Trivia: Though he has since dropped the age restrictive "Lil'" for the more mature Bow Wow, this rapper-turned-actor stands tall on both stage and screen no matter what moniker he assumes. Born Shad Gregory Moss in Reynoldsburg, OH, Lil' Bow Wow dropped his first rhymes at the tender age of three, and after hooking up with producer Jermaine Dupri, the young rapper released his debut album, Beware of Dog, in 2000. The following year, he brought his vocal talents to the small screen in Carmen: A Hip Hopera. After releasing his 2001 sophomore album, Doggy Bag, Lil' Bow Wow made his feature debut in the action comedy All About the Benjamins. Leading-man status followed with a starring role as an orphan who discovers a pair of magical basketball shoes in Like Mike (2002), showing that the pint-sized rapper's skills in front of the camera rivaled those behind the microphone. Following the release of his third album, Unleashed (2003), he returned to the screen in 2004 for the comedy Johnson Family Vacation; snagging the lead role in Director Malcolm D. Lee's nostalgic coming-of-age tale Roll Bounce the following year. Strapping on a pair of roller skates for the '70s-set family drama, Bow Wow's first leading role snagged impressive box-office totals in its first-weekend, indicating good things to come for the young rapper-actor hyphenate. 2006 would find the actor/hip-hopper adding the title of wheelman to his credits when he buckled-in for the rubber-burning sequel The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Trivia: A native of Detroit, MI, and the son of Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, Brandon T. Jackson developed an affinity and a knack for comedic antics early in life -- which reportedly helped him survive the monotony and boredom of school and ultimately convinced him to pursue a career as a standup comic-cum-actor. He parlayed his ambition into a series of behind-the-mike routines at local community and church events (including the Motor City Youth Festival), then accepted a role in the teen-oriented urban drama Nikita Blues (which, not coincidentally, was executive produced by his father), and in the early 2000s moved to Los Angeles, essaying a series of bit parts in A-list features including Ali (2001), 8 Mile (2002), and Roll Bounce (2005). Jackson subsequently rose to supporting billing with his turn in the filmmaking-themed farce Tropic Thunder (2008), starring Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, and Ben Stiller, and directed by Stiller.

Trivia: Like a lot of young vocalists, Naturi Naughton started honing her skills in the church choir, singing with the congregation from the time she was five years old. In 1999, at age 15, Naughton formed the group 3LW with two friends from school, and released the single "No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)," with an album to follow the next year. The group found success with radio play and regular rotation on MTV, and went back into the studio to work on their next album, but issues with their record company put the project on hold. The group released a handful of subsequent singles before Naughton left the project, and got to work on a solo record. She also pursued a successful career on Broadway, playing Little Inez in the hit musical Hairspray from 2005-2008. Having successfully bridged the gap between music and acting, Naughton then signed on to play hip-hop icon Lil' Kim in the 2009 Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious.

Trivia: Born in Houston in 1949, actress Loretta Devine rose to fame on-stage in the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls before parlaying her acclaim into a career in film and television. Her first major onscreen role came in 1987, when she was cast as a resident advisor on the Cosby Show-spin-off A Different World. Though she left the series after the first season, it was far from her final gig as a TV series regular.Throughout the early '90s, Devine appeared in small supporting roles in features films such as Class Act and Amos & Andrew as well as a number of TV guest spots on shows ranging from Roc to Picket Fences. In 1995, Devine's career was given a shot in the arm when she was cast as one of the leads in Waiting to Exhale, an ensemble film that proved to be a success with both critics and audiences. More supporting work followed, and in 2000 she was cast as a lead on David E. Kelley's Fox drama Boston Public, a show that would go on to be nominated for multiple Emmys over the course of its four seasons on the air.Devine's career came full-circle in 2006 when she was cast in a small role in the film adaptation of Dreamgirls, the stage musical that launched her career. The following year, she was cast as a regular on ABC's supernatural legal drama Eli Stone.In 2010 she appeared in the American remake of Death at a Funeral, the comedy Lottery Ticket, and Tyler Perry's ambitious For Colored Girls. In 2011 she appeared in Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family, and the next year she had a role on the TV series The Client List.

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: Actor, singer, and voice actor Keith David has spent much of his career on the stage, but also frequently works in feature films and on television. A native of New York City, David first performed as a child, singing in the All Borough Chorus and later attended the prestigious High School of Performing Arts. Shortly after graduating from Juilliard, where he studied voice and theater, David landed a role in a production of Coriolanus at Joseph Papp's Public Theater. He starred opposite Christopher Walken. David made his Broadway debut in Albee's The Lady From Dubuque (1980) and, two years later, had his first film role in John Carpenter's The Thing. He would not appear in another feature film until he played King in Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986). In between, David alternated between stage and television work. He appeared in five films in 1988, including Clint Eastwood's Bird, where he gave a memorable performance as jazz sax player Buster Franklin. In 1992, David showed his considerable skill as a singer and dancer and won a Tony nomination for starring in the musical Jelly's Last Jam, opposite Gregory Hines. David's film career really picked up in the mid-'90s, with roles ranging from a gunslinger in Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead to a New York cop in Spike Lee's Clockers to an amputee who owns a pool parlor in Dead Presidents (all 1995). In 1998, David had a brief but memorable role as Cameron Diaz's boisterous stepfather in the Farrelly brother's zany Something About Mary. In one of the film's funniest scenes, David tries to help Diaz's prom date, Ben Stiller, extricate himself from an embarrassingly sticky situation. He is also well known to animation fans for his voice work in, among other projects, Disney's Gargoyles, HBO's Spawn, and the English-dubbed version of the Japanese-animated film Princess Mononoke. In 2000 he appeared in Requiem for a Dream, Pitch Black, and Where the Heart Is, as well as providing the narration of Ken Burns documentary on the history of jazz. He continued to work steadily in a variety of projects including Barbershop, 29 Palms, Agent Cody Banks, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and the 2005 Oscar winner for Best Picture, Crash. He also found work in Transporter 2, The Oh in Ohio, Meet Monica Velour, Lottery Ticket, and the 2010 remake of Death at a Funeral.

Trivia: A native of Flint, MI, who played in the NFL for seven years before segueing into film, athlete-turned-actor Terry Crews made his television debut on the small-screen sports entertainment show Battle Dome and has since moved on to appear in films by such disparate directors as David Lynch, Mike Judge, and David Ayer.During high school, Crews studied at Interlochen Art Academy, and he continued on to Western Michigan University for college; it was during his freshman year that he first took to the gridiron, and after making an impression as a Mid-American Conference defensive end, he solidified his reputation as a star player by leading his team to the Mid-American Conference championship in 1988. Crews married longtime wife Rebecca the day before his 21st birthday, and later went on to have an impressive professional football career while playing for the L.A. Rams, the San Diego Chargers, and the Washington Redskins. Though he had originally intended to become a special-effects artist, Crews gradually became aware of the power of his onscreen charisma when he accepted a role in the short-lived television series Battle Dome in 1999. Despite the fact that only a few episodes of the seires ever made it to the airwaves, the experience left Crews convinced that he had found his calling.Few lifelong actors could even dream of landing roles in such major motion pictures as The 6th Day, Training Day, and Friday After Next so early in their careers, but that's precisely what Crews did, and he has never looked back since. The actor's hulking frame made him an ideal candidate for intimidating onscreen figures, and his disarming sense of humor has found him developing a distinct comic persona in such films as Starsky & Hutch, Soul Plane, White Chicks, and The Longest Yard while also winning over viewers on the small screen with his role as Chris Rock's father on Everybody Hates Chris. As a supporting player, Crews consistently impresses, with his little-seen role as former professional wrestler-turned-President of the United States in Beavis and Butt-Head creator Judge's Idiocracy (2006) offering a telling example of how far he is willing to go to get a laugh. That same year, Crews showed his impressive range by making a brief appearance in surrealist specialist Lynch's Inland Empire, with comic roles in Norbit, Who's Your Caddy?, and Balls of Fury following in short order.2008 proved a busy year for Crews. In addition to his continued work on Everybody Hates Chris, he co-starred in the police drama Street Kings, as well as director Peter Segal's revamp of the classic comedy series Get Smart. Crews played a member of a motley gang of mercenaries in 2010's action blockbuster The Expendables (he reprised this role for the film's sequel in 2012).

Trivia: Mike Epps' name has become synonymous with a particular style of humor, through his appearance with several other African-American artists in the same genre. Epps earned a large portion of his fame through his credits in several Ice Cube films, including Next Friday (also starring Chris Tucker), How High (with Redman and Method Man), Friday After Next, and All About the Benjamins. Aside from featuring Ice Cube, the common thread of these films was the hilarious prominence of marijuana-smoking comic characters like the ones portrayed by Epps.Born in Indianapolis, IN, into a large family, Epps' natural comedic ability was encouraged at an early age, and he began performing standup as a teenager. He moved to Atlanta where he worked at the Comedy Act Theater, before moving to New York City to star in Def Comedy Jam in 1995. His first major film role came just two years later when he starred in Vin Diesel's Strays, a dramatic portrayal of relationships and drugs. In 1999, he made an appearance on the HBO mafia series The Sopranos.In addition to his aforementioned film work with Ice Cube, Epps had several other feature-film appearances. In 2000, he was featured in Bait, starring Jamie Foxx and David Morse, and in the jail-comedy 3 Strikes. He performed the voice of Sonny in Dr. Dolittle 2, starring Eddie Murphy, in 2001. As he gained more recognition, his comedic talent began to blossom, as demonstrated in his two 2002 features: Kevin Bray's All About the Benjamins, an action-packed comedy, and the sequel-to-the-sequel, Friday After Next, in which he starred as Day-Day. He took over the part of Ed Norton in the big-screen remake of The Honeymooners, and had a major supporting role in the Petey Green biopic Talk to Me. He had a part in the smash 2009 comedy The Hangover, had a big part in Next Day Air, and a turn in Lottery Ticket. In addition to his acting, he kept churning out comedy specials.In 2012 he was one of the stars of Whitney Houston's last movie Sparkle, and played a teacher in the comedy Mac + Devin Go to High School. He reprised his role in The Hangover Part III and played the love interest in the HBO film Bessie. Epps also had a presence in TV, appearing in series like Survivor's Remose and Being Mary Jane, and playing the title role in the remake of Uncle Buck.

Trivia: Though he wouldn't enjoy a hint of his brother Eddie Murphy's mainstream and financial success until 2003, Charlie Murphy was an active participant in a variety of films: sometimes as an actor, often as a writer, and occasionally as both. After offering small but indelible performances in Harlem Nights (1989) and Mo' Better Blues (1990), Murphy could be seen in the role of "Livin' Large" in Spike Lee's groundbreaking urban drama Jungle Fever. Despite the relative failure of Vampire in Brooklyn, which Murphy co-wrote, the young actor continued on with his career, and began to develop a devoted, if small, fan base. Ultimately, after more bit parts in African-American-oriented comedies (The Players Club [1998], The Pompatus of Love [1995]), Murphy got his big break as a writer and actor for Dave Chappelle's surprise TV hit Chappelle's Show. Though he was a key figure in many of the show's sketches, he gained the most notoriety for an allegedly true encounter involving Murphy and funk rocker Rick James. He had his own comedy series, Charlie Murphy's Crash Comedy, on the Crackle network in 2009 and continued working in both television and film. Murphy died in 2017, at age 57.

Trivia: Born on April 7, 1965, in Newark, NJ, Bill Bellamy's career as a performer began while he was a student at Rutgers University. Bellamy was persuaded to take part in a men's beauty pageant, and needing to do something for the talent competition, he worked up a standup comedy routine. Bellamy quickly discovered he enjoyed making people laugh, and began honing his skills at small comedy clubs around the country. Bellamy's skills as a comic came to the attention of the producer of the TV series Showtime at the Apollo, where he was given a guest spot. Bellamy's appearance was a major success, leading to an appearance on HBO's Def Comedy Jam and his own special on Showtime. Bellamy next enjoyed a five-year run as host of the series MTV Jams, and in 1996, starred in his own short-lived TV series, The Bill Bellamy Show. Bellamy made his feature-film debut in 1993 with a bit part in the hip-hop comedy Who's the Man?, but his big-screen career began in earnest in 1997, with a role in the acclaimed independent romantic comedy Love Jones. That same year, Bellamy scored his first lead in a movie when he starred in Def Jam's How to Be a Player. Since then, Bellamy has won showy roles in well-reviewed feature films such as Any Given Sunday and The Brothers, and has been a regular on the television comedy series Men, Women and Dogs (he's also done voice work on the animated series Cousin Skeeter). When not busy with his screen career, Bellamy continues to perform at comedy clubs, and appear on screen on shows like Cousin Skeeter and in movies like Neverwas.

Trivia: Is of Nigerian descent.Has run the New York Marathon twice in support of the Palm out Poverty initiative. Practiced wrestling at a young age and earned a scholarship to attend college.Studied abroad in Mexico while he was in college.Has written articles for the New York Times.In 2012, he founded Liberated People, a lifetime brand company that has contributed to many causes to inspire people to act.Founded his own furniture business, Enitan Vintage.Speaks fluent Spanish.

Trivia: Attended college on a basketball scholarship. Began doing stand-up comedy when she won a comedy contest in college in 1987. Taught comedy at The Comedy Store in Hollywood. Joined the cast of Saturday Night Live as a writer in 2014 before being promoted to a featured player. Wrote for Chris Rock for the 2014 BET Awards.

Trivia: First acting gig was in his senior year of high school in a production of Fiddler on the Roof, in which he was cast as the lead, Tevye. Studied sports medicine before changing his focus to acting. Won the Natalie Wood Acting Award at UCLA. Nearly left the acting profession when he was offered a lucrative job in financial services. Served as Georgia's representative on the National Board of the Screen Actors Guild from January 2002 to September 2004. Advocated for the merger of SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) prior to their 2012 merger as SAG-AFTRA. Has also served as the Atlanta Local First Vice-President of SAG-AFTRA. Has used acting principles and experience to launch a successful business as a career coach.

Trivia: Lost his mother to HIV/AIDS while he was still in high school. Wrote a play in high school based on Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech for a city-wide contest in Atlanta; earned second-place honors. Attended college on academic and athletic scholarships. Played defensive back and later running back on the University of Georgia football team. Prior to breaking into film and television, wrote and performed a one-man stage show, IronE...Resurrected. Performed as Homer the Brave, the mascot for the Atlanta Braves baseball team, from 1997 to 2006. Also briefly worked as Thrash, the mascot for the Atlanta Thrashers ice-hockey team. Changed his name to IronE in 2000, to use as an icebreaker while trying to launch his showbiz career.