America is finally waking up to the fact that not all Black actresses (or Black women characters) need to look like colored-in Barbie dolls with five pounds of hairweave to be fierce and in the forefront! (Think of contemporary sisters like Janelle Monáe and Rihanna.)
But there have always been some cutting edge Black women in film who we openly cheered on while others had question marks over their heads.
Here’s to the edgier sisters in film who rocked the screen and took us to “a whole ‘notha level”!
Debby Bishop
Debby played “Gretchen,” the Manager of the Sex Pistols in the movie “Sid & Nancy” (1986)
Grace Jones
Grace has been in several movies, the most memorable being “Zula”" in “Conan the Destroyer” (alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger) and James Bond villain “May Day” in “A View to a Kill” (1985).
Tina Turner
Who could forget the all and powerful “Aunty Entity” of the bombed-out futureworld in “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” (1985)? Now we could see how she got out of her relationship with Ike Turner in one piece…
De’Adre Aziza
De’Adre rocked out with the best of them in Spike Lee’s movie adaptation of the hit musical “Passing Strange” (2009).
Rosario Dawson
The epic and creative movie “Sin City” (1998) sizzled with the Rosario Dawson playing “Gail,”‘ the leader of one of the hottest and scariest gang of girls in this city of vice.
