Entertainers
Kimberly Clarice Aiken
Kimberly Clarice Aiken won the title of Miss America in 1994.
Jaimie Alexander
Jaimie Alexander is an actress best known for her leading role as Jane Doe in the TV drama, Blindspot and the Lady Sif in the Thor films.
Aziz Ansari
Columbia native Aziz Ansari is an actor, writer, producer, director, and comedian.
Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates
Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates was an African-American entertainer from Fountain Inn, South Carolina. He was a well-known dancer who performed many times on The Ed Sullivan show.
Paul Benjamin
Born in Pelion, SC, Paul Benjamin was a film, television, and theater actor whose career spanned over five decades. Best known as "M.L.," Benjamin starred in "Do the Right Thing," "Across 110th Street," and "Escape from Alcatraz."
Beau Billingslea
Beau Billingslea is a voice actor best known for voicing Jet Black from the popular anime Cowboy Bebop.
Chadwick Boseman
Born in Anderson, SC, Chadwick Aaron Boseman was an actor and playwright. He was known for his leading roles in Black Panther, 42, Get on Up, and Marshall.
J. Anthony Brown
Columbia native J. Anthony Brown is a comedian and he is best known for his commentary on the Tom Joyner Morning Show and The Steve Harvey Morning Show.
James Brown
Born in Barnwell, SC, James Joseph Brown was a singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer, and bandleader.
Chubby Checker
Born in Spring Gulley (Andrews, SC) with the name Ernest Evans, Chubby Checker is a singer best known for “The Twist.”
Alice Childress
Born in Charleston, SC Alice Childress was a novelist, playwright, and actress. She is known as the only African-American woman to have written, produced, and published plays for four decades.
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is a comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program The Colbert Report.
Monique Coleman
Adrienne Monique Coleman is an actress best known for her role in Disney's High School Musical movies.
Mike Colter
Mike Colter is an actor best known for his role as Luke Cage in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
James Jude Courtney
James Jude Courtney is an actor best known for playing Michael Myers in the Halloween film franchise.
Kristin Davis
Kristin Davis is an actress and producer. She is best known for playing Charlotte York Goldenblatt in the HBO series Sex and the City.
Viola Davis
Viola Davis is an actress. She is the first African-American and currently the youngest actor to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting."
Manish Dayal
Manish Dayal is an actor best known for his roles in The Resident, The Hundred-Foot Journey, and Viceroy's House.
Stanley Donen
American film director and choreographer. Known as "The King of Musicals". Born in Columbia, SC
Ulysses Dove
Ulysses Dove was one of the most innovative contemporary choreographers of the past half-century.
Jay Ellis
Jay Ellis is a television and film actor, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his recurring roles on the television shows, The Game and Insecure.
Tyler Florence
Tyler Florence is a celebrity Chef and television host of several Food Network shows.
Arthur Freed
Arthur Freed was a lyricist and film producer. He produced and was co-lyricist for the iconic film "Singin' in the Rain."
Leeza Gibbons
Leeza Gibbons is a talk show host of Entertainment Tonight and other Hollywood news shows.
Thomas Gibson
Thomas Ellis Gibson is an actor. He is known for his roles in Criminal Minds, Dharma & Greg, and Chicago Hope.
Charlamagne tha God
Charlamagne tha God is an actor, author, and television personality. He is best known as the co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show, The Breakfast Club.
Chippie Hill
Bertha "Chippie" Hill was a blues and vaudeville singer and dancer from Charleston, SC. She is best known for her recording with Louis Armstrong.
Bo Hopkins
William Mauldin Hopkins, better known as "Bo," is an actor. He is best known for playing supporting roles in American Graffiti, Midnight Express, The Wild Bunch, and The Getaway.
Lauren Hutton
Lauren Hutton is a model and actress. She is best known for her roles in American Gigolo and Once Bitten.
Hal Jackson
Harold Baron Jackson was a disc jockey and radio personality who broke down racial barriers, becoming the first black host on a national broadcast network in the 1950s.
Mabel King
Mabel Elizabeth King was best known for her role as Mabel "Mama" Thomas on the ABC sitcom What's Happening!!
Eartha Kitt
Born in North, SC, Eartha Kitt was a singer, actress, comedienne, dancer, and activist.
Andie MacDowell
Rosalie Anderson MacDowell, better known as Andie MacDowell, is an actress and fashion model.
Brooklyn Mack
Brooklyn Mack is a danseur from Elgin, SC.
Barton MacLane
Barton MacLane was an actor, playwright, and screenwriter.
Danny McBride
American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer known for numerous movie roles and his television role as Kenny Powers on HBO's Eastbound and Down.
Nina Mae McKinney
Nina Mae Mckinney was one of the first Black leading actresses in Hollywood.
Amanda McNulty
Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV's Making It Grow!
Swingin' Medallions
The Swingin' Medallions is a beach music group from Greenwood County, South Carolina.
Patina Miller
Born in Pageland, SC, Patina Miller is an actress and singer.
Bill Murray
Bill Murray is an actor and comedian best known for his deadpan humor on Saturday Night Live and his role in Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters, and Caddyshack.
Nancy O'Dell
Nancy O'Dell is a television host and entertainment journalist.
Mary-Louise Parker
Actress and writer Mary-Louise Parker was born on Fort Jackson in South Carolina.
Teyonah Parris
Teyohah Parris is from Hopkins, SC. She is an actress and producer.
Will Patton
Will Patton is a prolific actor and audiobook narrator.
Carl Anthony Payne II
Carl Anthony Payne II is an actor best known as "Cole" in Martin and Walter "Cockroach" Bradley in The Cosby Show.
Joe Pinner
Radio and television personality Joe Pinner has been an icon of South Carolina televisions since 1963.
Brenda Pressley
Brenda Pressley is an actress from Columbia, SC.
Leon Rippy
Leon Rippy is an actor best known for his roles as Earl the Angel on the series Saving Grace, saloon owner Tom Nuttall on the series Deadwood, and John Billings in The Patriot.
Chris Rock
Chris Rock is a well-known comedian, actor, screenwriter, television and film producer, and director.
Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor
Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor was a culinary anthropologist, griot, food writer, and broadcaster on public media.
Clara Smith
Clara Smith was a blues singer from Spartanburg, South Carolina. She was nicknamed the "Queen of the Moaners."
Angie Stone
Angie Stone is a singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to frame in the late 1970s as a member of the hip hop trio, The Sequence.
Vanna White
Vanna White is a television personality best known as the puzzle-board turner and co-host on the game show Wheel of Fortune.
Johnny Whitworth
Johnny Whitworth is a actor. He is known for his roles as A.J. in Empire Records, Blackout in Marvel's Ghost Rider: Spirt of Vengeance, and Jake Berkeley in CSI: Miami.
Joanne Woodward
Famous Actress of film, stage, and television. Best known for taking on difficult womens roles.
Samuel E. Wright
Samuel Edward Wright is an actor and singer. He is best known as the voice of Sebastian in Disney's The Little Mermaid
Lee Thompson Young
Lee Thompson Young was an actor known for his roles in The Famous Jett Jackson, Friday Night Lights, and Akeelah and the Bee.
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