received strong reviews for his performance as ex-con Doughboy, and a year later starred opposite fellow rap trailblazer Ice-T in Walter Hill's Trespass. In 1995, Cube reunited with Singleton for the drama Higher Learning, and, later that year, expanded his repertoire by starring in Friday, a comedy he also wrote and produced. With his career in the movies on the rise, Cube spent less and less time in the recording studio, although he often contributed to the soundtracks of the films in which he appeared, and recorded with the L.A. all-star group Westside Connection. In 1998, Cube added directing to his list of accomplishments with The Players Club, for which he also served as screenwriter and executive producer, as well as played a supporting role as Reggie. The same year, he released his first solo album in four years, War and Peace, Vol. One: The War Disc. Cube went on to write and produce sequels to both Friday and All About the Benjamins, which co-starred his Friday sidekick, Mike Epps. He also continued to work in films for other writers and filmmakers, including Three Kings, Ghosts of Mars, and the extremely successful urban comedy Barbershop.In 2004, Cube's career continued to pick up steam. He appeared in the motor-cycle action thriller Torque, as well as Barbershop 2: Back in Business. By the next year, he was taking over for Vin Diesel, starring in XXX: State of the Union, as well as branching into the realm of family comedy with Are We There Yet?. Both were box office gold, and Cube went on to follow up the latter with 2007's sequel Are We Done Yet?.He tried his hand at an inspirational sports drama producing and starring in The Longshots in 2008. His love of sports found full flower in his 2010 documentary Straight Outta L.A., which he made as part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. The film examined the relationship between sports and hip-hop culture in The City of Angels during the heyday of N.W.A. He appeared in the corrupt cop drama Rampart, and had a funny turn as the Captain to the undercover agents working out of 21 Jump Street.

Trivia: A charismatic actress who possesses equal parts beauty and talent, Nia Long became a fixture of many African-American ensemble films of the late 1990s. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 30, 1970, Long developed an interest in acting at an early age. She received training from Betty Bridges, mother of former child star Todd Bridges (best known for his role on the TV series Diff'rent Strokes. Long got her start on TV, playing a character on the soap opera Guiding Light from 1991 to 1993. She earned her first helping of fame with her role on the popular sitcom Fresh Prince of Bel Air, which cast her as Will Smith's love interest. The actress made her film debut in John Singleton's acclaimed Boyz 'N the Hood (1991), sharing the screen with the likes of Cuba Gooding, Jr., Ice Cube, Angela Basset, and Lawrence Fishburne. She followed the film with Made in America (1993), a comedy that cast her as the daughter of Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson. Long subsequently established herself as a strong presence in romantic dramas and comedies, carving out a niche in such films as Soul Food (1997), Love Jones (1997), and The Best Man (1999). The actress also ventured into a number of other genres, as demonstrated by her roles in films ranging from supernatural horror (Stigmata) (1999) to big business crime drama (The Boiler Room) (1999) to inner-city police thriller (In Too Deep) (1999).As the new century got under way she had major roles in Big Momma's House and Boiler Room, as well as BAADASSSSS! On the small screen she joined the cast of the NBC drama Third Watch. In 2005 she was in the hit Are We There Yet?, and she followed that up with the sequel Are We Done Yet. Long also made time for the sequel Big Momma's House 2. In 2010 she appeared in the drama Mooz-lum. She reprised her role from The Best Man in the 2013 sequel The Best Man Holiday and later starred in The Single Moms Club.

Trivia: Philip Bolden debuted in features as a child star during the mid- to late 2000s. One who largely specialized in family-friendly urban comedies, his credits included Johnson Family Vacation (2004), Are We There Yet? (2005), and Are We Done Yet? (2007). In 2008, Bolden provided one of the main voices for the CG-animated comedy Fly Me to the Moon 3-D (2008).

Trivia: When Jay Mohr was a boy growing up in Verona, NJ, he dreamed of becoming a comedian. By the time he was a young adult, he had fulfilled that dream, first finding popularity in standup comedy and then making his way to television and feature films. Early in his career, he gained recognition for his uncanny and hilarious impressions, particularly for that of stony Christopher Walken. He made his television debut as part of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players on NBC's Saturday Night Live. While on the show, Mohr received an Emmy nomination for his work. After leaving SNL, Mohr began guest starring on other shows and landed regular parts on The Jeff Foxworthy Show and Local Heroes. For hosting the MTV network's Lip Service, Mohr won an Espy Award. He made his feature film debut in 1995, with The Barefoot Executive, but gained real recognition playing Tom Cruise's rival sports agent, Bob Sugar, in Jerry Maguire (1995). Following a nice-guy role in Picture Perfect (1997) and a turn as Ellen Burstyn's AIDS-stricken son in Playing By Heart (1998), Mohr had starring roles in two high-profile 1999 projects, the eagerly awaited but ultimately disappointing 200 Cigarettes and Doug Liman's acclaimed Go. In both films, Mohr acted as part of a Who's Who of Up-and-Comers cast, appearing as the man who screws over Kate Hudson in the former, and as a gay soap opera actor in the latter. The same year, he returned to his television roots with Action, a Fox show that featured him as a loathsome, foul-mouthed film executive. Despite rave reviews and a cult following, the show was given the axe by the network.After supporting roles in such high-profile box-office bombs as The Adventures of Pluto Nash and S1mone, Mohr took a couple more stabs at the small-screen. First he hosted the talk-show Mohr Sports on ESPN, which began airing in 2002. Then, in 2003, he served as both host and executive producer on NBC's Last Comic Standing, a reality show that attempted to find the funniest undiscovered stand-up comedian in America.In between a starring role in the sex-comedy Seeing Other People and several stand-up performances, Mohr spent much of 2004 promoting his first book, Gasping for Airtime. In the years to come, he would enjoy major roles on The Ghost Whisperer, Gary Unmarried, and Suburgatory, while continuing his work in stand-up and hosting gigs.

Trivia: Notorious for his uncanny portrayals of jocks, rednecks, hellraisers, and good ol' boys, the rough-hewn American character actor M.C. Gainey built a career for himself as the prototypical onscreen lowlife. Gainey observed in an interview, "With a face like this, there aren't a lot of lawyers or priest roles coming my way. I've gotta face that was meant for a mug shot and that's what I've been doing for the past 30 years...by and large I play cowboys, bikers, and convicts."Born in Jackson, MS, in 1947, Gainey debuted onscreen -- effectively portraying a young police officer -- in Herbert Ross' fascinating, ambitious, and stillborn musical film version of the Dennis Potter miniseries Pennies from Heaven (alongside Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, and Christopher Walken). Some might call Gainey's evocation of a cop uncharacteristic, given his later turns, but at least two additional roles as a policeman followed during the '80s, in John Carpenter's Starman (1984) and Sondra Locke's ill-advised sentimental fantasy Ratboy (1986). Gainey landed a number of additional assignments through the end of that decade, but his career did not fully catch fire until the '90s, when he sustained several turns per year. Additional films during this period include 1993's Geronimo: An American Legend (as a miner), 1996's Citizen Ruth (as Harlan), 1997's Con Air (as the villain Swamp Thing), 1999's Happy, Texas (as Bob Allen), and 2003's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (as a bouncer).In the late '90s and early 2000s, Gainey delivered two particularly memorable and dark performances that gave him instant recognition among viewers. In the first picture -- Jonathan Mostow's Breakdown (1997) -- Gainey played Earl, one of the psychopathic redneck kidnappers who torments Kurt Russell. In the second, Alexander Payne's character comedy Sideways (2004), Gainey played the unnamed husband of waitress Cammi, who chases intruder Thomas Haden Church out of his house while fully naked.Gainey found his broadest exposure to date, however, as Mr. Friendly/Tom -- seemingly the leader of the Others and as enigmatic as can be -- in the blockbuster ABC series Lost. In 2006 he began a six episode run as Bow Crowder in the popular FX crime drama series Justified, with feature roles in The Babymakers and Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained following in 2012.

Trivia: African American actress/singer Nichelle Nichols was born in Robbins, a progressive Illinois community founded by blacks in the 1890s. Nichelle sang with the Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton bands, then performed as a single in nightclubs. Garnering acting experience in supporting roles in such films as Mister Buddwing (1965) and Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding!(1966), Ms. Nichols was cast in her signature role in 1966: Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on Star Trek. Much was made in the mainstream press over the fact that here was the first TV science-fiction series to feature a black regular. Much more was made on the set of Trek by Nichols, who issued public complaints about the paucity of her character's screen time. She also seethed inwardly whenever star William Shatner, laboring under the assumption that every move he made was for the good of the series, ordered that Nichelle's lines be cut or altered because they "didn't fit her character." At the end of the first season, Nichols was poised to quit the series. She was persuaded to stay--by one of Star Trek's biggest fans: Dr. Martin Luther King, who felt that Uhura was a positive role model for black women. Before the series' three-year run was out, Nichols made television history by participating in an interracial kiss with William Shatner (though the scene itself was "fudged" so as not to offend those bigots who found such things offensive). In all her subsequent Trek endeavors, including the six theatrical features and the 1972 animated cartoon spin-off, Nichols saw to it that Uhura's contributions were of ever-increasing importance. In recent years, Nichelle Nichols has been active in several educational and pro-social organizations, and has been a guest host on the Sci-Fi cable channel's Inside Space; in 1994, she published her autobiography, Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories. In 1996 she made a memorable appearance at a roast of her former captain William Shatner.

Trivia: Attended Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire on a basketball scholarship. Auditioned for roles while working at a financial-management firm in his hometown, Stamford, CT. Lived in the attic of the LaMama Theater Company for four months after moving to New York City. Made movie debut in the 1994 Tupac Shakur basketball drama Above the Rim and TV debut in a 1994 Saturday Night Live basketball skit, replacing injured NBA star Derrick Coleman. Named one of the 50 Sexiest Stars of All Time by TV Guide in 2002. Has a twin sister who's a casting director.

Trivia: Parents are British. Attended Gannon University on a football scholarship, but was plagued by injuries and had to stop playing. Played rugby for Capilano Rugby Football Club in Canada; his brothers are both professional rugby players. Auditioned for the lead in Superman Returns, but lost out to Brandon Routh.