• Celebrity
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • Wellness House
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK WOMEN COME FIRST

Every day we're serving Black women deeply. Come get a plate of goodness! Sign up for daily content and exclusive offers you'll love!

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and that you have read our Privacy Policy
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
      • Paint The Polls Black
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • Wellness House
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · Entertainment

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know

TWENTY, THE REMIX—a collection of digital exhibits celebrating excellence in the worlds of acting, art, and fashion—turns to our leading men.
Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
By Marcellas Reynolds · Updated December 22, 2020

All this month, Essence.com will present TWENTY, THE REMIX—three digital exhibits I curated celebrating excellence in the worlds of acting, art, and fashion. Continuing with a theme I love, exalting Black greatness while telling our stories, these galleries showcase those who pave the way for the next generations. These are our superstars, bright lights illuminating the way for others to follow.

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know

TWENTY ICONIC ACTORS is a group of men whose work redefines the world of entertainment. Historically, the Black actor has dared to challenge the stereotypes of what it means to be a Black man in a White world. This list contains icons like Harry Belafonte, Ossie Davis, and Sidney Poitier, who heroically raised their voices in the battle for Civil Rights. It also praises the new superstars like Idris Elba, Donald Glover, and Michael B. Jordan, who are redefining the image of the Hollywood leading man.

I couldn’t be more thrilled to contribute these lists of my favorite things to a magazine as historic as ESSENCE. As a child, I read my mother’s ESSENCE magazines from cover to cover, breathing in the beauty and wonder of the Black experience. I found inspiration in the pages of ESSENCE. I hope these galleries do that for a new generation of readers.

01
Billy Dee Williams
Icon Status — 9

Billy Dee Williams gave us Lando Calrissian in Star Wars, Louis McKay in Lady Sings the Blues and Brian Walker in Mahogany. Face it. Billy Dee Williams is the prototype for the suave, Black leading man. Without Billy, there would be no Chadwick Boseman, Terrence Howard, or Idris Elba.


Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
02
Chadwick Boseman
Icon Status — 9

During his short stellar career, Chadwick Boseman left an indelible mark upon Hollywood and movie fans alike. Who else could have so elegantly portrayed Jackie Robinson in 42, James Brown in Get on Up, and T’Challa in Black Panther. Before his death in 2020, Chadwick gave movie fans of all races what we were looking for, a hero.

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
03
Danny Glover
Icon Status — 8

From the early eighties until 2001, few actors of any race were as successful as Danny Glover. A movie star in the truest sense, Glover moved seamlessly from dramas like his movie debut in the Oscar-nominated Places in the Heart and The Color Purple to blockbuster action films like Lethal Weapon, which spawned three sequels.

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
04
Donald Glover
Icon Status — 8

Young icon Donald Glover is a two-time Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor, director, producer, and writer. He rose to fame on NBC’s Community. But FX’s Atlanta, which he created, stars in, and often directs, made him a star. And let’s not forget that career as Childish Gambino, so add Grammy-winning rapper and singer of the number one single, This is America. 


Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
05
Ernie Hudson
Icon Status — 5

Journeyman actor Ernie Hudson began his career as the resident playwright at Detroit’s Concept East, the oldest black theatre in the US. Since his debut in the 1976 film Leadbelly, Ernie Hudson has appeared in over one hundred television shows and almost one hundred films. 

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
06
Gregory Hines
Icon Status — 8

Gregory Hines, one of the greatest tap dancers ever, is an Emmy and Tony-winning Broadway legend. One of the few performers to successfully transition from the stage to screen, Hines beautifully merged dance and acting in the films The Cotton Club and White Nights. And let’s not forget Mr. Hines as Loretta Devine’s love interest in Waiting to Exhale.

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
07
Harry Belafonte
Icon Status — 10

In the 1950s, Grammy and Tony award-winning actor, singer, and activist Harry Belafonte introduced American audiences to calypso. Belafonte is the first solo artist in history to have a million-selling album. A friend and contemporary of Sidney Poitier, Belafonte made his screen debut in Bright Road with co-star Dorothy Dandridge. 

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
08
Idris Elba
Icon Status — 8

An actor with incredible range and intensity British export Idris Elba has emerged as one of cinema’s sexiest stars. Name another actor who could play both Luther’s DCI John Luther and Heimdall in The Avengers? Next up for the actor? Bloodsport in The Suicide Squad.

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
09
Jeffrey Wright
The Westworld star brought his talent for thunderous monologues to the role in the 2001 TV movie Boycott.
Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
10
Micheal B. Jordan
Icon Status — 7

PEOPLE magazine’s 2020 “Sexiest Man Alive,” Michael B. Jordan joins Denzel Washington, Idris Elba, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and John Legend as one of only five Black men to appear on the magazine’s coveted list. We knew Michael was sexy as far back as Fruitvale Station. Portraying Erik Killmonger in Black Panther just confirmed it. 

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
11
Michael Ealy
Icon Status — 6

Since his breakout role as Ricky Nash in the hit films Barbershop and the sequel Barbershop 2: Back in Business, with his mix of good looks and charm, Michael Ealy has made his mark in Hollywood, starring in the hit films Seven Pounds, Think Like a Man, and About Last Night.


Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
12
Morris Chestnut
Icon Status — 7

Boyz n the Hood, The Best Man, The Brothers, Two Can Play That Game, Think Like a Man, and The Perfect Guy. Need we say more? Morris Chestnut has cornered the market on Hollywood rom-coms. 


Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
13
Ossie Davis
Icon Status — 9

Actor, director, playwright, and civil rights activist Ossie Davis enjoyed a career spanning over five decades. As one of the most awarded artists of his time, Davis has an Emmy, a Grammy, several NAACP Image Awards, and shares a National Medal of Arts with his partner in life and often on the stage and screen Ruby Dee. 


Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
14
Paul Robeson
Icon Status — 10

Let’s be clear—Paul Robeson is the blueprint. If there were no Paul Robeson, there would be no Sidney Poitier, Richard Roundtree, Denzel Washington, Idris Elba, or Chadwick Boseman. Robeson was an All-American football player in college recruited to the NFL, who still graduated from law school. The stage and screen’s talented superstar was also a recording artist and one of the first Black stars to turn fame into social activism. 

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
15
Richard Roundtree
Icon Status — 8

Who is cooler than SHAFT? With one iconic performance, former male model Richard Roundtree turned the blaxploitation genre of the 1970s on its head and gave us the hero we needed. Since then, Roundtree has become on constant presence in films and on television.

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
16
Samuel L. Jackson
Icon Status — 9

If one actor on this list has made it by the sheer volume of roles he’s played, it’s Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson has starred in over one-hundred-fifty films, which have earned an estimated twenty-seven billion dollars, making him the highest-grossing actor of all time. And he still has time to make those annoying Capital One commercials. 


Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
17
Sidney Poitier
Icon Status — 10

In 1958, Sidney Poitier became the first African-American actor to receive the Best Actor Academy Award nomination for The Defiant Ones. Six years later, he became the first to win the Oscar for Lillies of the Field. In the late 1960s, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, he starred in three iconic films, which each dealt with race relations: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, and To Sir, with Love.


Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
18
Taye Diggs
Icon Status — 5

Taye Diggs has made quite a name for himself on Broadway and in Hollywood. Diggs originated the role of Benny in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Rent, which he later reprised in the film adaptation. Transitioning from stage to screen, Diggs made his film debut as the love interest in How Stella Got Her Groove Back, followed by starring roles in The Wood and The Best Man. 

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
19
Terrence Howard
Icon Status — 7

If one role could grant an actor icon status, it’s Terrence Howard’s performance as Lucious Lyon in the hit television series Empire. Though he earned a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for Hustle and Flow, Howard hasn’t gained full movie star status. In interviews, Howard claims he’s retired. We certainly hope not.

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
20
Will Smith Essence
Icon Status — 9

Two-time Academy Award nominee Will Smith is one of the most successful actors in Hollywood’s history. Smith starred in seven films, which earned over five hundred million dollars at the box office. The versatile actor has turned in Oscar-nominated performances in Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness and helmed blockbusters like Independence Day and Suicide Squad. 

Twenty Iconic Black Actors You Should Know
TOPICS:  actors black actors black male actors black males iconic actors

COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now