Trivia: Exploding out of Atlanta in 1994 to become one of the most original and invigorating voices in modern hip-hop, versatile musician-turned-actor Andre Benjamin (aka Andre 3000) took the music world by storm by bridging the gap between hip-hop and pop with his band OutKast before making the leap to the big screen with a bit role in the 2003 action comedy Hollywood Homicide. Though the role was a minor one, audiences and filmmakers were quick to take note of the stylish screen newcomer's notable onscreen charisma, and in the years that followed, Benjamin would become an increasingly familiar face to filmgoers thanks to roles in such features as the Get Shorty sequel, Be Cool. It was while growing up in Atlanta and attending high school in East Point that Benjamin first made the acquaintance of future OutKast collaborator Antwan Patton (aka Big Boi). After OutKast scored a hit on the LaFace label with the red-hot single "Players Ball," their success continued with such releases as Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, ATLiens, Aquemini, and Stankonia. In 2001, Benjamin technically made his first foray into film by joining an impressive cast of hip-hoppers such as Snoop Dogg and Method Man in taking on vocal duties for MTV's English-language dub of the international cult hit Volcano High (with the aforementioned appearance in Hollywood Homicide serving as the aspiring screen star's formal introduction into the realm of cinema). Though Benjamin's next screen appearance -- as a quirky rapper in the 2005 comedy misfire Be Cool -- may have done little to advance Benjamin's career onscreen, it did find him taking acting tips from such notables as John Travolta, Uma Thurman, and Vince Vaughn. When it was announced that OutKast would be teaming up for a throwback gangster musical drama entitled My Life in Idlewild, fans couldn't wait to see what the successful musical duo would offer when given the chance to shine on the big screen. Benjamin continued his momentum onscreen by recording vocal work for Charlotte's Web before appearing opposite Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, and Garrett Hedlund in John Singleton's revenge drama Four Brothers.

Trivia: One half of the successful hip-hop act OutKast (along with partner Andre 3000), Big Boi (born Antwan Andre Patton) took the duo's act to the big screen with the idiosyncratic musical Idlewild. In addition to an appearance in the drama ATL as a drug dealer, Big Boi portrayed the lead in the golf comedy Who's Your Caddy? He has appeared in numerous documentaries about the hip-hop scene in Atlanta.

Trivia: Even though bright-eyed actress Paula Patton began performing as a little girl, putting plays in her own back yard, the shy young woman didn't realize she wanted a career onscreen for many years to come. In high school, she became involved in a PBS series that took young, aspiring filmmakers on a trip across the country to work on their own documentaries, and when Patton graduated high school, she continued to pursue her interest in working behind the camera by enrolling the film school at the University of Southern California. After graduation, she worked as a production assistant, nurturing her goal of producing her own movie, but something felt missing. Finally, Patton realized that her passion was to be on the other side of the camera, so she enrolled in acting classes and strove toward her new goal in full force.Within a few years, Patton had landed a small role in Will Smith's 2005 comedy Hitch. The next year, she auditioned for a strange and exciting project by music-video director and first time filmmaker Bryan Barber starring Andre 3000 from the hip-hop group OutKast. The movie was called Idlewild, and the super-stylized comedy/crime drama/musical was set in the Prohibition-era American South. Patton's fresh new face was exactly what the unique project needed, and she was cast in the role of Angel Davenport, the female lead. Though the film wasn't geared toward the mainstream, it was a cult success among audiences and critics who appreciated its quirky style. Patton's star continued to rise as later that same year she was cast in another substantial role, this time in a much more high-profile movie. As the damsel Denzel Washington must travel through time to save in the Tony Scott action thriller Déjà Vu, Patton's sweet but solid force onscreen was lauded, even by critics who bashed the movie for being overly serious. For her next project, the actress signed on to star opposite Kiefer Sutherland in the horror movie Mirrors, slated for release in 2007. She appeared in the 2008 political comedy Swing Vote, and the basketball themed romantic comedy Just Wright in 2010. She had her most high-profile success as a member of the team Ethan Hunt puts together in Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol. She next appeared in the comedies Jumping the Broom (2011), Baggage Claim (2013) and About Last Night (2014).Patton was married to R&B singer/songwriter Robin Thicke in 2005. She appears on the cover of his 2003 album A Beautiful World and in a number of his music videos. The couple officially divorced in 2015.

Trivia: Though Terrence Howard's great grandmother Minnie Gentry was a successful New York stage actress, Howard didn't venture onto the screen himself until the age of twenty. Raised in a multiracial Jehovah's Witness household, the young man studied chemical engineering at Pratt Institute before being discovered on the street in New York. This quickly led to appearances on such television shows as Coach, Street Legal, Living Single, and Picket Fences. His breakout role in 1995's Mr. Holland's Opus helped pave the way for Howard's film career, as did his critically acclaimed performance as Cowboy in the Hughes brothers film Dead Presidents. By the time he took the role of Quentin in 1999's The Best Man, Howard had established a reputation as an actor of both skill and integrity. The new millennium finally brought Howard work that showcased his talent and made him a well-known name, like his role in the Paul Haggis film Crash, as well as his work in the John Singleton's Four Brothers. He also attracted the spotlight on the small screen with parts in the acclaimed TV films Their Eyes Were Watching God with Halle Berry, and Lackawanna Blues with S. Epatha Merkerson. This set the stage for his career-making performance as a pimp desperate to create a new life for himself as a musician in Hustle & Flow, for which he earned an Oscar nomination. Over the coming years, Howard would remain a vital force on screen, appearing in several films, likeGet Rich or Die Tryin', Idlewild, Iron Man, and On the Road. In 2013, he played a supporting role in Lee Daniel's The Butler and reprised his role in The Best Man Holiday. Howard returned to television in Fox's smash-hit Empire, playing music mogul Lucious Lyon.

Trivia: A plus-sized actor of Afro-Cuban descent whose killer smile and infectious laugh can liven up any comedy, Faizon Love got his start in such well-received African-American comedies as Fear of a Black Hat and Friday before getting wide recognition in such high-profile comedies as Money Talks, The Replacements, and Elf. It was during high school in New Jersey that the aspiring comic first became interested in performing for a crowd; his English teacher recognized Love's skill for comedy and allowing the student to perform for his classmates on days when lessons went especially well. Following graduation, Love moved to New York and made a bid for the big time in the East Coast entertainment capitol; it didn't take long for the performer to land an off-Broadway role in the Harlem National Black Theater production of Bitter Heart Midtown (a modernized retelling of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations). The subsequent death of beloved comic Robin Harris during the production of the animated comedy BeBe's Kids provided the emerging performer with his first big break in film, and though it was strictly a vocal affair, Love performed admirably under pressure. He could next be seen alongside Robert Townsend, Rusty Cundieff, Ice Cube, and Shawn Wayans in a series of low-budget but well-received comedy features. Love later parlayed his connection with Townsend into an extended television role on the small-screen sitcom The Parent 'Hood, and he continued to climb the credits until his role as a gridiron giant in The Replacements punted him into the mainstream. It was following his appearance in the Keanu Reeves sports comedy that Love's career truly took off, with a 2001 performance opposite Sean "Puffy" Combs in Jon Favreau's Made marking the beginning of a working relationship between the director and the actor that would continue when Love appeared opposite Will Ferrell in Elf (2003). Love's role as a surfing football player in Blue Crush in 2002 allowed the actor to overcomed his duel fears of sharks and water to brave the waves. And after attempting to remain in control of a prison as the warden in The Fighting Temptations, it was time to hit the road in Torque, a two-wheeled thrill ride starring Love's former Friday co-star Ice Cube. Video-game players with an ear for detail would recognize Love's substantial role in the hit 2004 release Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, with additional roles opposite Lindsay Lohan in Just My Luck and in the long-awaited OutKast musical Idlewild effectively serving to mark the arrival of a comedic actor whose versatility continued to impress.

Trivia: Actress Malinda Williams launched her career with scattered guest appearances on The Cosby Show and NYPD Blue, but branched out into big-screen roles in the mid-'90s. At an early stage, Williams vocally and pointedly expressed an interest in seeking out parts for African-American women characterized by their accuracy, incisiveness, and realism -- a desire that would shape and hone many of her subsequent project choices. She took two of her earliest big-screen bows in 1996 -- with small supporting roles in the Jon Lovitz laugher High School High and the Martin Lawrence sex comedy A Thin Line Between Love and Hate -- then appeared in such films as The Wood (1999), Idlewild (2006), and Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls (2007). Williams next signed for a pivotal supporting role in the crime comedy First Sunday (2008), about a couple of criminals who take hostage a bunch of church members.

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 burly, bald black actor of stage, screen, and television, Ving Rhames specializes in playing villains and, indeed, having grown up on Harlem's meanest streets, is no stranger to violence. His onscreen persona, however, is no match for his real-life reputation as a deeply compassionate man, seriously dedicated to his profession. The actor ably demonstrated his capacity for abundant generosity during the 1998 Golden Globes ceremony when he handed over the award he had just won for portraying the title character of the cable film Don King: Only in America to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon, simply because he felt Lemmon's contributions to film exceeded his own.Though his upbringing in Harlem was rife with many temptations to engage in easy money criminal ventures, the deeply religious Rhames separated himself from street riffraff at a young age and focused his energies on school. It was his ninth grade English teacher who steered the sensitive young man toward acting, in large part because Rhames was unusually well spoken, frequently earning praise for his clear elocution. Inspired by a poetry reading he had attended with schoolmates, Rhames successfully auditioned for entrance into New York's prestigious High School for the Performing Arts. Once enrolled, he immersed himself in his studies and fell in love with acting. Following graduation in 1978, he attended the Juilliard School of Drama on a scholarship and focused his studies there on classical theater. After graduating from Juilliard in 1983, he went on to perform in Shakespeare in the Park productions. In 1984, Rhames made his television debut in Go Tell It on the Mountain and, the following year, landed his first Broadway role starring opposite Matt Dillon in The Winter Boys. Thus began a steady, fruitful theater career augmented by recurring roles on such daily soap operas as Another World and Guiding Light, and guest-starring parts on such primetime series as Miami Vice. He entered films in Native Son (1986), following that up with appearances in a series of modest films and television movies. Rather than getting a single big break into stardom, he made a gradual ascent that began with his appearance in Brian De Palma's grim Vietnam War saga Casualties of War (1989). Rhames again worked with Matt Dillon in 1993 on The Saint of Fort Washington. While filming on location in New York, Dillon introduced him to a man who had approached him, asking about the actor's involvement with Rhames on Broadway. It turned out that the stranger was Rhames' long-estranged older brother, Junior, who had lost contact with the family while serving in Vietnam. Troubled and unable to reintegrate into mainstream society, he had been living in a nearby homeless shelter. The compassionate Rhames was thrilled to see his big brother and promptly moved him into his apartment, helped him get a job, and later bought a home for his brother and parents to share. In 1994, Rhames gained considerable acclaim for his disturbingly convincing portrayal of the sadistic Marsellus Wallace in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. His performance paved the way for supporting roles opposite some of Hollywood's most popular stars in such big budget features as Mission Impossible (1996) (as well as John Woo's 2000 sequel to the film), Con Air (1997), Out of Sight (1998), and Entrapment (1999). In addition to his film credits, Rhames has also continued to appear frequently on such television shows as E.R. Rhames' performance as a former gangster turned honest, hardworking man proved a highlight of Boyz N the Hood director John Singleton's 2001 drama Baby Boy, and after lending his distinctive voice to the computer animated box-office disaster Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within the actor returned to the small screen for a pair of made-for-television features. If subsequent efforts such as Undisputed failed to make a sizable dent at the box office, Rhames continued to impress with contributions to such features as Lilo and Stitch (again providing vocals for the animated film) and as a conscientious cop in the 2002 police drama Dark Blue. A role opposite Gary Oldman in the 2003 crime drama Sin flew under the radar of most mainstream film audiences, and in early 2004 Rhames took up arms against the hungry legions of the undead in the eagerly anticipated remake Dawn of the Dead. Subsequently reprising his role as Luther Stickell in Mission Impossible III, the imposing Rhames flexed his comedy muscles with a role in 2007's I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry before hitting what could be considered a career low-point in Steve Miner's embarassing Day of the Dead remake. An outrageous performance in 2009's The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard garnered some big laughs, and the following year Rhames did over-the-top horror the right way in Alexandre Aja's outrageous remake Piranha. In the next few years, however, Rhames' film output seemed to grow increasingly erratic, with roles in such Z-grade fare as Death Race 2 and Zombie Apocalypse earning the Emmy-winning veteran steady paychecks but precious little artistic integrity.

Trivia: R&B singer Macy Gray made a splash in the music scene in the late '90s, gaining attention for her songwriting style and distinctive, raspy voice. Her recording career had only recently skyrocketed when she decided to try out acting, appearing in projects like a 2000 episode of Ally McBeal, and 2001's Training Day. She would continue to maintain a sideline in acting throughout the years, most notably in movies like Domino, and in 2009 she ventured into reality TV, joining the cast of the popular Dancing with the Stars.

Trivia: Effervescent African-American entertainer Ben Vereen attended New York's High School of the Performing Arts and Emerson College. Vereen was 18 when he made his New York stage bow in Prodigal Son; shortly thereafter, he was cast in the touring company of Sweet Charity, eventually making his 1969 screen debut in the film version of that Cy Coleman-Dorothy Fields musical. He joined the cast of Hair in 1969, at various junctures playing both Claude and Berger. The following year, he won the Theatre World Award for his portrayal of Judas in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar. After a season with the National Shakespeare Company, Vereen was cast as "The Leading Player" in the Broadway musical Pippin, a performance that earned him a Tony Award. While he seemed destined to appear in naught but film musicfests like Funny Lady (1975) and All That Jazz (1979), Vereen proved his dramatic mettle with his unforgettable portrayal of Chicken George in the landmark miniseries Roots. While he didn't win the Emmy for this role (as many expected), his 1978 TV special Ben Vereen...His Roots copped the gold statuette. Vereen has also been honored with the American Guild of Variety Artists' George M. Cohan award, and with the NAACP's Image Award. In 1980, he co-starred with Jeff Goldblum in the Steven Cannell-produced TV series Tenspeed and Brownshoe. Though the series failed, Vereen reserved a warm place in his heart for his wheeler-dealer "Tenspeed Turner" character, reprising the role on the 1987 TV weekly J. J. Starbuck. His additional TV credits include the 1975 summer series Ben Vereen...Comin' at Ya, the recurring role of Uncle Phillip on Webster (1986), and the hosting chores for the syndicated talent contest You Write the Songs (1986) At the height of his fame, Vereen ebulliently attributed his success to "Jesus." His faith was sorely tested in the late 1980s; enduring the death of his son, Vereen began contemplating suicide, at one point deliberately standing in the middle of a busy Los Angeles street, allowing himself to be struck down by a passing car. Happily, Vereen recovered both emotionally and professionally; his recent credits include the Broadway musical Jelly's Last Jam and the recurring role of Captain Hutchinson in the TV cop series Silk Stalkings (1991- ).

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

Trivia: Born and raised in the Midwest, actress Paula Jai Parker moved to Washington, D.C., to study at Howard University. After getting her B.A., she went on to become a regular on The Apollo Comedy Hour and Townsend Television on FOX. After proving she could do comedy, she made a dramatic turn on the HBO anthology series Cosmic Slop. She won a Cable ACE Award for her title role in the segment "Tang," based on the short novel by Chester Himes. Parker made her feature film debut as Ice Cube's girlfriend Joi in F. Gary Gray's hit comedy Friday. After meeting director Rusty Cundieff while doing Tales From the Hood, she was cast as gold-digging Adina in his urban comedy Sprung with Tisha Campbell. She also worked with many of the Wayans brothers on the WB show The Wayans Bros. and the feature film Don't Be a Menace in South Central. Her next few films included the romantic comedy Woo, starring Jada Pinkett Smith, and the period drama Why Do Fools Fall in Love, starring Halle Berry. In 1999, she joined the cast of the David E. Kelley's Snoops, a detective drama on ABC starring Gina Gershon. After the show ended, she provided the voice of Trudy Proud on the animated series The Proud Family and starred in the ensemble comedy 30 Years to Life with Tracy Morgan. Parker later appeared in Joel Schumacher's action thriller Phone Booth and Cheryl Dunye's domestic comedy My Baby's Daddy.

Trivia: Actor Jackie Long made his mark with supporting performances in such big-screen outings as Idlewild (2006) and ATL (2006), then essayed a portrayal of Trotter in Tom Brady's farcical send-up of sports movies, The Comebacks (2007).

Trivia: Bobb'e J. Thompson skirted to fame as a child actor well before his teens, initially with a small but colorful and energetic supporting role as the pint-sized Tupac in the unofficial Three Men and a Baby update My Baby's Daddy (2003), then with an ongoing small screen characterization as the infatuated Stanley on the situation comedy That's So Raven. Thompson provided one of the voices in the CG-animated adventure comedy Shark Tale (2004) and contributed to OutKast mainstay Bryan Barber's offbeat, inventive musical drama Idlewild (2006), before teaming up with Vince Vaughn in the holiday comedy Fred Claus, and Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott in the acerbic farce Role Models (2008). Alongside his film work, Thompson culled favorable attention for his prominent contributions to the youth-oriented urban dance video JammX Kids: Can't Dance Don't Want To, which afforded him the opportunity to show off his flair for urban music and footwork.

Trivia: As a 1996 graduate of Clark Atlanta University film school, Bryan Barber originally carved a name for himself as one of the most brilliant young directors on the contemporary urban music scene -- with an intuitive, almost preternatural ability to storyboard, choreograph, and shoot hip-hop videos for the group OutKast. Barber's ability to be heard as a clear and distinct authorial voice lay in his gift for defining a unique visual style, a postmodern style that relied heavily on the use of classic film and TV clips. He referenced Grease in the band's video for "Roses," and the Beatles' Ed Sullivan appearance in the band's video for "Hey Ya!" In the process, Barber emerged as a highly unique talent and imparted a wholly original image to the hip-hop movement. Barber's ascent to the big screen arrived via his association with OutKast. Charles Roven, the producer of the 2002 effects-laden Scooby-Doo, invited the group and Barber to contribute an original song and video to the movie soundtrack. Michael "Blue" Williams, OutKast's manager, ran a small film production house to produce the group's videos, and Roven's Mosaic Media -- saddled with HBO contract to produce lower-budget "urban" films by up-and-coming directors -- brought Williams, Barber and co. under his wing to make one of the first contracted pictures. Barber responded with the 2006 Idlewild. The film, which stars OutKast's André Benjamin and Big Boi, as well as the legendary Ben Vereen, Ving Rhames, and Cicely Tyson, represents a highly original work -- a hyper-stylized, all-black, period musical set in the Prohibition-era Deep South (in Georgia). In lieu of using a period soundtrack, however, Barber uses hip-hop music to make the era "more immediate" for young, contemporary urban audiences. HBO immediately greenlit the pitch, Universal picked up the distribution rights, and the film was released in August 2006.

Trivia: Pittsburgh native Bill Nunn's prolific career earned him such a long list of roles, it's hard to believe the actor didn't set foot onscreen until he was 35 years old. The Morehouse College graduate had a degree in English and his career sights had always been set on writing. It wasn't until a fellow Morehouse graduate, Spike Lee, offered him a role in his 1988 film School Daze that Nunn decided to try his hand at professional acting. His power onscreen was undeniable, and so was his natural acting ability. He appeared in Lee's next film, the groundbreaking Do the Right Thing, and his iconic role as Radio Raheem cemented him as a career actor. Memorable parts soon followed in 1990's Cadillac Man and 1991's controversial Mario Van Peebles film New Jack City. Critics and audiences were amazed that Nunn hadn't been learning the craft all his life, as he proved to be a bankable actor with the capacity to be both moving and funny. Nunn loved his work, too; he would continue to participate in multiple projects a year, amassing a resumé 50 roles long over the course of 20 years. Nunn's kind but steady gaze earned him a reputation for playing police officers, but from the political satire Canadian Bacon to the comic-book hero Spider-man movies, He appeared in the TV movie version of Raisin in the Sun in 2008 and made his last on-screen appearance as a series regular in the USA series Sirens. Nunn died in 2016, at age 63.

Trivia: Character actor Afemo Omilami built a career out of portraying gritty, urban types in Hollywood features, often with an aggressive edge, such as taxi drivers, longshoremen, barkeeps, drill sergeants, and angry spouses. Omilami debuted onscreen in the late '70s and evolved into an increasingly common screen presence as the years passed. The dozens of projects in which he appeared include the Tom Hanks-Shelley Long disaster comedy The Money Pit (1986), the Sydney Pollack-directed legal thriller The Firm (1993), Best Picture winner Forrest Gump (1994) (as a screaming drill sergeant), and the Ray Charles biopic Ray (2004). In 2007, Omilami joined the cast of director Deborah Kampmeier's rape-themed period drama Hounddog.

Trivia: A man with a gift for wringing laughter from commonplace situations, Cedric the Entertainer has parlayed a career as one of the top standup comics in America into a steadily growing resumé as an actor in film and television. Born Cedric Kyles in 1964, Cedric the Entertainer adopted his stage name early on in his career; having also worked as a singer and dancer, Cedric wanted audiences to know he was more than just another comedian, though after being named "most humorous" in his high school graduating class, he seemed destined early on to be best known for his wit. Cedric's career as a standup comic got its first major boost when he won the "Johnny Walker National Comedy Contest" in Chicago. This led to regular gigs at nightclubs in his hometown of St. Louis, and a victory in another Chicago comedy competition. With plenty of experience in the Midwest under his belt, Cedric began touring comedy clubs around the United States, and in 1993, he scored his first regular spot on television, as the host of the BET series Comicview. While touring the Southwest, Cedric dropped by a club in Dallas, TX, where the headlining act was not going over with the audience. Cedric persuaded the management to let him do a set, and his five-minute routine brought down the house. Cedric soon discovered fellow comic Steve Harvey was in the audience. The two rising stars struck up a friendship, and when Harvey scored his own sitcom, The Steve Harvey Show, in 1996, he brought Cedric along to play his friend, Cedric Jackie Robinson. Cedric was a hit on the show, and his work on the series earned him the NAACP Image Award as Best Supporting Actor on a Comedy Series three years in a row. In 1997, Cedric and Harvey joined forces with funnymen Bernie Mac and D.L. Hughley for a concert tour. Billed as The Kings of Comedy, the tour was a major success, selling out large venues across the country and grossing 37 million dollars over a two-year run. After his success on The Steve Harvey Show and with the Kings of Comedy tour, it was inevitable that Hollywood would come calling, and Cedric scored his first screen role in 1998 in the comedy Ride. The Original Kings of Comedy, a concert film shot by Spike Lee during a tour stop in North Carolina, hit theaters in 2000, and Cedric was also seen that year in the Martin Lawrence vehicle Big Momma's House. In 2001, Cedric scored a supporting role in the comedy-drama Kingdom Come, and did voice work for Dr. Dolittle 2 as well as the animated television series The Proud Family.As one of the stars of 2002's Barbershop, Cedric showed Hollywood that he could deliver a major box-office hit, and larger film roles soon followed. After a scene-stealing turn in the Coen Brothers' 2003 Intolerable Cruelty, Cedric geared up for what looked to be his biggest year to date. 2004 saw the comedian with starring roles in the sequel to Barbershop, Johnson Family Vacation, and the big-screen adaptation of the classic sitcom The Honeymooners, as well as prominent supporting parts in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, with Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep, and Be Cool, the long-awaited sequel to Get Shorty.He lent his distinctive voice to a number of animated projects including the Madagascar films and the live-action Charlotte's Web. He also acted in projects as diverse as Talk to Me, Code Name: The Cleaner, Cadillac Records, and Tom Hanks' sophomore directorial effort Larry Crowne.When not making people laugh in person or onscreen, Cedric has an interest in charitable work, and in St. Louis he's established the Cedric the Entertainer Charitable Foundation, which helps to fund youth scholarships and family outreach programs in his hometown.