|
Wendell Tabb
Wendell Tabb (born August 19, 1962) is an American educator, theater director, producer, actor, politician, and graduate of North Carolina Central University. He is most known for being the theater teacher and director at the award-winning Hillside High School in Durham, North Carolina for over 30 years. He is the former Chair of the visual and performing arts program at Hillside. He is also the artistic director for the Triangle Performance Ensemble, a community theatre company based in Durham, North Carolina where he is the producer and director of Durham's Black Nativity, an annual theatrical production based on the work Black Nativity written by Langston Hughes. He has directed over 100 plays throughout his career. He has also received over 100 accolades throughout the span of his career. In 2017, he was recognized by the Tony Awards as an honorable mention for the Excellence in Theatre Education Award. The theater and stage at Hillside High School in Durham, North Carol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louisburg, North Carolina
Louisburg is a town in Franklin County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,064. It is the county seat of Franklin County. The town is located approximately 29 miles northeast of the state capital, Raleigh, and located about 31 miles south of the Virginia border. It is also the home of Louisburg College, the oldest two-year coeducational college in the United States. History Louisburg was established in the 1779 and named in honor of King Louis XVI of France, who was aiding the American Revolution at the time. Louisburg was established on land purchased for the erection of a courthouse. In June 1965, the local newspaper and radio station publicized the names and addresses of African-American families who had applied to attend white schools in Franklin County. The families were attacked on numerous occasions by white extremists, who fired into their homes or destroyed their cars. In the summer of 1966, a series of cross burnings were p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beauty And The Beast (musical)
''Beauty and the Beast'' is a Disney stage musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and a book by Linda Woolverton. Adapted from Walt Disney Pictures' Academy Award-winning 1991 animated musical film of the same name – which in turn had been based on the classic French fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont – ''Beauty and the Beast'' tells the story of an unkind prince who has been magically transformed into an unsightly creature as punishment for his selfish ways. To revert into his true human form, the Beast must learn to love a bright, beautiful young lady who he has imprisoned in his enchanted castle before it is too late. Critics, who hailed the film as one of the year's finest musicals, instantly noted its Broadway musical potential when it was first released in 1991, encouraging Disney CEO Michael Eisner to venture into Broadway. All eight songs from the animated film were reused in the musical, including a resurrected musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shirley Caesar
Shirley Ann Caesar-Williams (born October 13, 1938), known professionally as Shirley Caesar, is an American gospel singer whose career has spanned seven decades. She has won 11 Grammys in addition to Dove Awards and Stellar Awards; Caesar is known as the "First Lady of Gospel Music" and "The Queen of Gospel Music". She began recording with Federal Records at the age of 12 in 1951. Caesar has released over forty albums. She has participated in over 16 compilations and three gospel musicals, ''Mama I Want to Sing'', ''Sing: Mama 2'' and ''Born to sing: Mama 3''. She is also the creator of the #unameit challenge, which occurred during one of her song sermonettes. Caesar's credits also include a series of commercials for MCI Communications and numerous awards for her recordings. She has won 11 Grammy Awards (including The Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award), 14 Stellar Awards, 15 Dove Awards, 1 RIAA gold certification, an Essence Award, McDonald's Golden Circle Lifetime Achievement A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Avery
Margaret Avery (born April 15, 1944) is an American actress and singer. She began her career appearing on stage and later had starring roles in films including '' Cool Breeze'' (1972), ''Which Way Is Up?'' (1977), ''Scott Joplin'' (1977), and ''The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh'' (1979). Avery is best known for her performance as Shug Avery in the 1985 period drama film ''The Color Purple'' for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She continued appearing in films including ''Blueberry Hill'' (1988), ''White Man's Burden'' (1995), ''Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins'' (2008), '' Meet the Browns'' (2008), and ''Proud Mary'' (2018). From 2013 to 2019, Avery starred as Helen Patterson, lead character's mother, in the BET drama series ''Being Mary Jane''. Early life Margaret Avery was born in Mangum, Oklahoma and raised in San Diego, California, where she attended Point Loma High School. She then attended San Francisco State University where, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
André De Shields
André Robin De Shields (born January 12, 1946) is an American actor, singer, dancer, director, and choreographer. De Shields originated the role of Hermes on Broadway in the musical ''Hadestown'', winning the 2019 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for his performance. He has also appeared on television, and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for his performance in the 1982 NBC broadcast of '' Ain't Misbehavin'''. Early life and education André Robin De Shields was born on January 12, 1946, in Dundalk, Maryland, to Mary Gunther and John De Shields. He was raised in Baltimore, Maryland, the ninth of eleven children; his father died at the age of 50, when André was 17. De Shields obtained his high school diploma at Baltimore City College in 1964, then attended Wilmington College, where he starred in a production of Lorraine Hansberry's ''A Raisin in the Sun''. He th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petri Hawkins-Byrd
Petri Hawkins-Byrd (born Petri Adonis Byrd; November 29, 1957 in Brooklyn, New York), better known as Bailiff Byrd or simply Byrd, is an American court show bailiff, television personality, social media personality, actor, voice actor, writer, and former New York State Court Officer. Byrd is best known for his sidekick role as Bailiff Byrd for the entire series run–totaling 25 seasons–of Nielsen top-rated courtroom television program ''Judge Judy''. From his stint on ''Judge Judy'', Byrd is television's longest court show bailiff in history. Since October 2018, Byrd along with his wife, Makita Bond, have hosted their Facebook/YouTube talk show-like series entitled "Bonding with Byrd", with a new installment released for every Tuesday. It was announced in April 2022 that Byrd will return to the court show genre, resuming his televised bailiff duties in the upcoming panel-based spin-off courtroom series, ''Tribunal''. The series is created by Judy Sheindlin and her personal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter
Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter (born 17 September 1946) is a Jamaican-born actor. Introduction He was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. He spent his childhood like most children who weren't in the acting business. He moved to America in his early twenties. He is currently single and he has never been married, and he is years old. His professional career in the realm of acting is very broad and he has done a lot to keep the arts alive with younger generations. People tend to know of him as being a well-rounded actor. He not only continues his acting career in the current days, he also directs, and teaches children. As an actor, he has made the choice to make most of his life private, to keep his private life out of the public's hands. He attended Boston University, and studied at London's Academy of Business and Dramatic Arts. He started his career by being an extra in Michael Jackson's music video for 1991's "Black or White". He was in two Broadway productions, twenty t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chester Gregory
Chester Gregory, also known as CHΞSS (born December 10, 1972), is an American actor, singer and songwriter from Gary, Indiana. His breakthrough came with his portrayal of Jackie Wilson in ''The Jackie Wilson Story'', which led to his Broadway debut as Seaweed in ''Hairspray''. Gregory's other credits include principal roles in ''Tarzan'', ''Cry-Baby'', ''Dreamgirls'' and ''Sister Act''. Gregory produced and starred in a look into the life of Jackie Wilson in ''The Eve of Jackie''. Gregory has received numerous awards including the Joseph Jefferson and NAACP Theatre Award. Aside from acting, Gregory worked on numerous albums and mixtapes before releasing ''In Search of High Love''. He has been awarded the key to two cities: The key to his hometown the City of Gary, Indiana and the Key to the City of East Chicago, Indiana. He has also been awarded Honorary State Representative for the state of Indiana. Early life and education Chester Gregory was born in Gary, Indiana on Dece ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antonio Fargas
Antonio Juan Fargas (born August 14, 1946) is an American actor known for his roles in 1970s blaxploitation and comedy movies, as well as his portrayal as Huggy Bear in the 1970s TV series '' Starsky & Hutch''. Early life Fargas was born in New York City to Mildred (née Bailey) and Manuel Fargas; he was one of 11 children. His father was a Puerto Rican who worked for the City of New York. His mother was from Trinidad and Tobago. Raised in New York's Spanish Harlem, Fargas graduated from Fashion Industries High School in 1965. Acting career Fargas' breakout role was in the comedy film ''Putney Swope'' (1969). After starring in a string of blaxploitation movies in the early 1970s, such as ''Across 110th Street'' (1972) and '' Foxy Brown'' (1974), he gained recognition as streetwise informant Huggy Bear in the television series '' Starsky & Hutch''. He appeared in ''All My Children'' beginning in 1982 as Les Baxter, the upper-class lawyer who was the father of Angie Hubbard; he wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obba Babatundé
Obba Babatundé (born Donald Cohen; December 1, 1951) is an American actor. A native of Queens, New York City, he has appeared in more than seventeen stage productions, thirty theatrical films, sixty made-for-television films, and two prime-time series. Early life and education Babatundé was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. As a child, he attended public schools. He was attracted early to theater and from a young age would sing, dance and act for his family. He attended Jamaica High School where he was a well-rounded student who, in addition to appearing in the Sing '68 school musical program, was a student aide and a member of both the track and cross country teams. After graduating from Jamaica High School in 1969, he started teaching at a private school for students of color. He also pursued acting jobs in New York, gaining some roles Off-Off-Broadway. Learning that his ancestry included people from Nigeria, he adopted a name made of Yoruba words: ''Obba'', for "king ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Cobbs
William Francisco Cobbs (born June 16, 1934) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in movies such as Louisiana Slim in '' The Hitter'' (1979), Water in ''The Brother from Another Planet'' (1984), and as Lewis Coleman on ''I'll Fly Away'' (1991–1993), as Jack on ''The Michael Richards Show'' (2000), and guest appearances on ''Walker, Texas Ranger'' and ''The Sopranos''. In 2020, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Performance in a Daytime Program for the series ''Dino Dana''. Early life Cobbs was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to a mother, Vera, who was a domestic worker and a father, David, who worked in construction. He is the second cousin of James Baskett. Career Cobbs served in the United States Air Force as a radar technician for eight years; he also worked in office products at IBM and sold cars in Cleveland. In 1970, at the age of 36, he left for New York to seek work as an actor. He supported himself by driving a cab, repairing office equipment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
