Biopics about the lives of influential Black people have run the gamut between blockbuster hit ( Ali, Ray, and Straight Outta Compton) and better luck next time ( All Eyez on Me and Wendy Williams’ failed attempt at an Aaliyah movie). What is consistent throughout is that audiences crave stories about diverse cultural icons and historical figures. And there are a wealth of stories to choose from because, well… Black people are lit.
However, there is a special case to be made for more biopics about Black women, especially those who work in entertainment, where women of color are still too often relegated to the background or are afterthoughts. This Black History Month, I thought I’d list just a few of the Black women who have not only made huge strides in the world of entertainment, but who’ve led fascinating lives. In addition to their high-profile careers, they’ve experienced the kind of love, loss, scandal, trauma, and evolution that would make for a damn good movie. If you’re a filmmaker or producer, I hope you’re taking notes.
It's Black History Month, but at Refinery29, we believe in celebrating Black voices, Black art, and Black women 365 days of the year. Follow us on Instagram at @r29unbothered for more on issues that affect Black women's everyday lives.
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Diana Ross
Obviously, Diana Ross is one of the queens of disco and a pop icon. She was the lead singer of the Supremes, who were one of the best-selling girl groups ever (the highest charting in the United States) and pioneers that opened doors for women of colour seeing mainstream success in the music business. As a solo artist, she achieved just as much. Billboard named her "Female Entertainer of the Century,” and she crossed over into acting as well. She even played Dorothy in The Wiz, one of my favourite movies of all time.
What’s perhaps more interesting than over 50 years of pop culture domination, though, is Ross’s love life. She famously dated and became pregnant by Motown Executive Berry Gordy, but married Robert Ellis Silberstein two months into her pregnancy. Silberstein raised Ross’s eldest daughter as his own, and they had two more children together, one of whom is the actor we know today as Tracee Ellis Ross. But that was not the only controversial love affair Ross would have. Rock legend Gene Simmons fell in love with Ross while he was still dating her best friend, Cher. The women haven’t really spoken since.
I’d buy advances tickets for a dramatisation of that 30-year-old tea.
Photo: Anaid Prods/Capital Cities/Empty Chair/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
Iman
Rihanna was not the first Black icon to create a beauty line inclusive of different skin tones. While Fenty Beauty has been a huge success, it still has a long way to go before it reaches the $25 million (£18 million) per year earnings that Iman Cosmetics has. A supermodel-turned-businesswoman, Iman broke barriers for Black women in both fashion and beauty. She’s been making moves ever since.
In 2016, she became a widow after her husband died from liver cancer. You may have heard of him; his name was David Bowie.
Photo: Sigma/Wheel Prods./Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
Ethel Waters
The first Black woman to ever be nominated for an Emmy, Ethel Waters crossed over into acting after enjoying hit-or-miss success as a travelling singer. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg in this woman’s utterly compelling life.
The product of rape, she was born to a teenage mother in 1896. She grew up poor, and in her autobiography, said that she was never “cuddled, liked, or understood” by her family. She married an abusive husband at the age of 13 and left him (good for her), later joining a carnival, and then becoming a celebrity jazz singer during the Harlem Renaissance. All of this happened before she was even 25 years old and hadn’t yet appeared on screen. Not to mention that in the 1920s, a time when LGBTQ+ rights were non-existent, she dated another woman named Ethel.
Seriously incredible.
Photo: Kobal/REX/Shutterstock.
Eartha Kitt
Videos and GIFs of Kitt talking admonishing male validation and refusing to prioritise her lovers have become extremely popular on the internet. Her philosophies on love alone are worth a treatment on the big screen.
However, I doubt that many people know that this Black woman is the voice behind the original version of the sexiest Christmas carols ever, “Santa Baby.” And many will be completely shook to know that she played Catwoman in the late ‘60s on the Batman series. A self-identified sex-kitten, I think a Kitt biopic would be female empowerment movie we need right now.
Photo: 20th Century Fox/Greenway/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock.
Lil’ Kim
I know you’re probably thinking that the rapper’s name is odd on this list of Black female greats, but hear me out. Kim completely revolutionised female rap with her raunchy lyrics and persona. And her love story with the late Notorious B.I.G. has been retold several times over in a number of films. But they mainly focus on Biggie. Kim has had a complicated relationship with men, her own beauty, and herself since before she ever left Brooklyn to become a star. She’s only scratched the surface of it in interviews and her lyrics.
And to be fair to those of you who aren’t sold on a Lil' Kim biopic, I don’t know that the time is right now for such a film. In the same way that What’s Love Got To Do With It came 15 years after Ike and Tina Turner divorced, Kim deserves more time to settle into her life as a mother before we open those wounds.
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