Top Ten Black Actresses

Talented, beautiful and all too often overlooked, these are the very best black actresses. Hopefully some of the recent accolades directed towards these women will bring them even more prominent and important roles in films to come. Don't agree with the list? Vote for an existing item you think should be ranked higher or if you are a logged in, add a new item for others to vote on or create your own version of this list.

The Top Ten

1
Halle Berry
WOW GOOD ACTING, BEAUTIFUL GIRL, Versatile ACTRESS, GORGEOUS ALL OVER. ONE OF THE BEST EVER
NO, No, No remenber monster ball she's really a good role model? Yeah depending on in whos eye. The sister is beautiful yeah but she didn't need to take a negative role like that. She reminds me of the black explotation movies in the 70's. Beautiful Yes but role model? NO!
I love this actress. Her skills shows in everything she does. I have been a fan for over 10 years. I will continue to show my support. I am waiting to see more things from her in the future
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2Whoopi Goldberg
No doubt! Whoopi is #1 here

Alexandr

She is the most succesful black actress according to box office and the oscars.

israel08

I think whoopi should be number one not Halle.
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3Raven-Symoné

rose from a show in Disney and becoming very popular

anthonybecerra831

Raven-Symone is Voted the best Black Actress of all-Time because she Truly is. She is not Overrated like Halle Berry because her Ethnicity she can actually Act, and is Kind to everyone she meets. Raven also can Sing, Rap, Act, and Produce.

The best Actress Ever, and should be doing big things in 2010.. We haven't seen much of her lately

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4Thandie Newton
so beautiful and talented its amazing she doesnt own Hollywood!!
Should be listed among the top ten actresses, period.
definately one of the better actresses. She was superb in Beloved, Crash and MI but also some of her lesser known british films
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5Angela Bassett
I love Angela Bassett. I think she's beautiful and graceful. She sets a perfect example for actresses like myself. I had the pleasure of meeting her once and she told me to be persistent. I will always remember and forver be greatful for that encounter.
Tiara Williams
I like Angela Bassett because she is talented, and she can make even a bad film tolerable. I have seen in various films and television shows, that showed off her talent, and I think that what makes a part of this top ten.
I know for a fact that Angela Basset is an aspiring and great person t look up to. I love her work and she was the perfect person to play Tina Turner. I look up to her and she has inspired me
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6Viola Davis

It's ridiculous that she isn't at LEAST in the top 5. Not only is she one of the best black actresses working today, she's one of the best actresses working PERIOD. I don't know if everyone here hasn't seen Doubt, The Help, or Fences but by seeing her so far on this list I'm just gonna assume that no one has. Viola Davis is one of the best actresses working today.


7Octavia Spencer

She's the best she started from nothing and now an oscar winning actor I love her acting so much


8Pam Grier

I LOVED PAM GRIER IN BONES AND IN FOXY BROWN.

Beautiful, sexy and used the camera to her benefit. Not many new stars can
Measure up to her.

None like her today. No comparison... Awesome Awemsome... Unbelievable is I can say... Endless love for this lady... Utmost quality... Epitome of talent beauty and brains... All rolled into one... What more can one ask for


9Gabriel Union
She looks and acts like the perfect angel. Gorgeous, sexy and very talented.
I Love her so much
beautiful & talented woman!
Just love her! Very Good actress, I know for a fact she is one of the best ones out there, I think so anyway..
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10Ruby Dee

Great on screen presence and longevity

Greenmean


The Contenders

11Kimberly Elise

Easily one of the best young actress around. A true scene stealer in just about everything she does. Commands attention on screen without having to remove her clothes. Top shelf.

She is one of the best and is fully under rated. She always get the job done she is just amazing I wish people could see that

Someone must have been napping, this fine actress belongs in the top 10. Let's put it this way, she will be the next black actress to win an Oscar, wait and see.

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12Queen Latifah
She looks good and I love hearing her voice very soothing! Can relax when ever a queen latifah movie is on! Very good actress
Come On! Quenn Latifah should be much further up then this are you kidding? Have you not seen The Secret Life Of Bees?

Dinky2191

Like her voice and his commitment in acting as she is simply actress. She may give the best shot in every movie she act
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13Vanessa Williams

beautiful and good actress

Very versatile and talented actress/singer. Not to mention Underrated and overlooked!

Irina2932


14Loretta Devine
This woman is phenominal. No matter what she is in, I stop to see her perform. I am always proud to say to anyone else that she is an educated woman and can act with the very best.
Excellent actress, would like to see her on this list

15Taraji P. Henson
I thank she is wonderful, I have enjoyed every movie she has appeared in. She has been great as a supportive actress. I know she would be great in a lead role. So please give her the recognition she deserves.
She is Hot Hot Hot! Loved her since 'Baby Boy'! Cried at 'I Can Do Bad By My Self'. Rejoiced when she got got Oscar nod for ;Benjamin.. As Brad "Mom".
She puts everything into every role she plays. She's versatile and never loses her femininity in any role.
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16Sanaa Lathan

Hands down. Did you see her in the family that prays. She was an evil bitch. She was also in love and Basketball which was a good movie.

sanaa should be number 1 she is gorgeous andd she starred in the best movie ever love and basketball also she has her own natural hair and she is a philanthripist. she's amazing

terren65

She's a man's dream woman.

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17Nia Long
She has great potential. I love her.
Nia Long is a powerful, black actress.She brings so much force and intensity to a movie "The Best Man" she gave an outstanding performance and have a unique beauty I wish we seen her more often.
I can really relate to Nia Long in the documentary Behind the Color Line.
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18Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Pinkett plays good in all her roles. She's very beautiful and she knows how to act.


19Rosario Dawson

Her acting is flawless and she looks like me! Her roles are versatile and she really gets into character for every film

love her acting in the movie LIGHT IT UP next to usher gosh I would watch dat movie all day


20Alfre Woodard

21Naomi Harris

When it comes to acting Naomi Harris is the best black actress by miles. White Teeth, 28 Days and Pirates of the Caribbean.


22Marianne Jean-Baptiste
Best of the best Great

23Regina King
Regina is great actress. She needs more work. I remember growing up with her on "227". Who would thought, she had such an edge to herself
Regina is not seen often enough, another very beautiful good actress
Great actor, does multiple roles well. Comedy and drama. Under-rated

24Meagan Good
She's the impossible, the hope of all, beautiful, cute, sexy, sweet, (I hope), loveable, adorable, inspirational... Hot, edgy, street, fun, hood, suburbia, and all of the above... MY WIFE...! Soon to be my life... :)
all I can say is this girl is too hot for t. v. this girl is one of my favorite I wish she was mine
Meagan good is the most beautiful african american actress
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25Kerry Washington

Kerry Washington should definitly be in the top list of 10 black actresses. She has done amazing work from save the last dance,to The Last King of Scotland. I aspire to have a career as diverse and interesting as hers.

she is beautiful and great in every movie she is in

Best black actress and one of the most beautiful women in the world. Put $ that she will become one of the best actresses of any ethnic background

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26Stacey Dash

Still looks like a teenager


27Cicely Tyson

Cicely Tyson is by far the best actress of any race to have ever acted and also the most unrecognized and underrated ever.

a great actress, very dramatic and genius in all her roles

Incredible range, every performance that I've seen was absorbing. One of best actors of any sex.

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28Tamala Jones

She is a great Actress she, and is very attractive. She was Chris Rock love interest in the Head Of State.


29Vivica A. Fox

Aside from being exceptionally beautiful, sexy and classy, Vivica is A FOX who has superb acting skills. She is great in film and on stage. I think she was especially dynamic in "Two Can Play That Game. "

she be in the top 10 if not #1 she has style, class, beauty, she just it going. i just love the woman to death.


30Hattie McDaniel

One of the true "original black actresses". The FIRST African-American to win an Oscar.

Had one of the great comebacks of all-time when black journalists criticized her for playing maids. "I'd rather play a maid than be one, " said Hattie.


31Dorothy Dandridge

she was wonderful and very beautiful.

Dorothy Dandridge has to be the MOST GREATEST actress ever... she was the first African-American woman to appear at the Las Vegas Frontier and to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress!.. She broke color lines back then... she is the person that gives confidence and inspiration to African-American actresses and inspiring actresses, like myself, to go out for those big roles!

I CAN'T believe you people have Dorothy at no. 17! It's obvious that you don't know great actresses when you see them. This list is bias! How can you rate actresses that are alive with actresses that are NOT ALIVE! Sorry! I hate this listing!


32Yaourou Konate

33CCH Pounder

one of the most overlooked actresses of all


34Jennifer Hudson

THIS is who should play Nina Simone! Very similar facial features,
amazing vocalist, & talented actress. Remember dream girls?

An oscar award, she overshadows Beyonce in Dreamgirls! She can sing really well and also being well recognised as a great singer and role model.


35Elise Neal

she's just an amazin' actress period. Been in the game for along time and she still looks beautiful as ever!

I like Elise Neal she playsed Tia on All of Us

Elise Neal is the finest. Malinda Williams is fine too.


36Lonette McKee

I'm 25 yrs old and most would be surprised I even know who this woman is, but she's one of my favorites... Sparkle is my favorite movies. I still watch clips of this woman on YouTube lol

I really wished she had gotten more significant parts in movies. She really has acting chops. She should have been pushed long before someone like Halle Berry :-/


37Sheila Frazier

Very pretty in Neil Simon's California Suite. Hope to meet her some day.


38Lynn Whitfield

In her appearances on Martin and The Cheetah Girls 2, she looked smoking hot that I couldn't control myself. If I ever met her in the street and she looked the way she did then, I'd grab that sweet ass and kiss her hard. It's a compliment.

Lynn is very underrated. Shes beautiful, very talented and full of class

kimigans

I'll say this. She's a great actress and a total fox. I imagine that she's my drama teacher ('because I'm sure she could teach it well) and that I have a thing for her, then we eventually make love on the sofa of the drama room. That's how great I think she is, in more than one way.

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39Oprah Winfrey

This women should be way up that list people need to realize the influential roles that she has chosen to do and do well.


40Paula Patton

I like to see her do more work. I think there is something to her. I enjoyed her performance in Idlewild. She really resonates with the camera. I hope one day she can give Halle Berry a run for her money. She's just as pretty and more importantly...she can Act, unlike Ms. Berry


41Whitney Houston

She is one of the most successful singer turned actress and producer without a flop to her name.


42Mo'Nique

Did she get a grammy for Precious lol but for real I don't have cable! But even before Precious I have always loved Mo'Nique... she is truly an inspiration!


43Paula Kelly

44Heather Headley

drop dead gorgeous, fierce yet with a dose of simplicity and great charm on the stage, an immense strength shining from somewhere within... but when her mouth opens and her voice takes flight, oh man, nobody can sing and act Aida like she does. Beyonce doesn't stand a chance.


45Angelle Brooks

Very Beautiful, I like her role in one of Martins sitcom.. Plus she has a good voice.. Know I would love to meet this women!

Beautiful and acts so refined. Her films include Ritual (2000), The TV series V. I. P.


46Vonetta McGee

47Aaliyah

Aaliyah is a legend and was an incredible actress who was destined for so much success, shame she's no longer with us :'(

Aaliyah had great success with her Dance skills her beauty and her acting skills and music she was a entertainer she could do it all her Dance moves were precise and good her acting was really good too, Queen of the Damned was her role of portraying a vampire she made Queen Akasha look so scary channel T.V. guide's ranked her number 18 on T.V. guide's sexiest beasts of All time she is a great Dancer, singer and actress love Aaliyah.

I love Aaliyah so much she'll be missed, she was such a great actress in Queen of the Damned and Romeo must Die, R.I.P Aaliyah.

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48Tania Benjamin

49Taís Araújo

Brazilian actress who became the first black actress to appear as a main character in a telenovela (soap) on Brazilian television.

brettfan


50Alicia Keys

Was in the movie The Secret Life of Bees. Just starting to act.

brettfan


51Gloria Hendry

52Margaret Avery

Ms. Avery is a screen legend and acting Royalty. Her emmy-nominated performance in 'the color purple' is unforgettable. As a young child, I remember watching her play "shug" and thinking "if she's beautiful, successful and colored" (as my grandma used to say) than I can be, too.


53Rosalind Cash

54Porter McKenna Posey

Kady, My wife and kids, Sure she's only a child actress but she's an extremely natural talent and will no doubt go on to be a very good adult actress.


55Diana Sands

56Tamara Dobson
I want to join
Please help me

57Ildi Silva

Brazilian television actress. She was discovered on the streets of Salvador and became a model.

brettfan


58Josephine Baker

"Baker was the first African American female to star in a major motion picture, to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. (wikipedia)" she broke the glass ceiling for all these other women. she was a visionary and revolutionary and knew how to sell the goods. she rocks on forEVER.

Love her. Saw her in Newark, N.J. when I was about nine years old..
Being a shy kid I did not go to the stage when she (Ms Baker) asked the children in the audience to come to the stage to receive a gift.. It was a silk handkerchief... Now I am 71 years and still wish I had gone to meet her.. Chmaroki4


59Aissa Maiga

French Actress who is one of the highest paid black women in Europe.

brettfan


60Jasmine Guy

61Monyque Thompson Scott

She's the brilliant actress from Lie To Me, Touye Pwen, and Champion Road 1 & 2. Not only is she beautiful, but she's uber talented... definitely leading lady material. Sexy, intelligent, powerful, and an action star. What more can I say?

binki


62Tisha Campbell-Martin

63Kyla Pratt

64Phylicia Rashad

65Sophie Okonedo

Hotel Rwanda, Secret Life of Bees and Skin were really good because of Spohie's stupendous acting skills!


66Rihanna

67Quvenzhané Wallis

68Debbie Allen

Loved her in the T.V. Series Fame, as Lydia Grant. Great actress and dancer.

westsider12


69Denise Nicholas

70Wanda Sykes

71Skai Jackson

She hasn't been acting for long because she's 10, but she plays the amazing role of Zuri Ross in the Disney Channel show JESSIE. I think that they couldn't have chosen a cuter and better actress than her! With her sass and her cuteness than you've got yourself the best Zuri Ross on the market.


72Jessica Parker Kennedy

73Regina Hall

74Zendaya

75China Anne McClain

76Monique Coleman

77Willow Smith

78Beyonce Knowles
The thing with beyonce is that she is more versatile when it comes to acting. As she can act in a dramatic film - obsessed
an action film - obsessed
a comedy - the pink panther and austin powers:goldmember
BUT, she can also act in a musical film because of her being a singer also as she's acted in dreamgirls. This makes her a better actress as most of the other actresses do not have a good enough voice to act in a musical.

fisto77

For what I've known of Beyonce... She's so perfect in talent... She have a lots of talents.. Not only as a singer, but she can do actor, a stylist and also she can dance. So I think that Beyonce should be in the above list the top ten...
She always take's her work seriously, she is very talented and hard working. Whatever she does she do it to parfection.
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79Zoe Saldana
Definitely a star on the rise! Love everything she has done the last few years.
I discovered zoe in Centerstage. she is multitalented, a terrific dancer and a fabulous actress. its a shame she's not in more films. in crossroads her role was to overact, but in centerstage, she's easygoing and relaxed
She's my favorite black actress when she kicks ass in two Star Trek movies, Losers, Avatar and Columbiana. You rock, Zoe!
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List Info

This list was created 7 years, 17 days ago and has been voted on over 7,000 times. This top ten list has been remixed 5 times.

Updated Tuesday, May 21, 2013


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