Asia Carrera 
Samuel L. Jax, Ming-Na, Morgan Freeman and Zhang Ziyi (sp?) 'coz she’s steamy…
A few I left out, but definitely need recognition and have won some acclaim:
Ving Rhames
Andre Braugher (anybody seen “Thick As Thieves”? He’s outstanding in a relatively minor role there.)
Woody Strode
Tiny Lister
Gregory Hines
Wesley Snipes
Bill Nunn
Giancarlo Esposito
Ossie Davis
Ruby Dee
Whoopi
Rae Dawn Chong
Help me with a couple of names so I don’t have to raid IMDB:
The woman who was head of detectives on an earlier season of Law & Order.
The huge guy in that Hanks prison movie. The one who had the gift of touch.
Do you mean S. Epatha Merkerson, who has been Anita Van Buren for, oh, coming up on 10 years?
That’s the one, Snooooopy
Thanks.
Oh god YES!
In To Sir With Love
The huge guy in the Hanks prison movie is Michael Clarke Duncan
Poitier ROCKS…
Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson is cool, Denzel Washington is superb.
I have a soft spot for Jackie Chan.
I think an actor would snort and giggle if you called him/her an actperson, though. We were always taught that we were actors, whether male or female, at least when I was doing theater stuff.
Little Plastic Ninja
I believe you’re more up-to-date than I in the nomenclature. Actor and actress seem to have been phased out in favor of the generic actor.
Whether it serves as a reliable source or not, “Inside the Actors Studio” rarely uses actress in reference to a female actor.
BTW, why isn’t that either Actor’s or Actors’ Studio?
Anyone?
I think you are referring to the lovely and hilarious Aisha Tyler, who plays a babe named “Charley”, the current object of affection of Ross and/or Joey.
As for answering the OP, I’ve always been partial to Telma Hopkins, dating way back to when she was one-half of “Dawn” of “Tony Orlando & Dawn.” I’ll also nominate Gabrielle Union as a young actress who’s going places.
Jet Li is a lot better than American movies let him be.
The Actors Studio Drama School predates the television program about it by almost fifty years. The word “actors” in the name is an adjective, not a possessive. It’s a school where actors can study acting, not a school belonging to actors.
Most of my nominees have been named – Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Brian Stokes Mitchell – but I haven’t seen the stunningly beautiful and extremely talented Selma Hayek listed yet. I’m also very fond of Delroy Lindo.
Also, I saw Whale Rider last night, and was very impressed by a number of the Maori actors, particularly Grant Roa and Cliff Curtis.
Halle Berry, Selma Hayek and Lucy Lui. All major babes.
I just saw 2 Fast 2 Furious and liked the guy who replaced Vin Diesel. He had a certain charisma and naturalness about him.
Also agree with pretty much all the other names mentioned, but especially Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Will Smith, Chow Yun Fat, Don Cheadle, James Earl Jones, Halle Berry, Thandie Newton, Alfre Woodward, Lucy Liu, Salma Hayek, Samuel L. Jackson
*** Zombie (?) Alert ***
Thought I’d give one of my earliest threads a bump to see how much, if any, tastes may have changed over the eight years, and whether newcomers in the category would bump some of those older folks aside.
James Coburn.
(I heard that!)
Sessue Hayakawa, 1920s version. Rowr.
Ethel Waters – what a smile.
How many of the cast of The Wire need to be on a list such as this?
Forest Whitaker has come a long way since this thread’s inception date.
And with the profusion or Asian and Middle Eastern movies in the eight years since, there are other categories of “Non-Caucasians” to consider.
Mostly because I love the character Cho on The Mentalist I’m hoping for greater things for Tim Kang.
Clarence Williams III
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Indira Varma
Shaun Toub
Franklin Ajaye
Naveen Andrews
Shohreh Aghdashloo
John Witherspoon
Lennie James