Black Pioneers of Film and Television

The Most Successful African-Americans, Caribbeans and Africans

Aug 22, 2009

Profiles of Black actors and actresses who overcame humble beginnings and minority status to make outstanding contributions to Hollywood and beyond

Early Hollywood's portrayal of minorities was unfavourable, but since Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Oscar in 1939, (Best Supporting Actress for Gone with the Wind) Black people have made large strides in cinema.

Today they are not only producing, directing and starring in movies, they are building film empires and breaking box office records around the world.

Film Actor - Will Smith

Ex-rapper turned film star Will Smith is the most powerful actor in Hollywood. He is the only actor in history to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million, the only lead actor to have eight consecutive films open at number one in America and holds the record for attending three film premieres in 24 hours. Born in Philadelphia in1968, Smith's starring roles in films like Independence Day and I am Legend have made him Hollywood's most bankable actor and earned him two Oscar nominations for Best Actor.

"[Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson] have been eclipsed. With a worldwide career box office of $4.4 billion, Will Smith is now the most powerful actor in Hollywood... he is the only thing in this business- the only thing - that represents a guaranteed opening weekend...Smith has shattered the ceiling for black actors, his foreign box office is now more than double Denzel Washington's." ("The $4 Billion Man, Newsweek, 2007)

Film Actress - Halle Berry

Born in Ohio in 1966, Halle Berry is the first and only African-American woman to win a Best Actress Oscar in 2001 for her role in Monster's Ball. Her win was ironic as she'd portrayed Dorothy Dandridge, the first Black woman to receive a Best Actress nomination in Introducing...Dorothy Dandridge three years earlier.

With films including the X-Men Trilogy and Die Another Day and voted the Sexiest Woman Alive by Esquire magazine, Berry's emotional Oscar acceptance speech paid homage to past actresses: "This moment is so much bigger than me. This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. It's for the women that stand beside me, Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox. And it's for every nameless, faceless woman of colour that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened."

Film Industry - Nollywood

The Hollywood film industry is the most lucrative in the world grossing over $51 billion in 2002, and India's Bollywood film industry is the second most prolific making over 1,000 films a year, double Hollywood's output.

Nigeria's Nollywood film industry is the most prolific in the world producing around 2,000 straight to video films annually, and is the third largest in terms of earnings with revenues estimated at $250 million a year. Growing in popularity in the 90s, it is the largest movie industry in Africa and it's staple of family-centred, dramatic epics turns its home-grown actors like Genevieve Nnaji and directors like Chico Ejiro into stars. The popularity of the industry makes it the country's second largest employer behind agriculture.

"Typically producing each film in less than a fortnight for $15,000 a time, the country's high-speed, low-budget movie industry is one of Nigeria's few success stories [and] outsells both its western and eastern competitors. Nollywood actors have become household names not just among Nigeria's 140 million population, but across the whole of English-speaking black Africa, with Nigeria now the world's third-largest producer of feature films after India and the US." (Daily Telegraph, May 6, 2007)

Television Personality - Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is the most influential woman in America. Born and raised in poverty in 1954, she began her television career as a local news anchor before taking over a talk show and drastically improving its ratings and revolutionising the talk show genre. Her multimedia company Harpo Productions now manages her Oprah Winfrey show (the highest rated talk show in US television history) as well as movies and radio, websites and two international magazines, and her book club turns publications into overnight bestsellers. Oprah is currently the richest Black person in the world and the first Black female billionaire in history.

"Only in America can a figure such as Oprah emerge to such dominance [and] become so powerful she can make or break careers, products and sometimes (after a casual remark about mad cow disease sent beef sales plummeting) even threaten entire industries... Oprah has also shattered the colour barrier; her fan base may be largely female but it is not defined by race. Black, white, yellow, brown: everyone can relate to the one-time poor girl from Mississippi whose fortune is now estimated at $2.7 billion" ("The Observer Profile: Oprah Winfrey, Guardian.co.uk, November 20, 2005)

Film Actor - Sidney Poitier

The first African-American man to win a Best Actor Oscar in 1963 for Lilies of the Field, Sidney Poitier's film career and achievements was unprecedented in his time, as was his role in portraying respectable Black men in Hollywood.

Born in Miami in 1927 but raised in the Bahamas, Poitier returned to America and after honing his craft he became the most high profile Black actor and was the biggest movie star of 1967 when three of his movies became box office hits that year. Poitier also received an honourary Oscar by the Academy Awards in 2002.

"For 20 years, beginning in the early '50s, [Poitier] was the top and virtually sole African-American film star. He was.. the first to be nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award (The Defiant Ones, 1958)... and starred in the first mainstream movie to... permit a mixed couple to hug and kiss (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, 1967). With his unique career he forged without any precedent or model, Poitier helped change many stubborn racial attitudes that had persisted for centuries. He has built the bridges and opened the doors for countless artists in succeeding generations." ("Biography of Sidney Poitier, The Kennedy Centre, Undated)

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