But Viola Davis, the film's lead actress, was passed over. In fact, only one African- American woman has ever won best actress in a leading role. And that has highlighted the lack of award-winning ...

Singer and Tony-winning, Oscar-nominated actress Diahann Carroll, the first African American woman to star ... soap “Dynasty” in the mid-’80s. But her first major television assignment ...

Cicely Tyson is the first African American actress to receive an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Television Movie for her performance in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974).

The Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. The latter has put her against Nyong’o in several Best Supporting Actress categories this award season. Nyong’o deserves an excess amount of ...

(Smith could not be reached for comment.) But it's tough on African-American actresses--and on Hispanic actors. Long says Smith has called her several times about roles, though not for "Hitch." ...

Even more history could be made Thursday morning, when three African American women could very well earn a slot in one of Emmy’s most intensely competitive categories, lead actress in a drama ...

The best actress, drama category set a first-time record with two African-American nominees: Viola Davis from ABC’s How To Get Away With Murder and Taraji P. Henson from Fox’s Empire.