Cicely Tyson

Biography: Born in New York City to immigrant parents from the Carribean, Cicely began her career as a fashion model and eventually moved to television and films in the 1950s and 1960s, including an appearance in the long-running soap opera Guiding Light. She later garnered critical acclaim and awards for her roles in the 1972 film Sounder and the 1974 television movie The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, where she was aged over the course of the movie to appear to be a 110 year old woman. She has had an extensive string of guest appearances in both film and television throughout the 1970s to the present, with a notable appearance as Kunta Kinte's mother Binta in the record-breaking 1977 television miniseries Roots. She was formerly married to the late jazz trumpeter Miles Davis.