10 African Americans Who Should Be Much Bigger Stars Yahoo Movies By Kevin Polowy With acclaimed films like Fruitvale Station, The Butler and 12 Years a Slave, 2013 has been called a watershed year for black films and black filmmakers. (Though as Isaiah Washington recently pointed out to us, most of the award nominations to African American actors will come for playing butlers, maids and slaves -- this two years after similar complaints were lodged around The Help.) One film that probably wont be in the awards discussion, yet isnt any less anticipated among fans of its 1999 predecessor, is the ensemble comedy The Best Man Holiday. The entire cast of Malcolm D. Lees sleeper hit returns for an unlikely second romp, and while looking at this group of talent -- the Black Pack, as its director has lovingly dubbed them -- we found ourselves wondering, why havent many of these folks had more prominent movie careers of late? While its true that many black actors including Idris Elba, Paula Patton, Anthony Mackie and Naomie Harris have flourished in recent years, great roles are still hard to come by for many African Americans in Hollywood (at least in movies; many of the below have crossed over to TV and thrived). Here are 10 actors wed like to see light up more marquees …. You can see half of them this weekend in Best Man Holiday. 10. Taye Diggs After a breakout role in 1998s How Stella Got Her Groove Back, where he played shirt-hating antidote to Angela Bassetts older woman in crisis, the Rochester, NY native Diggs seemed destined to assist in groove-finding for years to come, and rom-coms/bro-fests The Best Man, The Wood and Brown Sugar would follow soon after. But while Diggs has enjoyed success on Shonda Rimes medical ensemble Private Practice since 2007, and gotten to show off his musical chops in Chicago (2002) and Rent (2005), the leading man roles he was so primed for in movies have mostly evaded him. 9. Meagan Good The 32-year-old Good has been acting since 1991, playing a Kid #2 in Friday (1995), breaking out in 1997s Eves Bayou, and coming of age in 2005s Roll Bounce. So how is it that in 2013 shes playing Hollywood Actress #2 in Don Jon? While Good was tapped to play the lead character in NBCs drama Deception, her pivot to the small screen didnt work out so well as the show was cancelled after one season. But it could be all Good: The actress gets the role she does deserve as a rival/potential love interest to Will Ferrells Ron Burgundy in Decembers Anchorman 2, so hopefully come this time next year shell be ineligible for a list like this. 8. Romany Malco Fun fact: There was once a TV movie called Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story, and Malco wore the Hammer pants for the lead. It was the 2005 modern comedy classic The 40-Year-Old Virgin that really made the Brooklyn-bred actor legit, though, which begs the question: As part of equally hilarious four-man crew that also included Steve Carell, Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd, why hasnt Malco been able to score the same type of quality comedic roles as those guys? Maybe it was unfortunate choices (The Love Guru, Blades of Glory). Get Judd Apatow on the phone; this guy deserves better than Last Vegas. . 7. Nia Long Did getting upstaged by Martin Lawrence in drag do her in? Long was a fixture on the big screen throughout the 90s, racking up impressive credits like Boyz n the Hood (1991), Friday (1995), Soul Food (1997), In Too Deep (1999) and The Best Man. Her career seemed to hit an apex with 2000s box office hit Big Momma House, though. While shes had an arc this season on Showtimes House of Lies opposite Don Cheadle, her last notable movie roles came in 2007, the Sandra Bullock box office bust Premonition and the Ice Cube-as-family-man sequel Are We Done Yet? We shouldnt have to wait so Long for more Nia. . 6. Mekhi Phifer The Harlem-born Phifer appeared to be at the top of his game in the early-aughts, bringing the drama in the modernized Shakespeare tale O (2001) with Josh Hartnett and Julia Stiles, battle-rapping with Eminem in 2002s 8 Mile (and being memorialized as a lyric in the smash hit Lose Yourself), and running scared from zombies in the 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead. But he also has seemed content to stick mostly to the small screen since, namely as a regular on ER from 2002 until the shows 2008 finale. Alls been mostly quiet on the Mekhi front since, but a role in the much buzzed-about YA adaptation Divergent is a good sign. 5. Sanaa Lathan After The Best Man, the gorgeous New York native would go on to appear in two of the most criminally underseen romantic films of the millennium: 2000s Love & Basketball with Omar Epps, and 2002s Brown Sugar opposite Taye Diggs. The 2006 interracial rom-com Something New didnt resonate quite as much with moviegoers, and she was relegated to a minor role in the very unromantic Contagion. Lathan has had a steady gig voicing Donna Tubbs on The Family Guy and its spinoff The Cleveland Show, but her only film currently lined up beyond Best Man Holiday is the remixed Shakespeare drama Macbett with Terrence Howard. 4. Omar Epps Epps is yet another example of an actor who enjoyed regular big screen successes -- starting with Juice in 1992 and also including Higher Learning (1995), Scream 2 (1997), The Wood (1999) and Love & Basketball (2000) -- before seemingly giving up on features for episodes. He played doctor on Foxs House from 2004-2012. But has he given up on movies completely? He hasnt appeared in one since 2009s little seen A Day in the Life. 3. Regina Hall Hailing from the nations capital, Hall made her movie debut in The Best Man before launching into her most well-known role as Brenda Meeks in the Scream parody Scary Movie and its next three sequels. The actress has proven to have serious comedic chops (which she brought to two seasons of Ally McBeal from 2001-2002), but the fare shes been enlisted for since (Malibus Most Wanted, The Honeymooners, Superhero Movie) hasnt been much to laugh at. Next year shell revive another role in Think Like a Man Too, but weve got more hope for the Kevin Hart-led remake About Last Night. 2. Morris Chestnut Stop us if youve heard this one before: After a nothing but promise on the big screen throughout the 90s and 00s -- starting with his revelatory film debut in Boyz n the Hood -- Chestnut settled mostly into TV gigs of late, appearing in V, American Horror Story and Nurse Jackie. Its not that hes not getting movie roles these days -- hes recently been seen in Kick-Ass 2 and Identity Thief -- its that these roles are so secondary. 1. Joy Bryant True, who doesnt love her on Parenthood? She should stay on that show until the end of time. But there was a time when the movie roles were flying in fast and furiously for Bryant. Her breakthrough came in the Denzel Washington-directed Antwone Fisher, and she would go on to be among the top billed in Honey (2003), The Skeleton Key (2005) and Get Rich or Die Tryin (2005). Since then, the film roles have been few and far between, her only movie role in four years being a tiny one opposite Parenthood co-star Dax Shepard in Hit & Run. Theres one on the docket for 2014; like Hall, Bryants another reason to look forward to About Last Night next Valentines Day. Follow me on Twitter (@djkevlar)
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 11:23:48 +0000
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