Essence Magazine Honors Black Hollywood

There are stars and there are talents. Not surprisingly; sometimes these two intertwine. Evan Ross, Jurnee Smollett, Tristan Wilds, and Raven Simone are all a perfect rendition of this. You can find these young black power house (all under 25) actors all featured in this months issue of Essence Magazine as they honor black Hollywood. These young black actors all posses talent that cannot be ignored.Halle Berry is also no stranger in this category. Who can forget when she made history in 2002 by winning an Academy Award for her lead performance in the movie Monsters Ball? After-all it had been 74 years since a Black woman had coveted the Best actress award.”This moment is so much bigger than me, It’s for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.” She said”On that historic night both Berry and Denzel Washington made history with there wins. It was In 1954 when Dorty Dandridge made history as the first black woman to be nominated for Best Actress for her role in Carmen Jones. Even-though a vast majority of us thought that things would surely change after that night for black actors. The truth of the matter is that we have seen very little change still. I can’t begin to explain how I feel whenever I see black actors in Hollywood being casted in films as the “token black.” Those actors take the role not because they want to, but because of the lack of roles that are given to them. I can safely say that the future is looking very promising for actors of color, but with the film industry being no stranger to racism there is not telling what direction it will take us next.

Join Essence along with some of todays biggest movers and shakers (Ruby Dee, Pauls Patton, Kerry Washington, Kasi Lemmons, Don Cheadle, James Lassiter to name a few) as they celebrate our excellence in there March double exposure Hollywood issue.