1. Viola Davis as Annalise Keating in How To Get Away With Murder
For six seasons, Academy, Tony, and Primetime Emmy Award winner Viola Davis showed up as the first African-American to receive a Triple Crown of Acting. In 2015, the actress won the Outstanding Lead Actress as the confident, complex yet intelligent lawyer, Annalise Keating, in the Drama Series, How to Get Away with Murder. Annalise is the woman a lot of us aspire to be. She’s appeared to have it all together for the public, but on the inside is a different story. Her character highlighted the issues that professional black women battle within their personal life with infertility, alcoholism, and deep-rooted insecurities. She uses that anger to convert it into a deep-rooted passion that as a result, helps her win cases and increases the level of respect she has in the community as a Black, female lawyer.
2. Taraji P Henson as Cookie Lyon in Empire
For six seasons, Taraji P Henson played the sexy, street smarts yet demanding main character in the award-winning American Musical drama, Empire. Henson in 2015 won a BET, Critics Choice, NAACP Image awards for her exceptionally, outstanding female lead. Lyon was an ex-drug dealer turned business partner in the fictional multi-million dollar, hip hop record label, Empire. Her character dealt with struggles as an ex-convict who tried to turn her life around. She battled her demons when she served seventeen years so her husband wouldn’t suffer and so her kids can have a parent in their lives. From coming out of the rough streets of Philadelphia, Cookie Lyon was one of the boldest, street smart hustler females who ground her way to the top by the skin of her teeth to keep her family on top. She introduced the new stereotype of strong women, confident hustlers who work hard to stay at the top.
3. Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman in Harriet
In 2019, Cynthia Erivo’s role as the valiant, religious devout heroine in history Harriet Tubman aka the leader of the Underground Railroad. Erivo didn’t just excel at her acting but in her singing too! Her melody for the hymns was powerful and attention-grabbing that would send chills up your spine. As she wrote the most memorable song, “Stand up,” in the movie and performed it at the 2020 Oscars, her role as Harriet was still present. Her role in Harriet wasn’t solely based on her acting skills, but her harmonious vocal cords kept the audience drawn in. Her voice told a story of the hardships, blood, sweat, tears, and nerves put in to be free. When she sang, it gave the movie a sense of reality, because the slaves did sing songs as codes to communicate amongst each other. Cynthia Erivo had done an outstanding job of indirectly bringing the audience into a moment of history.
4. Danai Gurira as Okoye in Black Panther
In 2018, Gurira played the role of the powerful, secure head of the Wakanda Army in Marvel’s Black Panther. She was one of the most important leadership roles in Black Panther because of her courage and dedication to protect Wakanda and everyone within the kingdom. She wasn’t the typical woman with tons of makeup and hair, but her intelligence and sharp persona like a soldier captivated the beauty in black women that we don’t see in the media as much. Gurira dominates Hollywood because she demonstrated the protective, nurturing, loyal and intense side of a black woman that isn’t angry all the time but whose intention is to protect the country and the people they love.
5. Laverne Cox as Sophia Burset on Orange Is the New Black
Laverne Cox rose to fame in 2013 as her role as the friendly, optimistic individual Sophia Burset that constantly struggles with her life decision of transforming from a man to a woman. This turned a different angle for Hollywood because you have seen female actresses come out as a sexual orientation but as transgender it was rare. In 2017 Cox got the label as the first openly transgender in Hollywood to be nominated for a primetime Emmy. The character, Sophia Burset, still maintains her friendly, quirky yet understanding persona throughout the series while struggling through her battles of becoming a woman. Her character demonstrates the struggles for an African-American to come out as gay without it being considered taboo. She currently paves the way for every black person struggling with identity as an LGBTQ + individual, and how to still blend in with society.