The Walking Dead fans have known her as badass Michonne since she joined the AMC show’s third season in 2012, but Danai Gurira was an important, emerging playwright even prior to her television stardom. Although born in the U.S. to parents from then-Rhodesia, Gurira returned to the new nation of Zimbabwe at a young age.…

Before Empire, there was New York Undercover. While one teeters into more soap opera terrain and the other was a solid cop drama, they are importantly linked through the culture of hip-hop, and Fox, the network behind both. As Empire resumes its second season next week, TV One’s Unsung Hollywood: New York Undercover couldn’t come…

For some black people, slavery is not a popular subject matter for television and film, and many have openly expressed this view on Twitter and Facebook. The running joke is that black actors get nominated for awards only when they are playing slaves or other subservient characters. So the new WGN America series, Underground, about…

Detroit native Shaka Senghor is a rare voice in the fight against mass incarceration and extreme violence in many black communities. The onetime drug dealer, who was shot at age 17 and sentenced to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder at age 19 with one child and another on the way, has used every…

In his role as Christopher Darden, Sterling K. Brown has been one of the unexpected delights of FX’s captivating hit The People v. O.J. Simpson. Previously, the St. Louis native and Stanford alum, who shaved his head to portray Marcia Clark’s partner in prosecution, was best-known as Roland Burton on Army Wives, Det. Cal Beecher on…

For those who have been faithfully watching FX’s ratings juggernaut, The People v. O.J. Simpson, and keeping up with recaps on The Root, waiting for Johnnie Cochran has been an exercise in patience. Well, the wait is over. Courtney B. Vance took a few minutes out of his promotional schedule to chat with The Root about…

Perhaps Toronto native Stephan James looks vaguely familiar because of his role as John Lewis in Selma. As the star of Race, the first feature film about Jesse Owens, James is sure to become a lot more recognizable. The Root caught up with James—whose young career also includes credits for The Book of Negroes; The Gabby Douglas…

Condola Rashad is making a name for herself. The young actress, who turns 30 this year, has largely made her mark in theater. For her debut, she nabbed a starring role in Lynn Nottage’s 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Ruined, and earned a Drama Desk nomination. Subsequent roles in the Kenny Leon-directed Stick Fly and The…

For over 20 years now, master playwright Lynn Nottage has created work that has boldly inserted black women into the American theater conversation. Her numerous honors include a MacArthur “genius” grant and the Pulitzer Prize for Ruined, her play centered on Congolese women surviving their nation’s civil war that earned then-newbie Condola Rashad a Drama…

Baseball may still be billed as the national pastime, but football actually surpassed it in popularity a long time ago. So for anyone born and raised in the United States, challenging the NFL is just unthinkable. Dr. Bennet Omalu wasn’t born and raised in this country, however. Had he been, it’s doubtful that the forensic…