This list ranks the very best African American actresses of all time. These great Black actresses have starred in every genre of film from musicals and dramas to comedies. Some of these actresses, like Viola Davis, have rightfully won Academy Awards for their work
1. Nia Long
Nia Long is an American actress. She rose to prominence after starring in the film Boyz n the Hood (1991).
Her portrayal of Beullah “Lisa” Wilkes on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1991–1995). She also appeared in Friday (1995) and the 1997 films Love Jones and Soul Food.
She has received several accolades, including two NAACP Image Awards and a Black Reel Award.
2. Viola Davis
Viola Davis is an American actress and producer.
Davis is one of the few performers to have been awarded the EGOT title
In 1996, Davis made her Broadway debut in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars.
She played the long-suffering of a musician recently released from prison, a performance that earned her a Tony Award nomination. She made her film debut the same year with a small role in the drama The Substance of Fire.
3. Octavia Spencer
Spencer made her film debut in the 1996 drama A Time to Kill. Following a decade of brief roles in film and television.
Her breakthrough came in 2011 when she played a maid in 1960s America in the drama film The Help.
, for which she won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Octavia is the recipient of several accolades, an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Golden Globe Award. She is also the first black actress to receive two consecutive Oscar nominations.
4. Regina King
King began her acting career in 1985, playing the role of Brenda Jenkins on the television series 227.
A role she played until the show ended in 1990.
She went on to appear in the John Singleton films Boyz n the Hood, Poetic Justice, and Higher Learning. In 1995, she was featured in the hit comedy film Friday.
Regina has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and four Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2019, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
5. Halle Berry
Halle began her career as a model and participated in several beauty contests, finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant and coming in sixth in the Miss World 1986. Her breakthrough film role was in the romantic comedy Boomerang (1992), alongside Eddie Murphy, which led to roles in The Flintstones (1994) and Bulworth (1998). She also starred in the television film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
6. Angela Bassett
Bassett has become well-known for her biographical film roles portraying real-life women in African American culture.
Most notably as singer Tina Turner in the motion picture What’s Love Got to Do with It.
Her portrayal of Betty Shabazz in the films Malcolm X and Panther, and Rosa Parks in The Rosa Parks Story.
Bassett is known for her work in film and television since the late 1980s.
She has received various accolades, Golden Globe Awards, sixteen NAACP Image Awards, nominations for two Academy Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards.
7. Taraji P. Henson
Henson’s successful career started in 1992 with her breakthrough film Baby Boy (2001) and her role in the Fox drama series Empire. With an extensive filmography, Henson has proven she’s a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood.
Taraji studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career with guest roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in Baby Boy (2001). She played a prostitute in Hustle & Flow (2005) and a single mother of a disabled child in David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2010, she appeared in the action comedy Date Night and the drama The Karate Kid, and in 2016, she starred as mathematician Katherine Johnson in the critically acclaimed drama Hidden Figures.
8. Alfre Woodard
Woodard began her acting career in theater. After her breakthrough role in the Off-Broadway play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1977), she made her film debut in Remember My Name (1978).
Alfre portrays strong-willed and dignified roles on stage and screen. She has received various accolades, including four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Canadian Screen Awards, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and two Grammy Awards.
9. Lupita Nyong’o
After graduating from Hampshire College with a bachelor’s degree in film and theatre studies, Nyong’o worked as a production assistant on several Hollywood films. In 2008, she made her acting debut with the short film East River and subsequently starred in the Kenyan television series MTV Shuga (2009).
She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award and a Daytime Emmy Award, with nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe Award.
10. Zoe Saldana
Saldana was a member of Faces after her exposure in an episode of Law & Order titled Refuge, Part 2 in 1999. Saldana’s first film role was in Center Stage (2000), directed by Nicholas Hytner, about dancers at the fictitious American Ballet Academy in New York City.
Saldana is known primarily for her work in science fiction film franchises. She has starred in four of the highest-grossing films of all time Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, a feat not achieved by any other performer. Films she has appeared in have grossed more than $14 billion worldwide and, as of 2023, she is the second-highest-grossing film actress and the fourth actor overall.
#Clique, which of these actresses is your favorite and why?
