BAADASSSSS!
''Baadasssss!'' is a 2003 American biographical drama film, written, produced, directed by, and starring Mario Van Peebles. The film is based on the struggles of Van Peebles' father Melvin Van Peebles (played by Mario himself), as he attempts to film and distribute ''Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'', a film that was widely credited with showing Hollywood that a viable African-American audience existed, and thus influencing the creation of the Blaxploitation genre. The film also stars Joy Bryant, Nia Long, Ossie Davis, Paul Rodriguez, Rainn Wilson, and Terry Crews. Cast * Mario Van Peebles as Melvin Van Peebles, Melvin (played by his real-life son, Mario), has recently found success with his film '' Watermelon Man''. Although offered a three-picture contract by Columbia Pictures, Melvin is pushed by his agent, Howie Kaufman, to follow up with a comedy. Disgusted by the mainstream cinematic portrayal of African-Americans as either villains or comic relief, Melvin decides to mak ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mario Van Peebles
Mario Van Peebles (born January 15, 1957) is an American film director and actor best known for directing and starring in ''New Jack City'' in 1991 and '' USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage'' in 2016. He is the son of actor and filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles, whom he portrayed in the 2003 biopic ''Baadasssss!'', which he also co-wrote and directed. Early life and education Mario Van Peebles was born in Mexico City, Mexico, the son of writer, director, actor and musician Melvin Van Peebles and Maria Marx. He travelled often with his parents between Europe and the USA. He majored in economics at Columbia College, the undergraduate division of Columbia University. He was invited to speak as the Class Day Speaker as part of the annual commencement exercises in 2021. Career 1968 to 1971: First roles Van Peebles' first screen appearance was in 1968, in the soap opera ''One Life to Live''. In 1971, he appeared in the film ''Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'', Melvin Van Peebles direct ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
''Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'' is a 1971 American blaxploitation film written, co-produced, scored, edited, directed by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles. His son Mario Van Peebles also appears in a small role, playing the title character as a young boy. The film tells the picaresque story of a poor black man fleeing from the white police authorities. Van Peebles began to develop the film after being offered a three-picture contract for Columbia Pictures. No studio would finance the film, so Van Peebles funded it himself, shooting it independently over 19 days, performing all of his own stunts and appearing in several sex scenes, some reportedly unsimulated. He received a $50,000 loan from Bill Cosby to complete the project. The film's fast-paced montages and jump-cuts were unique features in American cinema at the time. The picture was censored in some markets, and received mixed reviews. However, it has left a lasting impression on American cinema. The musical score of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joy Bryant
Joy Bryant is an American actress, businesswoman and fashion model. She has appeared in numerous films and television since beginning her acting career in 2001. She has received two NAACP Image Award nominations, and one Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Bryant began her career as a fashion model, appearing in advertisements for Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, and Victoria's Secret. She made her film debut in 2001's '' Carmen: A Hip Hopera''. Bryant had her breakthrough after being cast by Denzel Washington in his biographical drama film ''Antwone Fisher'' (2002), in which she played a U.S. Navy sailor. This was followed by a recurring guest role on the NBC series '' ER''. Her subsequent film credits include ''Spider-Man 2'' (2004), the horror film ''The Skeleton Key'' and the drama '' Get Rich or Die Tryin''' (both 2005), and the historical drama ''Bobby'' (2006). '' '' In 2010, Bryant was cast in the role of Jasmine Trussell in the NBC family drama '' Parenthood'', a r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Karimah Westbrook
Karimah Westbrook (born October 6, 1978) is an American actress, best known for her role as Grace James in The CW drama series, '' All American''. Life and career Westbrook was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and later began performing on screen and stage. She made her television debut in 2000, appearing in an episode of CBS medical drama '' City of Angels'' and later was cast in the teen dance drama film ''Save the Last Dance''. Later she starred in the biographical drama film ''Baadasssss!'' opposite Mario Van Peebles. Westbrook also guest starred in a number of television shows, include '' Girlfriends'', ''Mad Men'' and '' Shameless''. Westbrook has appeared in a number of independent films, include ''American Violet'' (2008) opposite Nicole Beharie and Alfre Woodard. She played supporting roles in films '' The Rum Diary'' (2011), ''Suburbicon ''Suburbicon'' is a 2017 American black comedy crime film directed by George ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood NAACP branch. He claimed the genre was "proliferating offenses" to the black community in its perpetuation of stereotypical characters often involved in crime. The genre does rank among the first after the race films in the 1940s and 1960s in which black characters and communities are the protagonists and subjects of film and television, rather than sidekicks, antagonists or victims of brutality. The genre's inception coincides with the rethinking of race relations in the 1970s. Blaxploitation films were originally aimed at an urban African-American audience but the genre's audience appeal soon broadened across racial and ethnic lines. Hollywood realized the potential profit of expanding the audiences of bla ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Khalil Kain
Khalil Kain is an American actor, film producer and rapper best known for his role as Raheem Porter in the 1992 crime thriller film ''Juice'' and as the second Darnell Wilkes on the UPN/CW sitcom '' Girlfriends'' (2001–2008). He is also known for his role as Patrick Peet in the 2001 horror film ''Bones''. Biography Kain was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York. His mother, June, is of African American and Chinese descent."Male Celebs Who Practice Martial Arts", '' Jet'', Sept. 24, 2001, at p. 40. Kain attended Hunter College High School in New York and later relocated to California, attending Foothill High School; graduating in 1983. Career Kain first appeared in the 1992 film ''Juice'' as Raheem. Following roles included Roosevelt Nathaniel Hobbs in the 1994 comedy drama ''Renaissance Man'' and Marvin Cox in the 1997 romantic comedy, '' Love Jones''. Kain portrayed golfer Tiger Woods in Showtime's ''The Tiger Woods Story''. In 2001, he teamed again with ''Juice'' directo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Khleo Thomas
Khaleed "Khleo" Leon Thomas (born January 30, 1989) is an American actor, influencer, gamer, host and entrepreneur. Khleo first garnered recognition as Hector "Zero" Zeroni in Holes, for which he was also nominated for a best supporting actor award. He has since appeared in 21 films and 16 television roles, including Walking Tall, Roll Bounce, Hurricane Season, Sons of Anarchy, Being Mary Jane, Major Crimes, and Shameless. He has also toured alongside Bow Wow, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Sean Kingston and Chris Brown. In 2017, Thomas created the lifestyle and apparel brand Slick Living. In 2018, Thomas created Goddess Living Among Men (GLAM), dedicated to empowering women. In 2019, Thomas was featured in NBA 2K19 as the Nike representative. The following year, Thomas launched his Twitch channel dedicated gaming and pop culture. Early life Thomas was born in Anchorage, Alaska and lived in Germany until the age of four. He is Moroccan-Jewish and African. After his family settled i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David Alan Grier
David Alan Grier (born June 30, 1956) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his work as Bernard on '' Damon'' (1998), as David Bellows on ''Life with Bonnie'' (2002–2004), as Joe Carmichael on ''The Carmichael Show'' (2015–2017), as Hal on ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'' (2018), and for his movie roles such as Roger in '' Streamers'' (1983), Carl Bentley in ''Jumanji'' (1995), and Jim Fields in '' Bewitched'' (2005). Early life and education Grier was born in Detroit, Michigan, one of three children, to Aretas Ruth (née Blaney), a school teacher, and William Henry Grier, a psychiatrist and writer, who co-wrote the book '' Black Rage''. He graduated from Detroit's Cass Technical High School, and received a B.A. in radio, television and film from the University of Michigan, and an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama, in 1981. Visiting lecturer Rachel Roberts took notice of his performance one evening in a piece entitled ''The Place of the Spirit Dan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tyler Bates
Tyler Bates (born June 5, 1965) is an American musician, producer, and composer for film, television, and video game scores. Much of his work is in the action and horror film genres, with films like '' Dawn of the Dead, 300, Sucker Punch, Halloween I and II,'' and the ''John Wick'' franchise. He has collaborated with directors like Zack Snyder, Rob Zombie, Neil Marshall, William Friedkin, Scott Derrickson, James Gunn, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. In addition, he is also the former lead guitarist of the American rock band Marilyn Manson, and produced its albums ''The Pale Emperor'' and ''Heaven Upside Down''. He's currently Jerry Cantrell‘s touring/studio member. Biography Early life and film scoring Bates was born on June 5, 1965, in Los Angeles, California. Growing up in Chicago, he relocated to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue a career in music. He began his career in the 1990s scoring low-budget films like ''Tammy and the T-Rex, The Last Time I Committed Suicide ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rainn Wilson
Rainn Percival Dietrich Wilson (born January 20, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, producer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'', for which he earned three consecutive Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Born in Seattle, Wilson began acting at the University of Washington, and later worked in theatre in New York City after graduating in 1986. Wilson made his film debut in ''Galaxy Quest'' (1999), followed by supporting parts in ''Almost Famous'' (2000), Steven Soderbergh's '' Full Frontal'' (2002), and ''House of 1000 Corpses'' (2003). He also had a recurring part as Arthur Martin in the HBO series '' Six Feet Under'' from 2003 to 2005. From 2018 to 2021, he starred as Trevor on the CBS sitcom '' Mom''. Wilson was cast as Dwight Schrute in ''The Office'' in 2005, a role which he played until the show's conclusion in 2013. Other film credits include lead roles in th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Primes
Robert Joseph Primes (born January 10, 1940) is an American cinematographer. He served as the cinematographer for the 1997 film '' Money Talks'' alongside, Russell Carpenter. Primes cinematography credits includes, ''Baadasssss!'', ''Las Vegas'', '' Aspen Extreme'', '' Night Stalker'', '' The Hard Way'', ''Thirtysomething'', '' Felicity'', '' Bird on a Wire'', ''Cash'', ''They Call Me Bruce?'' and ''Quantum Leap ''Quantum Leap'' is an American science fiction television series, created by Donald P. Bellisario, that premiered on NBC and aired for five seasons, from March 26, 1989, to May 5, 1993. The series stars Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a phys ...''. Primes won two Primetime Emmy Awards and was nominated for two more in the category Outstanding Cinematography from 1995 to 2006. References External links * * 1940 births Living people People from San Francisco American cinematographers Primetime Emmy Award winners {{US-cinematographer-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Glenn Plummer
Glenn E. Plummer (born August 18, 1961) is an American film and television actor best known as Timmy Rawlins in '' ER'' (1994-2007), and Vic Trammel in ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2008-2009). Biography Plummer was born in Richmond, California. Career Plummer has appeared in numerous films and television series, primarily in supporting roles or small bit parts, such as High Top in ''Colors.'' His prominent roles came in the films ''Menace II Society'', ''Speed'', ''Bones'', ''Showgirls'', '' South Central'', ''The Day After Tomorrow'', '' The Salton Sea'' and ''Saw II''. In 2014, he produced and was a collaborating writer of the horror thriller film ''Teeth and Blood''. Plummer was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in ''Pastime A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |