Trivia: It may come as little surprise to those who have seen beautiful model-turned-actress Garcelle Beauvais (also credited as Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon) that she was voted one of "The Ten Sexiest Women of 2001" by readers of Black Men Magazine, but take a look beyond the surface and you'll see that Beauvais has the talents to back up her beauty. Born in Haiti, the youngest of seven children, Beauvais moved to Massachusetts with her mother and siblings following her parents' divorce. Beauvais' first years in the U.S. were spent in boarding school while her mother supported the family by attending nursing school. With little knowledge of the English language, the French- and Creole-speaking youngster slowly began the process of educating herself by taking in episodes of Sesame Street. Though going from being a member of the social majority in Haiti to being a minority in America was a difficult transition, it was the change of climate that proved most jarring to young Beauvais. Roles in numerous school plays fueled a love for performing, and it wasn't long before the family opted for a more familiar climate in Miami when Beauvais was 16. The following year, the emerging model moved to New York and gained an increasing presence on the catwalk and numerous Essence and Ebony layouts. Early television appearances on such popular shows as Miami Vice, Family Matters, and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air found Beauvais refining her skills in front of the camera, and it wasn't long before she was appearing in such high-profile films as Manhunter (1986) and Coming to America (1988). An ideal role in the Aaron Spelling-produced television series Models, Inc. found Beauvais combining both her modeling and acting experience, and after settling into a role on The Jamie Foxx Show in 1996 (playing Francesca "Fancy" Monroe), she would once again hit the big screen with Wild Wild West (1999) and Double Take (2001). Having previously appeared as ADA Valerie Heywood in the popular television police drama NYPD Blue, Beauvais expanded her role by joining the series full-time in 2001. A feature role in Bad Company (2002) opposite Chris Rock found Beauvais' feature career taking off, and hinted for great things to come. She subsequently moved into scripted dramatic roles with a heightened emphasis on big-screen features, including plum roles in the 2004 Ice Cube comedy Barbershop 2: Back in Business and the Lindsay Lohan shocker I Know Who Killed Me (2007), in addition to prominent billing in the sci-fi telemovie 10.5: Apocalypse (2006). In 2007, Beauvais also took some time out from filmdom to give birth to twins, and made headlines for appearing nude, while pregnant, in the August 2007 issue of Playboy magazine. She had a role in the 2009 sex comedy Women in Trouble.

Trivia: Actor Brian J. White eked out an unusual path to showbusiness. A Massachusetts native and the son of Boston Celtics player JoJo White, Brian attended the Ivy League Dartmouth College, majoring in poly sci, theater arts, and psychology, but his athletic prowess yielded two offers to go professional: one with the NFL and another with the National Lacrosse League. White opted for the NFL, and signed with the New England Patriots, but a sporting injury derailed his career and found him forking off into professional modeling, and then acting. Within the latter arena, White began to specialize in onscreen portrayals of intelligent, polished, and urbane men. The actor took his earliest screen bow with a lead role: that of Tracy Wainwright, a young executive who strikes up an ill-advised affair with his boss, only to find his career jeopardized when he falls in love with another woman, in the 2001 workplace drama Me & Mrs. Jones. Unfortunately for White and his co-stars, that film failed to achieve wide theatrical release in the United States (despite touring the festival circuit), but the actor achieved greater recognition with a multi-episode role on the small-screen police drama The Shield (as Detective Tavon Garris) and supporting turns in the features Mr. 3000 (2004), The Family Stone (2005), and Stomp the Yard (2007). He returned to the small screen in fall 2007, playing Lieutenant Carl Davis in a recurring role on the vampire detective series Moonlight.

Trivia: Known to many simply as Leon, Leon Robinson began his career in the early '80s, making several small appearances in various projects like the mini-series The Women of Brewster Place and the Tom Cruise movie All the Right Moves. He would continue to make memorable supporting appearances over the course of his career, with unique roles like soldier Killer Bee in the civil war drama Colors, and the statue of a saint that comes to life in the controversial music video for the Madonna song "Like a Prayer." Leon kept this up throughout the 2000s, as well, showing up everywhere from the acclaimed series Oz to the 50 Cent movie Get Rich or Die Tryin'.

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: Started performing in television commercials at the age of 3. Has appeared in over 20 commercials, for companies including Home Depot, Ross and Toyota. First appeared in a film in the short feature The Magic Bracelet, from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, with co-stars including James Van Der Beek and Hailee Steinfeld. Appeared in the Dominic Russo-written pilot for the TV series Redeeming Dave.