Trivia: Actor/comedian Martin Lawrence started the 21st century off with a bang, starring and executive producing Big Momma's House, the story of an FBI agent posing as a corpulent Southern matriarch, which went on to gross more than 100 million dollars, despite universally negative reviews. The success of this film pushed Lawrence ever closer to joining the much-coveted 20-million-dollar club, cementing his reputation as one of the biggest comic stars for years to come.Lawrence was born in Frankfurt, Germany, on April 16, 1965, and eventually settled with his family in suburban Maryland around his sixth birthday. Soon after, his father left the family; Lawrence claims he got his start as a comedian by cheering up his mother, who was forced to support her six children by cashiering in various department stores. He attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Landover, MD, dabbling in sports and sticking with comedy, even agreeing to stop acting up in an art class in return for performing his stand-up routine in front of the other students.Soon after graduating, the bug-eyed performer earned a chance to perform on Star Search, which led to a role in 1985's What's Happening Now! Lawrence kept honing his frenetic schtick and by 1989, won two big breaks -- a supporting role in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and MCing HBO's Def Comedy Jam. Lawrence continued to rack up scene-stealing roles throughout the early '90s, including parts in House Party, House Party 2, and Boomerang, eventually landing his own series on Fox in 1992, appropriately named Martin. The show became a huge success, its risqué humor making it a ratings stalwart for more than five years and winning two NAACP Image Awards in the process, although some detractors criticized Lawrence for promoting the image of an oversexed, insensitive black man.Two years after Martin's successful launch, Lawrence released You So Crazy!, a raunchy, vulgarity-laced comedy that originally received the NC-17 rating and was later released unrated. Its crudeness, however, didn't matter much to audiences, as You So Crazy! went on to become one of the highest-grossing concert films of its time.Lawrence appeared to have it all, professionally and privately; in 1995 he married former beauty queen Patricia Southall in a lavish ceremony and the pair had a daughter, Jasmine. Around this time, however, Lawrence's success story began to slip away, his off-camera behavior setting up what should someday be a fascinating E! True Hollywood Story.On the set of his directorial debut, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Lawrence erupted in a violent outburst and began taking psychotropic drugs. A few months later, he was arrested for another disturbance, where he reportedly brandished a pistol and screamed at tourists and others on Ventura Boulevard. Over the next two years, his behavior became even more erratic as he racked up a series of gun-related arrests. He landed in drug rehab and filed for divorce from Southall after she got a temporary restraining order against him for yet another vicious eruption.But the most bizarre and unsettling charges were yet to come. Tisha Campbell, Lawrence's co-star on Martin and the House Party films, filed suit against the star and the show's producers, HBO Studios, claiming Lawrence sexually harassed her to the point that she feared for her safety. The studio brokered a settlement that allowed Campbell to finish the show's final season, although she and Lawrence would never be on the soundstage together again.Despite all the trauma, Lawrence seemed as popular as ever. He starred in four hugely commercial successes between 1995 and 1999, including Bad Boys with Will Smith, Nothing to Lose with Tim Robbins, Life with Eddie Murphy, and on his own in Blue Streak. These films made Lawrence extremely bankable -- his salary broke the ten-million-dollar mark for Big Momma's House and it seemed as if his previous troubles were behind him.Then in 1999, while jogging to lose an extra few pounds before filming began on Big Momma's House, Lawrence collapsed into a severe coma due to heat exhaustion, delaying the production's start and firing up the old rumors of drug use and unpredictable behavior. But after recuperating, Lawrence said the coma scare put him back on the straight and narrow.His career trajectory certainly supported this -- after the success of Big Momma's House, he reportedly earned 13 million dollars for What's the Worst That Could Happen? with Danny DeVito. He earned upwards of 16.5 million dollars for Black Knight, which featured Lawrence as a down-on-his-luck employee of a theme restaurant who finds himself transported back to medieval times. Lawrence's next film appearance, Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat, once again found the popular but controversial funnyman taking to the stage, though this time in a far more personal bid to humorize the sometimes startling headlines that had left many fans fearing for both his health and sanity. Seemingly purged of his current demns and eager to settle back into a lucrative film career, Lawrence took to the screen opposite Steve Zahn for the high-speed action comedy National Secuity (2003) before gearing up for the sequel to Bad Boys. After a relatively quiet 2004, Lawrence attempted to broaden his appeal by playing a basketball coach in the family-oriented comedy Rebound. In 2006 Lawrence performed in his first animated film, Open Season, opposite Ashton Kutcher, and released the sequel to one of his biggest comedy hits Big Momma's House 2. That same year he filmed the biker road comedy Wild Hogs alongside Tim Allen and John Travolta.

Trivia: James Earl Jones is a distinguished African American actor instantly recognizable for his deep, resonant Shakespearean voice and wide smile. The son of prizefighter and actor Robert Earl Jones, he was raised on a farm. In college, he briefly studied medicine but switched to drama. After serving with the Army he enrolled at the American Theater Wing in New York. He made his Broadway debut in 1957, then went on to appear in many plays before spending several seasons with Joseph Pap's New York Shakespeare Festival. Jones' biggest success onstage was as the star of The Great White Hope on Broadway (1966-68); for his work (portraying heavyweight champion Jack Jefferson) he received a Tony award. He had a small part in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964), but did not begin to appear onscreen much until the '70s. In addition to stage and occasional film work, he also appeared as an African chieftain in the TV series Tarzan and was one of the first black actors to be cast as a regular on the soap opera The Guiding Light in 1967. Reprising his stage role, he received a Best Actor Oscar nomination and won a Golden Globe award for his work in the screen version of The Great White Hope (1970) and went on from there to have a busy screen career. He starred in the TV series Paris in 1979-80. Beginning in 1977, he provided the melodiously wicked voice of the villainous Darth Vader in the three Star Wars films. Since then he has continued to appear on screen (over 40 films to date), stage, and television. He also continues to provide voiceovers (he can frequently be heard on the CNN television network). His portrayal of the grouchy, reclusive writer opposite Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams (1989) is among his most notable turns. In 1987 he won another Tony Award, this time for his portrayal of a frustrated baseball player in August Wilson's Fences. Most recently, Jones provided the voice for Mufasa, the regal patriarch in Disney's animated film The Lion King (1994).

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: Born in the Bronx in 1976, Joy Bryant was enrolled in an inner-city outreach organization called A Better Chance as a young woman. While studying at Yale University, she was discovered by a modeling agency scout. Working in Paris as a fashion model, she was eventually offered contracts with big names like Tommy Hilfiger and Victoria's Secret.Bryant's acting debut came about in 2001 in Robert Townsend's Carmen: A Hip Hopera. An MTV production, the film also starred Beyoncé Knowlesand Mekhi Phifer, along with several hip-hop superstars. After a small role in the Eddie Murphy action comedy Showtime, she made her big breakthrough in Denzel Washington's directorial debut, Antwone Fisher. Bryant played Cheryl, the beautiful and supportive girlfriend of Antwone (Derek Luke). In 2003, she co-starred with Jessica Alba in Bille Woodruff's romantic drama Honey. That same year, she appeared in Mario Van Peebles' How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass, based on his father Melvin Van Peebles' autobiographical novel. Projects for 2004 include the crime drama Three Way Split with Gina Gershon and the adventure drama Haven with Orlando Bloom.

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.

Trivia: A graduate of the Tisch School for the Performing Arts as well as a published poet, Nicole Ari Parker began acting in small-stage productions in Harlem before landing her film debut in The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995). She would go on to appear in other independent features, such as The End of Violence, Boogie Nights, and 200 Cigarettes. She also began working in television, starring in a Rosie Perez-produced episode of Subway Stories and getting a reoccurring role on The Cosby Show. In 2001, she gained two NAACP Image award nominations: one for her work in the feature film Remember the Titans, and the other for her role as the lawyer Teri on the Showtime original series Soul Food. Parker would go on to play another lawyer a year later in the romantic comedy Brown Sugar, with Taye Diggs. In the years to come, Parker would find ongoing success with movies like Black Dynamite and Pastor Brown and tje TV series The Deep End.

Trivia: Standing 6'5" and weighing over 300 pounds, African American actor Michael Clarke Duncan inarguably possesses one of Hollywood's more unforgettable figures. A former bodyguard and bouncer, Duncan first gained attention when he appeared as one of a group of oil drillers sent to stop an asteroid from annihilating the Earth in the 1998 blockbuster Armageddon. A year later, Duncan's career got another significant boost when the actor earned lavish critical plaudits for his portrayal of a wrongfully convicted death row inmate in The Green Mile.Born in Chicago on December 10, 1957, Duncan was raised on the city's south side by his single mother. A serious student, Duncan decided that he wanted to play football in high school; after his mother refused to let him, fearing he would get hurt, he developed an interest in acting instead. Following his graduation from high school, the aspiring actor studied communications at Mississippi's Alcorn State University. His studies were cut short when he returned to Chicago to attend to his mother, who had fallen ill. He subsequently found work digging ditches with the Peoples Gas Company and moonlighted as a club bouncer. His work led to a chance encounter with a stage producer who hired him as a security guard for a traveling theatre company, which eventually brought Duncan to Hollywood. Upon his arrival in L.A., Duncan, who was hovering dangerously close to bankruptcy, secured further work as a security guard and found his first agent. He got his professional start on television, appearing in commercials, sitcoms, and on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. He started his film career playing -- surprisingly enough -- bouncers in such films as The Players Club and Bulworth (both 1998), finally getting his big break -- and the first role that didn't require him to boot people out of clubs -- in Armageddon. Thanks to the great commercial success of Armageddon, Duncan was able to find subsequent employment in a number of productions, most notably The Green Mile. He earned overwhelmingly strong reviews for his portrayal of doomed, saintly John Coffey, a man whose conviction for a brutal double murder seems at odds with his exceedingly gentle, almost child-like demeanor. Duncan garnered Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for his work in the film. He next switched genre gears, re-teaming with Armageddon co-star Bruce Willis to star in the comedy The Whole Nine Yards, which cast him a brutish thug who terrorizes mild-mannered dentist Matthew Perry. Once again utilizing his massive girth to maximum effect in the following year's The Planet of the Apes Duncan followed up the big budget remake with the made-for-television They Call Me Sirr before once again flexing formidably, this time opposite The Rock, in The Scorpion King. Later turning up as the villainous Kingpin in the comic book superhero film Daredevil (2003), Duncan would also loan his voice to the same character in Spider-Man: The Animated Series later that same year. A string of vocal performances in such animated efforts as Kim Possible: A Stitch in Time, The Proud Family, and Crab Nebula found Duncan's vocal chords in increased demand in television, films, and even videogames, yet by 2005 the hard-working actor was back on the big screen with roles in both Robert Rodriguez's Sin City, and Michael Bay's The Island. Though action may have always been the best genre for the physically imposing actor to make an impression on the big screen, fans would take note that the hulking Duncan also had a keen sense of humor, a point made all the more evident by his role in the 2006 Will Ferrell NASCAR laugher Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Duncan continued to work in television in the following years, making appearances on popular shows including Chuck, Two and a Half Men, and Bones. In 2012, Duncan landed a starring role in The Finder, a short-lived series in which he once again took on the role of former lawyer Leo Knox, whom he had portrayed in Bones. In July of that same year, Duncan suffered a heart attack and never fully recovered; he died on September 3rd at the age of 54.

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: The career of funny girl Mo'Nique began in her early twenties, when she took to the improv comedy stage on a dare from her brother. The impulsive decision met with success, and she began to pursue a career in standup comedy, eventually performing on such renowned shows as Def Comedy Jam, Showtime at the Apollo, and Snaps. Mo'Nique's big break came in 1999, when she landed her own sitcom, starring on UPN's The Parkers as a single mom attending college alongside her daughter. She was 32 years old, and the days when she was working at the phone company in her hometown of Baltimore were about to seem very far away. The critical and commercial success of The Parkers led to a slew of awards and movie roles, including Two Can Play That Game, Baby Boy, Half Past Dead, Shadowboxer, Domino, and Soul Plane. Despite having her pick of scripted roles, Mo'Nique was still itching to get back to her standup roots. She joined Adele Givens, Sommore, and Laura Hayes for a hugely successful comedy tour called The Queens of Comedy, which was captured on film and released by Paramount Home Entertainment and the Showtime network in 2002. Never shying away from her status as a full-figured woman, Mo'Nique has used her notoriety and her famously sarcastic wit in order to advocate for voluptuous women everywhere. Her funny and empowering book Skinny Women Are Evil became a best-seller in 2003, and she soon afterward began working with the Oxygen network on a beauty pageant for full-figured women called F.A.T. Chance -- an acronym for "fabulous and thick." She also starred in the movie Phat Girlz in 2006, playing a struggling fashion designer looking for love and success in a world of "hot bodies." Later that same year, the large-and-in-charge star could be seen onscreen with the Broken Lizard comedy troupe in the alcohol-chugging chuckler Beerfest. In 2009, she began hosting her own talk show on BET, The Mo'Nique Show.It was Mo'Nique's harrowing turn as an abusive mother in Precious, however, that made people aware of the full range of her talents. Her blistering portrayal won her the Best Supporting Actress award from a great many critics groups, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Hollywood Foreign Press. She went on to win the Oscar in that category as well.

Trivia: Born in 1967, Louis C.K. got his start in comedy after moving to New York City in 1989 and appearing on as many of the numerous televised comedy programs being shot in the city as possible. Soon making short films and touring the country on the comedy circuit, C.K. got his start in television as one of the original writers for the wildly irreverent Conan O'Brien Show when it premiered in 1993. Masterminding such long-running skits as the Staring Contest and Actual Items (some of which continued to appear regularly, years after his departure), C.K. continued to make short films as he later worked for The Late Show With David Letterman and The Dana Carvey Show, all the while gaining popularity as a talented comedian. 1996 proved to be a somewhat pivotal year for him. After taping his own comedy special for HBO, he was hired as a producer for what would become one of his most fruitful opportunities, The Chris Rock Show. After a brief departure, during which he shot his first feature film, Tomorrow Night, he returned to The Chris Rock Show and earned an Emmy for his contributions in 1998. Serving as host to the PBS short film showcase Short Cuts the following year, C.K. next wrote and directed his first major studio film Pootie Tang (2001), based on the mush-mouthed character he had created for The Chris Rock Show, in addition to serving as co-writer on Rock's Down to Earth.He created the made-for-HBO series Lucky Louie, an old-fashioned Honeymooners-esque sitcom in 2006, and the show had a brief run. He continued to hone his stand-up act, becoming one of the most respected comedians of his generation and releasing a long string of successful specials.In 2007 he helped write Chris Rock's romantic comedy I Think I Love My Wife, but he found great success on the small screen in 2010 when he launched the FX show Louie. He was given a very small budget for each show by the network, and in return was given a level of artistic freedom rarely afforded to an television producer. The show earned rave reviews. Louis made a splash at the end of 2011 when he self-distributed his most recent comedy special and proceeded to bring in more than enough money, causing some comics to consider trying their hand at the practice.

Trivia: Was a member of the Kilgore College Rangerettes dance team, with which she performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Spotted by a Los Angeles talent scout while acting in Dallas-area community-theater productions. Made her TV debut in a 2003 episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. First major big-screen role came in 2008, with the Martin Lawrence comedy Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins.

Trivia: Was an Army brat who lived in Germany for 10 years. Mother is from Trinidad. Won breaking and popping dance contests as a preteen. Posted sketch/parody videos on YouTube that became very popular. Made a series of viral commercials with Dr. Dre and LeBron James. Has a production company called Lejan Entertainment, Inc.