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Angela Bassett - Angela Bassett has played many powerful roles but her most powerful ones came from playing real life people, including Malcolm's wife, Betty Shabazz, in Malcolm X  and Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It. (Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

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Ruby Dee - Ruby Dee has had a long and prosperous career in film, from her role in the epic Black movie and play Raisin in the Sun in 1961 to her Oscar-nominated role in American Gangster in 2008. She also had memorable roles alongside husband Ossie Davis in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever. (Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

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Cicely Tyson - Actress Cicely Tyson has a very distinguished career in film, beginning with films like Sounder, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Roots. She has continued her career in film with recent movies like The Help and Diary of a Mad Black Woman. (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

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Halle Berry - Halle Berry has won an Oscar for her role as a death row inmate's wife in Monster's Ball. Though known for her beauty, it was her role as a crackhead in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever that started her career. Other memorable films of Halle's include Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and the adoption drama, Losing Isaiah. (Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for BET)

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Viola Davis - Viola Davis received a great deal of critical acclaim for her roles in Doubt and The Help, which earned her two Oscar nominations. She also starred in the Oscar-nominated films Traffic and Syriana and won a Tony Award for her Broadway performance in Fences. (Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

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Lonette McKee - Lonette McKee has been making movies since the '70s and still finds powerful roles. Her roles in Sparkle and Which Way Is Up helped define her as a beautiful young woman and her roles in Jungle Fever, He Got Game and Malcolm X showed her in a new era as a mother. (Photo: Joseph Marzullo/Wenn.com)

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Gabrielle Union - Gabrielle Union has a gift for comedies and romances. From her title role in Deliver Us From Eva to her role as Connie in Two Can Play That Game, Gabrielle has shown a charm that got her her own BET show, Being Mary Jane. (Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for BET)

Photo By Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for BET

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Kerry Washington - Kerry Washington may be most known for her TV role on Scandal but she has a very distinguished filmography as well. She played Ray Charles' wife in Ray, Chris Rock's temptress in I Think I Love My Wife and the widow of a Black Panther in Night Cathes Us. (Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images for Sony Pictures)

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Taraji P. Henson - Taraji P. Henson was first recognized for her role as Tyrese's girlfriend in Baby Boy and went on to earn an Oscar nomination for her roll in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Henson also won a BET Award for her performance in the movie Hustle and Flow. (Photo: Rob Kim/FilmMagic)

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Pam Grier - Pam Grier got her start playing a bad sexy mama in Blaxploitation movies like Coffy and Foxy Brown. In the '90s, she was nominated for a Golden Globe for the title role in Quentin Tarrantino's Jackie Brown and in the 2000s she had a critically acclaimed role in the Showtime drama lesbian, The L Word. (Photo: Ben Rose/PictureGroup)

Photo By Photo: Ben Rose/PictureGroup

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Whoopi Goldberg - Whoopi Goldberg may be known as a host of The View now, but she came into prominence in her Oscar-nominated role as Celie in The Color Purple. She also won an Oscar for her role as a psychic in Ghost, making her one of the few people who has won an Oscar, a Tony, an Emmy and a Grammy. (Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

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Thandie Newton - English born actress Thandi Newton first recieved international recognition with her role as the slave and lover of Thomas Jefferson in Jefferson in Paris. She went on to critically acclaimed roles in Crash and Pursuit of Happyness and played Condoleezza Rice in W and starred in Mission: Impossible 2. (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Photo By Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

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Alfre Woodard - Alfre Woodard has several Golden Globes and Emmys as well has been nominated for both awards on numerous occassions. She gave an incredible performance as the mother in Spike Lee's Crooklyn and had starring roles as the wives of Nelson Mandela and Medgar Evers in the historical dreamas Mandela and Mrs. Evers Boys. (Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images)

Photo By Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images

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Lena Horne - Singer Lena Horne is also a pioneer of Black film, having starred in Stormy Weather and Cabin in the Sky in 1943. She would continue her legacy in music and film, starring in The Wiz as Glenda the Good Witch in 1978. (Photo: CBS/Landov)

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Dorothy Dandridge - Dorothy Dandridge became the first Black woman to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar with her role in the musical Carmen Jones with Harry Belafonte. She would also rejoin Belafonte in Island in the Sun and star in the classic Black musical Porgy and Bess. (Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Queen Latifah - Queen Latifah, a former rapper, gained notoriety for her acting in Set It Off, in which she played a tough lesbian bank robber. She was nominated for an Oscar for her role in the musical Chicago and for an Emmy for her role in the AIDS drama Life Support. (Photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Lifetime)

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Mo'Nique - Comedian and talk show host Mo'Nique won an Oscar for her role as the abusive mother in Precious. She has also starred in the TV show The Parkers as well as the movies Baby Boy and Two Can Play That Game. (Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

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Regina King - Regina King has been acting since her days on 227 and as she has grown, so has her career. She has also starred in the '90s classic films Boyz n the Hood, Higher Learning and Friday and provides the voices for both Freeman brothers on The Boondocks. Currently, Regina stars as a tough LA cop on the TNT show Southland. (Photo: Peter Kramer/Getty Images)

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Nia Long - Actress Nia Long made a name for herself in Boyz n the Hood and continued to shine in movies such as The Best Man and Love Jones. Recently, Long starred as a mother in the 9/11 drama Mooz-Lum. (Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Target)

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Jennifer Hudson - Singer Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar for her role in Dreamgirls, showcasing her musical and acting abilities. She has also starred as Winnie Mandela in Winnie, had a role in The Secret Lives of Bees and will be a part of the film version of Black Nativity. (Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week)

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Nicole Beharie - Up-and-coming actress Nicole Beharie starred as Jackie Robinson's wife in the biopic 42. She made a name for herself in the prison drama American Violet and the sexually charged Shame. (Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Photo By Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

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Oprah Winfrey - Oprah Winfrey may be more known for interviewing actresses than being one but she has a very distinguished film career. Oprah was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Sofia in The Color Purple and played a mother in the film version of Richard Wright's Native Son. (Photo: Jemal Countess/Getty Images for TIME)

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Hattie McDaniel - Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American to win an Oscar for her portrayal of Mammy in Gone With the Wind. She also starred on radio and TV and in over 30 other films. (Photo: John D. Kisch/Separate Cinema Archive/Getty Images)

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Diana Ross - Singer Diana Ross also has a very storied film career. She played Billie Holliday in the biopic Lady Sings the Blues, starred in '70s romance Mahogany and played Dorothy in the musical The Wiz.(Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images For The Recording Academy)