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Denzel Washington - Denzel Washington has shown he can play historic icons like Malcolm X, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and Steve Biko, regular people and even villains like his role in Training Day. Denzel is not only the best Black actor of his generation but the best actor flat out. Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images For People.com)

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Morgan Freeman - Actor Morgan Freeman has played God, the president, Nelson Mandela, a high school principal and a Civil War soldier. Acting since the '60s, it wasn't until he was in his 50s that he came into prominence, adding wisdom and dignity to every role.  (Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

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Laurence Fishburne - Laurence Fishburne has been acting since a child in movies such as Apacolypse Now and Cornbread, Earl and Me. His most definitive roles came in the Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got to Do With It and the sci-fi Matrix trilogy.  (Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NAACP Image Awards)

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Sidney Poitier - Perhaps the first major African-American actor, Sidney Poitier used excellent acting ability to provide a positive representation of African-Americans. Poitier excelled in movies such as The Heat of the Night and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and showed his comedy skills in the two movies he did with Bill Cosby.

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Paul Robeson - Singer and actor Paul Robeson was not only an activist, opera singer and athlete, he was also a very distinguished actor. He appeared in several movies including the politically charged Song of Freedom, the musical Showboat and the mining saga The Proud Valley.  (Photo: H. F. Davis/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

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Ossie Davis - Actor Ossie Davis' career spans more than five decades beginning in the Sidney Poitier film No Way Out. Davis's most memorable roles would come in Spike Lee movies such as Jungle Fever and Do the Right Thing, which he starred in with his wife, Ruby Dee.  (Photo: Peter Kramer/Getty Images)

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Jamie Foxx - Jamie Foxx started off on the sketch comedy show In Living Color and has shown his ability to play both comedic and serious parts in movies. Foxx won an Oscar for his portrayal of Ray Charles in Ray and starred in the Oscar-winning Django Unchained. (Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

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Samuel L. Jackson - Samuel L. Jackson may be the ultimate character actor, having had memorable roles in Quentin Tarrantino and Spike Lee films as well as in monster movie franchises such as The Avengers and Star Wars.  (Photo: Stuart Wilson/Getty Images)

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Danny Glover - Danny Glover has acted in several movies but his most defining roles have come from The Color Purple and the Lethal Weapon series. Glover is also a political activist and has played the president in 2012 and a Dean in Mooz-Lum. (Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

Photo By Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty

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James Earl Jones - James Earl Jones trademark voice was used for Luke Sywalker's father, Darth Vader, and as Mufasa, Simba's father, in The Lion King. Jones also played Akeem's father in Coming to America and was nominated for an Oscar for his role in The Great White Hope.  (Photo: Marianna Massey/Getty Images)

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Don Cheadle - Actor Don Cheadle has had several memorable roles in movies such as Hotel Rwanda, Boogie Nights, Talk to Me, Crash and Traffic. Still it was his breakout role in Devil in a Blue Dress that still resounds today.  (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for NAACP Image Awards)

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Jeffrey Wright - Jeffrey Wright is what you call an actor's actor. He has shown the ability to play characters from all sorts of racial and social backgrounds as well as sexual orientations, bringing life to each character, including the painter Basquiat and the Dominican drug dealer Peoples in Shaft.   (Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

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Will Smith - Will Smith got his start doing comedy on TV and then became an action star in the movies. He has since shown true acting ability in movies like Ali, Pursuit of Happiness and 7 Pounds. (Photo: Isaac Brekken/Getty Images for Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational)

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Eddie Murphy - Eddie Murphy is known for his comedic roles in movies such as Trading Places and Coming to America, but he has also shown his sensitive side in Boomerang, his gangster side in Harlem Nights and was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Dreamgirls.  Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

Photo By Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images

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Idris Elba - English actor Idris Elba has shown that he can play characters from any background from Jamaican in One Love to African in Sometimes in April. But still it was his role as the West Baltimore drug CEO Stringer Bell on The Wire that was his most defining role. (Photo: Stuart Wilson/Getty Images)

Photo By Photo: Stuart Wilson/Getty Images

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Wood Harris - Wood Harris may be known for his portrayal of criminals in The Wire and in Paid in Full, but he has shown his versatility in movies such as Hendrix and Glory Road, playing the legendary guitarist and a lawyer.  (photo: John Ricard / BET).

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Tupac Shakur - Tupac Shakur may be mostly known for his music but he also had a storied acting career. After his career-making role as urban psychopath Bishop in Juice, he went on to play a sensitive mailman in Poetic Justice and a troubled drug addict in Gridlocked. (Photo: Ron Galella/WireImage)

Photo By Ron Galella/WireImage

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Larenz Tate - Larenz Tate has been acting for almost 30 years but most of his memorable roles came in the 1990s, including his role as psychopath O Dog in Menace II Society and Vietnam veteran turned bank robber in Dead Presidents. He also played a troubled nerd in the Inkwell and a bohemian photographer in Love Jones. (Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

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Anthony Mackie - Actor Anthony Mackie graduated from Juilliard and has used that training to bring life to several roles. Mackie played a soldier in the Oscar-winning film Hurt Locker, a Black Panther in Night Catches Us and Tupac Shakur in Notorious.  (Photo: Mark Davis/Getty Images for BET)

Photo By Photo: Mark Davis/Getty Images for BET

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Forrest Whitaker - Forrest Whitaker won an Oscar for his portrayal of African dictator Idi Amin in the film The Last King of Scotland. He also played an urban samurai in the movie Ghost Dog, a gullible country boy in Rage in Harlem and a dedicated Internal Affairs agent on the TV show The Shield. ( Photo: Kevin Abosch/PictureGroup)

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Billie Dee Williams - Billy Dee Williams came of age in the '70s with starring roles in the romance Mahogany, the Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues and the Scott Joplin biopic. But it wasn't until the '80s when he played the role of rogue space hustler turned rebel Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars series that Billy Dee had his most memorable role. (Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

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Giancarlo Esposito - Giancarlo Esposito made a name for himself in the Spike Lee movies School Daze, Do the Right Thing and Mo Better Blues. Like many actors, Esposito got to play his most developed character, Gus, on TV show Breaking Bad.   (Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

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Terrence Howard - Actor Terrence Howard has developed a detailed filmography of well acted, well developed characters such as the TV executive in Crash, a pimp in Hustle and Flow and a player in The Best Man. (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Photo By Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

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Ving Rhames - Ving Rhames did not let his size affect his wide range of acting roles. He has starred as the notorious gangster Marcellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction, played the infamous boxing promoter Don King in his biopic and played a man trying to save a town from violent white racists in Rosewood. Photo: Adrian Sidney/PictureGroup)

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Omar Epps - After making his debut in Juice, Omar Epps went on to make his name playing college athletes in Higher Learning and Love and Basketball. Epps has also shined on the small screen playing doctors on ER and House. (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)