Trivia: A respected actress of the stage, screen, and television, Angela Bassett has been one of the few African-American actresses to break Hollywood's color boundary. She has specialized in playing strong women familiar with adversity and has worked in genres from "chick flick" (Waiting to Exhale) to sci-fi action (Strange Days) to biography (What's Love Got to Do with It?), the last of which featured her in a star-making performance as Tina Turner.Born in New York City on August 16, 1958, Bassett was raised in St. Petersburg, Florida by her mother. Growing up in a household where money was tight, she was taught determination and independence. These values were called into service after an eleventh grade Upward Bound trip to Washington, D.C., when Bassett saw James Earl Jones in a Kennedy Center production of Of Mice and Men. Deciding that acting was her calling, she became involved in a number of local productions in St. Petersburg. She continued to act at Yale University, where she earned a scholarship; after completing a B.A. in African-American studies, she also spent three years at the Yale School of Drama. One of Bassett's mentors at Yale was the drama school's dean, stage director Lloyd Richards, who was so impressed with her talent that he cast her in two of his productions, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Although she enjoyed relative success on the stage, Bassett, like other African-American actors, had a difficult time finding roles in television and film.In 1986, Bassett made her screen debut in the cult favorite F/X. Following supporting roles in Kindergarten Cop (1990) and John Sayles' City of Hope (1991), she had her first significant screen role in John Singleton's acclaimed Boyz 'N the Hood, playing a struggling single mother. Two years later, after playing the wife of civil rights leader Malcolm X in Spike Lee's biopic and the Jackson Family matriarch in the made-for-TV The Jacksons: An American Dream, Bassett had her screen breakthrough as Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It?, a performance that earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe. As her newfound status allowed her to expand her range of work, Bassett went on to star in a series of diverse films. In 1995, a foray into futuristic action in Strange Days was complemented by a lead in the successful women's ensemble drama Waiting to Exhale (based on the novel by Terry McMillan), in which Bassett starred alongside Whitney Houston, Lela Rochon, and Loretta Devine. In 1998, she starred as the title character in another McMillan adaptation, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, playing a divorcee whose discontent is ably assuaged by a hunky twenty-year-old (Taye Diggs). The following year, she had a supporting role in Music of the Heart and again tried her hand at action in Supernova, a sci-fi thriller. Starring in former Orson Welles collaborator and blacklisted director John Berry's critically panned swansong Boesman and Lena in 2000, Bassett (along with co-star Danny Glover) earned praise for their sensitive performances as a troubled South African couple striving to seek stability in the face of Apartheid.Her career continued to evolve with a part in The Score in 2001. The next year she executive produced and starred in a biopic about civil rights figure Rosa Parks. She was part of the large ensemble John Sayles brought together for Sunshine State, and co-starred opposite Bernie Mac in the sports comedy Mr. 3000. In 2006 she played the mother in the spelling bee drama Akeelah and the Bee, and she continued to land parts in big-budget blockbusters such as Green Lantern and This Means War.Since 1997, Bassett has been married to actor Courtney B. Vance, whom she had known since their days at Yale.

Trivia: Attended Howard University on a full track and field scholarship. Trained at the Ivanna Chubbuck Studio and the Tasha Smith Acting Studio after graduating college. Was discovered by Karl Kani in an elevator at a BET party. Has had photography exhibitions in LA and New York City. Is a member of the Toyota Green Initiative Coalition.

Trivia: His mother was an Olympic high jumper. Grew up in the Bahamas. Never missed a game in four seasons with the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, tying a school record with 140 appearances overall. Drafted by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 1991 NBA Draft (24th overall selection) and played with Boston from 1991 to '97. Played with the Los Angeles Lakers from 1997 to 2004 and won three consecutive NBA championships (2000-02). Retired from basketball in 2004 and turned to a career as an actor. Acting debut was in William Friedkin's Blue Chips in 1994; breakout role was as prison inmate Jackson Vahue in Oz beginning in 2004. Was selected to compete on season 11 of ABC's Dancing With the Stars.

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: A veteran character actor whose work has shown he's as comfortable with comedy as drama, Frankie Faison was born in Newport News, VA, in 1949. Faison developed the acting bug while in grade school after appearing in a school play, and after high school he was a theater student at both Illinois Wesleyan University and New York University. Faison began pursuing a career in the theater, and appeared in a number of acclaimed off-Broadway productions, including Athol Fugard's Playland, the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of Before It Hits Home, and an adaptation of King Lear at the NYSF Delacorte Theater. Faison made his film debut in 1981 with a small role in Ragtime, and Faison soon began supplementing his stage work with small parts in motion pictures and guest shots on television. An inkling of what was to come for Faison appeared in 1986, when he was cast in a small role as a cop in Manhunter, an adaptation of Thomas Harris' novel Red Dragon, in which Brian Cox played the murderous Hannibal Lector. In 1987, Faison appeared on Broadway in August Wilson's drama Fences, opposite James Earl Jones; Faison's performance earned him a Tony award nomination. In 1988, Faison scored a showy comic role in the Eddie Murphy vehicle Coming to America, and a year later he was one of the "corner men" in Spike Lee's acclaimed and controversial Do the Right Thing. In 1990, Faison scored the male lead in a short-lived sitcom, True Colors, and in 1991 he appeared in another adaptation of a Thomas Harris novel when he was cast as Barney Matthews, the big but gentle male nurse in The Silence of the Lambs. Faison continued to win supporting roles in a variety of notable films, including City of Hope, Sommersby, Mother Night, I Love Trouble, Albino Alligator, Where the Money Is, and The Thomas Crown Affair, and he had a leading role in the well-regarded police drama Prey; sadly, the show fared poorly in the ratings and didn't survive its first season. Faison revived his role as Barney Matthews in 2001's box-office blockbuster Hannibal, making him the only actor to appear in all three films about the famous cannibal. ~ Mark Deming

Trivia: Best known for playing unapologetically mature, assertive, and intelligent adult women, African-American supporting actress Jenifer Lewis originally launched her career as a vocalist, singing in a church choir in Kinloch, MO. Lewis' passion (and gift) for singing carried her to the Great White Way, where she appeared in a number of sell-out Broadway musicals -- including Ain't Misbehavin' and Dreamgirls. She subsequently migrated to the West Coast for a string of appearances in TV programs such as Roc, A Different World, Murphy Brown, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Touched by an Angel, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and graduated to features in 1992. The films in which Lewis has appeared run the gamut of quality, from outstanding (What's Love Got to Do With It?, 1993) to satisfactory (Sister Act, 1992; The Preacher's Wife, 1996) to downright abominable (Frozen Assets, 1992); many, however, demonstrated her fine gifts. More recently, Lewis attained some much-deserved recognition (and ascended to higher than usual billing) with her multi-season portrayal of Lana Hawkins in the prime-time medical drama Strong Medicine (2000).

Trivia: A picture of bronze beauty whose radiant personality and unwavering devotion to family endeared her to Univision viewers when she debuted as host the popular 1995 travel series Fuera de Serie, model/actress Sofía Vergara's crossover appeal was cemented when a memorable performance on the FOX Network's 1995 American Comedy Awards launched her almost instantaneously into Hollywood stardom. Born on July 10th, 1972 in Barranquilla, Colombia, Vergara joined an extended, musically-inclined family that included five brothers and sisters in addition to many cousins, quiet and studious Vergara attended the private bilingual school Marymount while dreaming of a future career in dentistry. At the age of 18, Vergara married the man who had been her childhood sweetheart since age eleven, and soon thereafter the young couple gave birth to a baby boy. Thanks to years of hard work and intense studies it appeared as if young Vergara was at last close to realizing her childhood dream of becoming a dentist, though an innocent walk on the beach proved that fate had other things in store for the career-minded beauty. Glimpsed by a well-known photographer as she strolled the shore in her native Colombia, Vergara was soon stepping in front of the cameras to appear in a Pepsi commercial that soon made her a recognizable face across the country. A move to Bogotá two years later found Vergara making a name for herself on the runway as well as the small screen, and soon the rising starlet's popularity would spread stateside when she accepted an offer to host the globetrotting Univision series Fuera de serie. Her undeniable charm even more infectious on screen than it was in the glossy pages of high fashion magazines, Vergara was an instant hit and soon branched out as host of the weekly prime-time variety-show A Que No Te Atreves. When a brief but memorable performance at the 1995 American Comedy Awards found her appeal reaching even further beyond Spanish-speaking audiences and into the American mainstream, it didn't take long for Hollywood to come calling. In 2002, many American filmgoers got their first look at the up-and-coming actress when Vergara appeared in a supporting role in director Barry Sonnenfeld's ill-fated comedy Big Trouble. Pushed back from its original release date of 2001 due in large to sensitivities resulting from a plot involving a bomb and an airplane, Big Trouble died quickly at the box office before hastily being relegated to life on the home-video market. Though her following two films, Chasing Papi and The 24th Day, didn't fare much better at the box office, Vergara's winning performance in the high-flying 2004 comedy Soul Plane did well in showcasing both her remarkable beauty and impeccable comic timing. Her subsequent role in the animated IMAX film Robots found her stepping behind the cameras for her first voice-over role, though audiences could rest assured that in 2005 Vergara would be back in front of the lens not only in director Catherine Hardwicke's eagerly anticipated Dogtown and Z-Boys companion piece The Lords of Dogtown but the comedies Pledge This! and Grilled as well. However, Vergara is most recognizable for her starring role as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on the award winning television drama Modern Family, and would remain active over the following years with appearances in New Year's Eve (2011), The Three Stooges (2012), Machete Kills (2013) and Chef (2014). She landed her first true starring role in 2015, opposite Reese Witherspoon in Hot Pursuit.

Trivia: Multifaceted performer Tamela Mann began life as the youngest of 14 children in a Fort Worth, TX, family. Significantly, she grew up in a household firmly rooted in the Christian faith, which paved the way for Mann's own devotion to the gospel as an adult. In time, this dovetailed with the young woman's preternatural gifts as a vocalist (which first revealed themselves during stints in her local church choir). She teamed up with the powerhouse worship ensemble Kirk Franklin and the Family during the early '90s, and attained fame alongside them, ultimately evolving into one of the most sought-after gospel recording artists of the early 21st century. Mann's later efforts as a soloist only heightened her popularity and visibility and included collaborations with artists such as Al Green, Mary J. Blige, Bono, and Celine Dion.During the mid-2000s Mann smoothly expanded her repertoire to include film roles via a series of collaborations with her husband, theater actor David Mann. The two frequently worked in tandem and made the majority of their appearances under the aegis of writer/director/star Tyler Perry, in whose stage plays they had starred. Efforts that featured the Manns included Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (2008) and Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail (2009).

Trivia: A matriarchal supporting actress of film and television whose quick wit and instantly likable persona has served her well on stage and screen, Irma P. Hall has found frequent work in such African-American-oriented dramas as A Family Thing, Soul Food, and Beloved. Equally effective with comedic roles in such features as Nothing to Lose and The Ladykillers, the multi-talented educator, poet, and actress actually stumbled into a career before the cameras by accident -- impressing director Raymond St. Jacques at a poetry reading so much that the filmmaker requested she essay a role in his 1973 crime film Book of Numbers. Her acting career subsequently snowballed, and it didn't take long for the increasingly busy actress to make quite a name for herself on both the stage and screen. The Texas native's early career consisted of teaching foreign languages at public schools in her home state. An interest in acting eventually led the then educator and poet to co-found a small repertory theater in Dallas. In 1973, Hall's performance in Book of Numbers resulted in frequent small-screen work. Her career continued to blossom throughout the 1980s, and with feature-film work increasing in the 1990s, she became more recognizable than ever thanks to work in such features as Backdraft and Straight Talk. Despite the fact that the roles she essayed were frequently relegated to the supporting variety, her onscreen presence was undeniable, and Hall continued throughout the decade with roles in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Beloved. In A Family Thing, her role as a kindly blind African-American woman who helps her family warm to their newly discovered white relative earned Hall a Chicago Film Critics Association Award. An Image award for her role in the feature Soul Food followed in 1997 -- the same year she was voted "Chicagoan of the Year." The early 2000s found Hall flourishing on the small screen with roles in such series as Soul Food (a spin-off of the popular feature), A Girl Thing, and All Souls in addition to meatier parts in such made-for-television features as Miss Lettie and Me and An Unexpected Love. For her role as the perceptive landlady who catches wind of a criminal scheme in The Ladykillers, Irma P. Hall received the Jury Prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Unfortunately, Hall suffered a massive heart attack while driving shortly before the film was released into theaters -- resulting in an automobile accident. Hall was eventually able to overcome her injuries thanks to intense physical rehabilitation, and later that same year, she could be seen in both the family short Gift for the Living (based on O. Henry's tale The Gift of the Magi) as well as the Michael Mann thriller Collateral.

Trivia: A member of the original Ricky Grundy Chorale.Former member of the L.A. Mass Choir.Studied opera.Played Cassi Davis' romantic partner in multiple projects.Frequently mistaken as being married to actress Cassi Davis.Often collaborates with Tyler Perry.

Trivia: Mirroring the origins of his wife and professional partner Tamela Mann (who often appeared opposite him in musical and dramatic contexts), David Mann grew up in the Bible Belt, with a childhood and adolescence spent in the Texas heartlands. The product of a strict, disciplinary Pentecostal home, David began singing in the church choir at an early age and later joined then nascent gospel ensemble Kirk Franklin and the Family, where he both obtained stardom as a recording artist (thanks in no small part to the group's eponymous multiplatinum debut) and met future wife Tamela.Mann gravitated to acting around the age of 15, initially via comedic roles in high school productions and community theater. He later embarked on a professional acting tenure, first with a popular turn as the gangster Forty Ounce in David E. Talbert's play He Say? She Say? But What Does God Say? (subsequently adapted for television on UPN) and then via a series of stage and screen collaborations with popular African American playwright turned writer/director Tyler Perry, in whose films David and Tamela often costarred. Their efforts together include the 2008 Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns and the 2009 Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail.

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).