Photo: Emma McIntyre (Getty Images)
Black History Month is a great time to not just look back at the accomplishments of African-Americans but beyond at the next great wave of actors, musicians, athletes, and artists.
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Winston Duke, Zion Williamson, and Sasha Lane are just some of the Breakthrough African-American Artists that will shape the pop culture landscape in the coming years, so let’s get to know them, shall we?
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Breakout African-American Talent
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Sasha Lane
Sasha Lane is a modern-day star with with a classic Hollywood backstory. The doe-eyed ingénue was discovered while on spring break in Panama City, Florida. After starring in some indie movies and having to kiss Shia LaBeouf in American Honey, Lane's career is in the fast lane with the lead human role in the Hellboy remake and a starring role in Amazon's new series series Utopia.
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John David Washington
The college football star high- stepped out of dad Denzel Washington's acting shadow by "Balling" out with a breakout performance in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, earning a Golden Globe nomination.
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Marsai Martin
This Black-ish star is on her way to becoming the next entertainment mogul after being one the youngest people to ever sign a first-look deal with Universal to develop projects. The 12-year-old’s first movie is the upcoming Universal comedy, Little, about a woman who gets to relive her childhood when things get a little too stressful as a grown-up. That’s great for her, but makes us question: what have we been doing with our lives?
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Zion Williamson
Zion (aka Zanos, as in Thanos) is literally the next "big thing" in basketball. With an action figure physique and a Shaq-sized personality, you will be seeing a lot of the Duke freshman in ads, magazine covers, and ESPN highlights as March Madness overtakes us.
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Winston Duke
Winston Duke's M'Baku was the unsung hero of Black Panther, but now the Trinbagonian-American actor is ready for his close-up with a starring role (along with his Wakanda co-star Lupita Nyong'o) in Jordan Peele's horror-thriller Us.
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Dominique Fishback
Dominique Fishback has a name made for the movies, so perhaps it's destiny that the Yonkers-born actress is on the verge of stardom after a head-turning performance as a book-smart hooker on HBO's The Deuce. Now, she's ready for takeoff with an upcoming Netflix sci-fi film co-starring Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Let's just hope she's not blindfolded.
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Lil TJay
This hip hop prodigy went from a being locked up in juvie to being label mates with The Queen Bey in just a year. Now the SoundCloud-platinum artist is ready to live up to his Instagram moniker as the Prince of New York.
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Chinonye Chukwu
The Sundance-winning director of Clemency made history as the first black woman in the festival’s 35-year existence to win the U.S. Grand Jury Prize. Expect major studios to line up at her door offering her the next superhero movie. Kidding. Okay, not really.
Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer (Getty Images)
