Trivia: African American leading lady Lynn Whitfield made her film bow in 1983's Dr. Detroit. Three years later, the Louisiana born and bred Whitfield played the title character in the fact-based TV movie Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI, the story of the first black female FBI agent. After gaining recognition for her work in a number of TV dramas, including The Women of Brewster Place (1990), Whitfield won an Emmy award and international acclaim for her starring performance in the HBO biopic The Josephine Baker Story in 1991. Whitfield subsequently split her efforts between TV and film, doing particularly strong work in Kasi Lemmons' much-feted Eve's Bayou (1997) as a family matriarch struggling with her husband's infidelity. In 1999, she earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for her work in Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding, a 1950s drama in which she was cast as the wealthy mother of a young woman (Halle Berry) intent on marrying a poor white musician.

Trivia: Few actors possess the range required to craft some of the most colorful villains ever committed to celluloid before turning around to portray such a benevolent and beloved leader as Martin Luther King Jr., and it's a testament to Clifton Powell's skills as a performer that he could be equally believable doing both. It was during the early '90s that Powell first began to rise to prominence in television and film, with standout roles in Bill Duke's Deep Cover and In the Heat of the Night preceding a pair of memorable supporting roles for the Hughes Brothers in Menace II Society and Dead Presidents. Though Powell would continue to appear in features, it was on the small screen that he gained most of his exposure in the early years. After gradually climbing the credits on such shows as Murder, She Wrote, The Jamie Foxx Show, and NYPD Blue, Powell would leave an indelible mark on viewers with his thoughtful portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr. in director Charles Burnett's Selma, Lord, Selma. With versatile, everyman looks that were something of a blessing and a curse, Powell quickly established himself as an actor capable of truly disappearing into his characters -- sometimes to a fault. While a slew of roles on screens big and small kept Powell a considerably busy man in the mid-'90s, later roles in such efforts as Lockdown, Civil Brand, and Never Die Alone proved that his persistence, talent, and dedication were beginning to pay off. In 2004, Powell and the cast of the wildly popular biopic Ray would be honored with a Screen Actor's Guild nomination, and though they didn't take home the prize it was obvious Powell was finally on the verge of breaking big. His dark turn in the T.D. Jakes screen-adaptation Woman Thou Art Loosed was followed by a series of small-screen appearances in House, M.D., CSI, and Day Break, and in 2007 alone Powell's name would be attached to no less than eight films being prepared for the big screen .

Trivia: Is the middle child of three children.Lived a military life with her family abroad in many countries like South Korea, Japan and Germany.Went to Kettering Middle School with R&B singer Mýa Harrison.Graduated at the top of her class while taking college course classes during her senior year.Began her entertainment career as a background dancer in Broadway theater, and later for recording artists such as 'N Sync, Mýa, Nelly, Jagged Edge, Ja Rule and Puff Daddy aka Sean Combs.Worked as a model for Kemi Oil, FUBU, ADIDAS, Enyce, Karl Kani and Baby Phat.Is conversational in Korean.Best known for playing the role of Dana, the manicurist in the barber shop, in Tyler Perry's House of Payne.

Trivia: For athlete/musician-turned-actor Antwon Tanner life is all about goals. From his early days on the south side of Chicago to a flourishing screen career that has included roles in such hits as The Wood, Never Die Alone, and Coach Carter, Tanner cites every successful career step taken as a direct result of well-defined goals and unwavering faith in God. Tanner is good-humored and has a handsome screen presence; his likable persona plays as well on the small screen as the silver screen. He has also become a familiar face to television viewers thanks to prominent supporting roles in such shows as Boston Public and One Tree Hill. With Tanner's substantial role opposite Samuel L. Jackson in the acclaimed 2005 sports drama Coach Carter it appeared as if his career was finally about to break big. Though the streets of Chicago offered little in the way of creative inspiration during Tanner's formative years, the athletically inclined youth made quite a name for himself in the two-guard position during his time at both Corliss and King high schools. After graduating from high school, Tanner eschewed sports in favor of developing his musical talents following a chance meeting with an agent who represented a close friend. It didn't take the aspiring talent long to parlay his musical abilities into an acting career. A role opposite former Cheers star Rhea Pearlman in the 1996 basketball drama Sunset Park served as an ideal introduction to the screen for the former baller with numerous supporting roles in both film and television serving to increase his public profile. In 1997 Tanner received the chance of a lifetime when he received the opportunity to appear on screen opposite personal role model Samuel L. Jackson in the downbeat drama One Eight Seven. A successful run during the millennial changeover found the increasingly in-demand star coming into his own as an actor, and following an appearance in the Takeshi Kitano gangster drama and a turn as a wisecracking thug in Never Die Alone, Tanner could once again be seen opposite Jackson -- basketball in hand -- in 2005's Coach Carter. In 2005, Tanner strapped on his spurs for a role opposite David Carradine in the revisionist Western Brothas in Arms. He went on to appear in Dead Tone, the TV series One Tree Hill, and I Do…I Did.

Trivia: A Broadway actress by training, Valarie Pettiford earned a Tony nomination for her role in the principal cast of the musical Fosse. She would also earn critical acclaim for roles in shows like Chicago, but most viewers would become acquainted with Pettiford for her film at TV work. Beginning with appearances on shows like Another World and Walker, Texas Ranger, Pettiford spent the '90s building up her résumé. In 2002, she was cast in the recurring role of Gayle Noland on the crime drama The District. Around the same time, she took on the role of Big Dee Thorn on the comedy series Half and Half, which she'd stay with for the next four years. In 2008, she began a professional relationship with Tyler Perry, playing Sandra on the sitcom House of Payne, and playing weary wife Harriet in Perry's 2010 dramedy Why Did I Get Married Too?