50 Fun Facts About Black Celebrities

Which actor who plays Marvel's Nick Fury served as an usher at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral?

Samuel L. Jackson was a Morehouse College student in Atlanta at the time. A year later he and other students held the college's trustees hostage to demand reforms.

Which Chicago Bulls legend left basketball in 1993 to play minor league baseball in Alabama?

Michael Jordan batted .202 for the Double-A Birmingham Barons in 1994. He returned to the Bulls the next year and led them to three more championships.

Which tennis champion won the 2017 Australian Open while already pregnant with a first child?

Serena Williams took her 23rd major singles title at that tournament, passing Steffi Graf's Open Era record. She revealed the pregnancy that April, when she was 20 weeks along.

Which future movie star won the first rap Grammy as half of a duo with DJ Jazzy Jeff?

Will Smith and his partner won in 1989 for Parents Just Don't Understand. His later solo hits Men in Black and Gettin' Jiggy wit It each earned him another Grammy.

Which Los Angeles Lakers great won an Academy Award for the animated short film Dear Basketball?

Kobe Bryant wrote the poem behind the film to announce his retirement in 2015. The veteran animator Glen Keane directed the short, and John Williams wrote its score.

Which Fenty Beauty founder was declared a National Hero of Barbados in 2021?

Rihanna was given the title at the ceremony that made her home island a republic. She is also the first female musician to reach billionaire status.

Which Oscar winner for Monster's Ball was named after a Cleveland department store?

Halle Berry owes her name to Halle's Department Store, a local landmark when she was born. Her win made her the first African-American woman to take Best Actress.

Which Family Feud host announced the wrong winner at the Miss Universe 2015 pageant?

Steve Harvey came back on stage minutes later to say he had read the results incorrectly. He hosted the next pageant in the Philippines to apologise in person.

Which Oscar-winning narrator of March of the Penguins earned a private pilot's licence at age 65?

Morgan Freeman has owned at least three private aircraft since learning to fly. He first became a familiar face on the 1970s children's show The Electric Company.

Which comedian walked away from a $50 million Comedy Central deal and flew to South Africa?

Dave Chappelle quit his hit sketch show in the middle of making its third season. He said he would never return if the network aired the unfinished material.

Which Mississippi-born talk show host did Forbes list as the world's first Black woman billionaire?

Oprah Winfrey got her first name by accident. Her birth certificate named her after a figure in the Book of Ruth, but people kept mispronouncing it and the new version stuck.

Which former lead singer of Destiny's Child created the stage alter ego Sasha Fierce?

Beyoncé invented the persona to keep her stage self apart from her private one, and introduced it on a 2008 album. She has since collected a record number of Grammy Awards.

Which former heavyweight champion lit the flame to open the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta?

Muhammad Ali was living with Parkinson's syndrome by then. An estimated 3.5 billion viewers watched him light the torch.

Which singer of The Bodyguard soundtrack was a cousin of fellow star Dionne Warwick?

Whitney Houston was also a cousin of the opera star Leontyne Price. Her godmother was the singer Darlene Love.

Which Minneapolis musician changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol in 1993?

Prince made the switch in the middle of a contract dispute with his record label, Warner Bros. Fans came to call the glyph the Love Symbol.

Which actor, the son of a Pentecostal minister, won Oscars for Glory and Training Day?

Denzel Washington and his siblings were barred from going to the cinema by their father. He went on to win for playing a Civil War soldier and a corrupt police officer.

Which Toronto rapper first found fame as Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi: The Next Generation?

Drake played a school basketball star who is left disabled after being shot by a classmate. He released his first mixtapes while still on the teen drama.

Which Motown star, signed at age 11, campaigned to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a holiday?

Stevie Wonder wrote the single Happy Birthday as a vehicle for the campaign. It appeared on Hotter than July, his first platinum-certified album.

Which longtime co-host of The View won an Oscar for playing a psychic in the film Ghost?

Whoopi Goldberg was only the second Black woman to win an acting Oscar. In 2002 she became the first Black woman to complete an EGOT, when Emmy and Tony wins joined her earlier Grammy.

Which Oscar winner for Ray was born Eric Bishop and picked a gender-neutral name for comedy clubs?

Jamie Foxx had noticed that female comedians were often called up to perform first. His new surname was a nod to the 1970s comedian Redd Foxx.

Which 12 Years a Slave Oscar winner was born in Mexico City to Kenyan parents?

Lupita Nyong'o was born while her father was a visiting lecturer in political science there. She holds Mexican, Kenyan and U.S. citizenship.

Which London-born star of Luther played Stringer Bell in The Wire and also performs as a DJ?

Idris Elba began by helping an uncle with a wedding DJ business as a teenager. Within a year he had started his own DJ company with friends.

Which Black Panther star had earlier played both Jackie Robinson and Thurgood Marshall on screen?

Chadwick Boseman studied directing at Howard University. He had been recruited to play college basketball but chose the arts instead.

Which former star of the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up won two lead-actress Emmys for Euphoria?

Zendaya was 24 at her first win, which made her the youngest winner of the drama lead-actress award. She was one of 200 girls who auditioned for her Disney role.

Which NBA big man released a platinum rap album in 1993 and later earned a doctorate in education?

Shaquille O'Neal received the doctorate from Barry University in 2012. By then he had already added an online MBA to his bachelor's degree from LSU.

Which Akron-born NBA star was the first overall draft pick straight out of high school in 2003?

LeBron James was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team in his home state. He later helped create the I Promise School for struggling students in his home city.

Which sports star's nickname honours a South Vietnamese colonel who was a friend of his father?

Tiger Woods was given the name his father's friend Vuong Dang Phong had gone by. In 1997 he won his first major, the Masters, by a record 12 strokes.

Which London-born supermodel became the first Black model on the cover of French Vogue in 1988?

Naomi Campbell got the cover after the designer Yves Saint Laurent threatened to withdraw his advertising from the magazine.

Which Brooklyn rapper, raised in the Marcy Houses, became hip-hop's first billionaire in 2019?

Jay-Z reached the mark through his business ventures rather than record sales alone. With his mother he also set up a foundation that helps students through college.

Which rapper born Dana Owens in Newark earned an Oscar nomination for the musical film Chicago?

Queen Latifah was the first woman in hip-hop to earn an Oscar nomination. She was also the first hip-hop artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Which Compton rapper was the first act outside classical or jazz to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music?

Kendrick Lamar won the 2018 prize for his album Damn. In 2025 he headlined a Super Bowl halftime show that drew a record television audience.

Which pop star and trained flautist played President Madison's crystal flute on stage in 2022?

Lizzo had been invited by the Librarian of Congress to view the Library's flute collection. She asked to play the presidential heirloom in concert, and the Library agreed.

Which Detroit minister's daughter became the first woman in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Aretha Franklin was first noticed singing gospel at her father's church. In 1985 the state of Michigan declared her voice a natural resource.

Which former Army paratrooper closed Woodstock with a distorted take on the US national anthem?

Jimi Hendrix used feedback and sustain to imitate the sounds of rockets and bombs. He had been assigned to the 101st Airborne Division before his music career took off.

Which comic raised in his grandmother's brothel won the first Mark Twain Prize for American Humor?

Richard Pryor accepted the Kennedy Center's new comedy honour in 1998. He was one of four children brought up in the house his grandmother ran in Peoria, Illinois.

Which athlete nicknamed Prime Time is the only man to play in a Super Bowl and a World Series?

Deion Sanders won two Super Bowl titles and reached the 1992 World Series. He once hit a baseball home run and scored a football touchdown in the same week.

Which actor who played Morpheus in The Matrix lied about being 14 to win a part in Apocalypse Now?

Laurence Fishburne was cast as a cocky 17-year-old Navy gunner when production began in 1976. He later played Cowboy Curtis on the children's series Pee-wee's Playhouse.

Which New Orleans jazz trumpeter knocked the Beatles off the top of the US chart in 1964?

Louis Armstrong ended a 14-week run of Beatles number ones with the show tune Hello, Dolly! It made him the oldest artist to have topped the US chart at that point.

Which star raised in the Bahamas became the first Black man to win the Best Actor Oscar?

Sidney Poitier won for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field. Decades later he spent ten years as the Bahamian ambassador to Japan.

Which Somali-born star founded her own cosmetics firm and was married to the musician David Bowie?

Iman launched the company after almost two decades of modelling, focusing on shades that women found hard to buy. She was born in Mogadishu.

Which American-born dancer spied for the French Resistance and entered the Paris Panthéon in 2021?

Josephine Baker carried notes written in invisible ink on her sheet music. On stage in Paris she was often accompanied by her pet cheetah, Chiquita.

Which Harlem-born singer's album Calypso was the first LP by one artist to sell a million copies?

Harry Belafonte was the son of Jamaican-born parents. He became best known for his recording of Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).

Which singer of Unforgettable fronted an NBC variety show in 1956 that never found a national sponsor?

Nat King Cole ended the series himself in 1957, despite help from stars such as Ella Fitzgerald. His daughter Natalie later turned his signature song into a duet.

Which dancer who started at 13 became American Ballet Theatre's first Black female principal?

Misty Copeland reached the rank in 2015, a first in the company's 75-year history. She was considered a prodigy despite her late start.

Which 1954 Life magazine cover star was the first Black woman nominated for a Best Actress Oscar?

Dorothy Dandridge was nominated for a musical that moved Bizet's opera Carmen to a wartime African-American setting. Its director at first could not picture her as a femme fatale.

Which star of the sitcom Julia was the first Black actress to lead a TV show in a non-servant role?

Diahann Carroll had already made history on Broadway. In 1962 she became the first Black woman to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, for No Strings.

Which tennis star, the first Black Grand Slam winner, later joined the women's pro golf tour?

Althea Gibson won the French Championships in 1956 and 11 Grand Slam titles in all. She joined the LPGA tour in 1964, at the age of 37.

Which Star Trek actress stayed on as Uhura after Martin Luther King Jr. talked her out of leaving?

Nichelle Nichols later spent decades as a volunteer recruiter for NASA. She helped to bring in some of its first female and ethnic minority astronauts.

Which drummer of the Roots directed the Oscar-winning concert documentary Summer of Soul?

Questlove made his directing debut with the film, about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. His band has backed Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show since 2014.

Which Jamaican singer and model played the henchwoman May Day in the Bond film A View to a Kill?

Grace Jones had landed her first mainstream film role a year earlier, as the warrior Zula in Conan the Destroyer. She was also a face of New York's Studio 54 disco scene.