1.
Aldis Hodge is a critical horologist. He studied product design and structure in school and utilized these learnings to creating watches, which he began conceptually designing at 19. He spent years engaged on prototypes for his upcoming watch model, A. Hodge Atelier, and likewise designed the look ahead to his Black Adam character, Carter Corridor/Hawkman.
2.
Zendaya has been a vegetarian since she was 11 years previous. On a highway journey, she and her father handed a slaughterhouse, and he defined the way it all labored. She instantly determined to not eat meat anymore and by no means appeared again. “My important purpose for being a vegetarian is that I’m an animal lover — undoubtedly NOT as a result of I really like greens,” she mentioned.
3.
After a breakup, Regina Corridor tried to grow to be a nun. She’d beforehand been serious about becoming a member of a convent at 14 years previous, however this time round, she was thought of “too previous” because of the age cutoff. The actor revealed that there was additionally a earlier sexual accomplice cutoff. “Some you possibly can’t have been with, I believe 4? However I used to be proper at 5,” she joked with amusing.
4.
Earlier than she was well-known, Janelle Monáe labored at Workplace Depot. She wrote the music “Lettin’ Go” about being fired for answering fan emails on the job. Effectively, that music acquired the eye of OutKast, who featured her on their album Idlewild, and the remainder is historical past!
5.
Spike Lee earned a BA in Communications from Morehouse School and an MFA in Movie and Tv from NYU. He returned to NYU as a professor, the place he is taught movie college students for over 30 years — a stupendous, full-circle second! His Spike Lee Scholarship Fund has distributed over $1 million to assist college students fund their thesis movies.
6.
You would possibly’ve guessed that Queen Latifah is a stage title, however are you aware the origins of it? The actor, who was born Dana Elaine Owens, mentioned, “My mom raised me to consider that each one ladies are queens and ought to be handled as such.” At 8 years previous, she discovered the title Latifah in a guide of Arabic names and cherished the which means: delicate, delicate, form, and good.
7.
For her efficiency as Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Perpetually, Angela Bassett turned the first actor to earn Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for a Marvel movie. She went on to win the Golden Globe for Finest Supporting Actress in a Movement Image (as everyone knows, she acquired robbed on the Oscars). However that wasn’t the one time she made historical past! Angela turned the first Black actor to win the Golden Globe for Finest Actress in a Movement Image – Musical or Comedy for her portrayal of Tina Turner within the 1993 biopic What’s Love Acquired to Do With It.
8.
Because of the PBS present Discover Your Roots, RuPaul and Senator Cory Booker found they’re cousins. Each had been completely happy in regards to the information, and Cory later appeared on an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
9.
Although everyone knows and love her performing, Laverne Cox was truly a dancer first. She began dancing at 8 years previous, acquired scholarships for highschool and school, and ended up graduating from Marymount Manhattan School with a Bachelor of High-quality Arts diploma in Dance.
10.
On the Manhattan Plaza residence advanced the place Alicia Keys was raised, Samuel L. Jackson labored because the constructing’s first safety guard. After all, he went on to grow to be one of many best actors in Hollywood and not too long ago appeared in Kendrick Lamar’s Tremendous Bowl halftime present.
11.
Talking of Alicia, do you know her mother shut down her first thought for a stage title? The singer, who was born Alicia Augello Prepare dinner, flipped by way of the dictionary and picked the final title Wild. She recalled saying, “Alicia Wild, how does that sound, Ma?” However her mother responded, “It sounds such as you’re a stripper.” So, Alicia selected Keys as an alternative. “It is just like the piano keys. And it may possibly open so many doorways.”
12.
Terry Crews is an outstanding artist. He was supplied an artwork scholarship earlier than a soccer scholarship in school, when he additionally drew courtroom sketches. After he was minimize from NFL groups, he would paint a few of his fellow athletes to get by, spending as much as two months on every portray.
13.
John Boyega and Letitia Wright met at London’s Identification Faculty of Appearing and infrequently went to McDonald’s. “After class, we’d meet as much as focus on life, the longer term, and simply inspiring one another,” she mentioned. He added, “You haven’t modified. We at all times have life-changing conversations.”
14.
Other than performing, Yara Shahidi possesses a variety of abilities. She has a black belt in Tang Soo Do (a kind of karate), paints watercolors, and even crochets. The Harvard graduate, who’s Black and Iranian, additionally speaks Farsi (it was her first language!).
15.
Halle Berry stays the primary and solely Black actor to win the Oscar for Finest Actress. She addressed this final 12 months, saying, “It’s definitely not as a result of there was no one deserving.”
16.
Whereas at Howard College, Chadwick Boseman was certainly one of 9 college students who attended a summer season trade program on the British American Drama Academy at Oxford. Actor Phylicia Rashad, certainly one of his lecturers, requested her rich pals to sponsor the journey, and Denzel Washington was Chadwick’s benefactor. “The humorous factor is, he confirmed up on the New York premiere of Black Panther,” Chadwick mentioned. “I am like, ‘It is nice to satisfy you. Huge fan of your work. Simply needed to inform you thanks for paying for me to go to Oxford.’ He was like, ‘Oh, you owe me cash!'”
17.
After highschool, Tessa Thompson needed to hitch the Peace Corps, however they required a school diploma. So, she attended school — graduating with a BA in cultural anthropology — however fell in love with performing alongside the best way.
18.
You in all probability know Karamo Brown from Queer Eye, however do you know he appeared on The Actual World: Philadelphia first? Again in 2004, he was forged on the MTV present, turning into one of many first overtly homosexual, Black males on actuality TV.
19.
And eventually, At 19 years previous, Sheryl Lee Ralph was the youngest girl to graduate from Rutgers School on the time. In 2023, she returned to her alma mater to offer a graduation speech, recalling that she had no footage of her commencement day as a result of she labored a Skippy peanut butter industrial as an alternative. “I made the proper determination. Take a look at me now,” she joked. “However significantly, what a blessing. I acquired to do the industrial, and right now, I get to take an image within the cap and robe.”
Take a look at extra Black-centered content material by exploring how BuzzFeed is celebrating Black Historical past Month this 12 months! After all, the content material would not finish after February. Observe BuzzFeed’s Cocoa Butter on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to maintain up with our newest Black tradition content material year-round.
