Tyrese Darnell Gibson was born in Los Angeles on December 30, 1978. He and his three siblings were raised in the Watts section of the city by his single-mom after his father abandoned the family in 1983. A certified triple-threat who started singing professionally at the age of 14 ...

Eighteen-year-old John Talia, Jr.,(Trevor Morgan) is an aspiring artist who is mostly misunderstood by his blue-collar father (Ray Liotta). John, Sr. thinks his son must be a homosexual because he enjoys drawing male nudes. After all, this is 1974, during decidedly less-enlightened times, especially in upstate New York ...

Native New Yorker Tracy Morgan was born in Brooklyn on Nov. 10, 1968 and raised in the Bronx where he attended De Witt Clinton High School. He started doing standup as a teenager and was discovered in 1984 at the Apollo Theater on Amateur Night which kick-started his showbiz career on the comedy circuit. He eventually landed a recurring role on the Fox sitcom "Martin," which by 1996 he had parlayed into a gig as a member of Saturday Night Live's ensemble cast. . . .

(NNPA) - The federal dogfighting sentence served by Michael Vick ended Monday and the world will now watch with respect to his future as a professional athlete. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell Goodell must decide whether Vick's suspension will end and, if so, when -- allowing the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback a chance to play in the league again ...

Born in Houston on Aug. 9, 1976, Texas Battle earned his bachelor's degree in kinesiology at the University of Texas before making his way to Hollywood to take a shot at showbiz. Here, the handsome, young thespian talks about his latest outing as Carey Fuller in "Dragonball Evolution," a screen version of the popular comic book series co-starring Chow Yun-Fat, Emmy Rossum and Justin Chatwin. . . .

In "American Violet," a riveting drama based on a real-life case of racial profiling and malicious prosecution in a tiny Texas town, she plays a single-mother of four falsely accused of dealing drugs. Here, the emerging ingénue reflects upon her work in the movie which co-stars Alfre Woodard and Charles S. Dutton.
KW: What interested you in this role?
NB: This particular script moved me. . . .

Here, Morris Chestnut talks about both producing and performing in "Not Easily Broken," a romance drama based on a novel by Bishop T.D. Jakes. The modern morality play, which co-stars Oscar-nominee Taraji Henson, is just being released on DVD after opening in theaters back in January. . . .

Louisiana native Moreese Bickham, 91, the oldest survivor of Death Row, whose 1958 death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972, will be in Portland on Jan. 19 and 20. He is appearing at the MLK Celebrations at Highland Christian Church and at The First Unitarian Church.
He will be accompanied by Joan Cheever, author of "Back From the Dead: One Woman's Search for the Men Who Walked Off America's Death Row" ...

ATLANTA (NNPA) Civil rights activist Rev. C.T. Vivian and actor/ humanitarian Harry Belafonte discussed their contributions to the Civil Rights Movement as well as political and global concerns during a recent candid conversation sponsored by the C.T. Vivian Institute.
"We knew that racism was the most inhumane factor of this society," said Vivian, when speaking about the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement. "We were always thinking of a way to end it."
Moderated by the Atlanta Chair of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention Steven F. Waddy, the conversation was held at the Atlanta Life Financial Building last month, and was recorded for Podcast. . . .

ATLANTA (AP) — The Rev. Jesse Jackson recalled that on the Rev. Martin Luther King…