Rumer Glenn Willis is an American actress and singer. She is the eldest daughter of actors Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. Willis won season 20 of Dancing with the Stars. She went on to make her Broadway debut in Chicago as Roxie Hart on September 21, 2015. She had a recurring role in the third season and then became a series regular in the fourth season of FOX musical-drama Empire.
Jurnee Diana Smollett-Bell is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress appearing on television sitcoms, with her most significant regular role being on On Our Own (1994–1995). She received critical acclaim and Critic's Choice Award for playing Eve in the 1997 independent drama film Eve's Bayou.
Jussie Smollett is an American actor and singer. He began his career as a child actor in 1987 acting in films including The Mighty Ducks (1992) and Rob Reiner's North (1994). In 2015, Smollett portrayed musician Jamal Lyon in the Fox drama series Empire, a role which was hailed as groundbreaking for its positive depiction of a black gay man on television. Smollett has also appeared in Ridley Scott's science fiction film Alien: Covenant (2017) as Ricks and in Marshall (2017) as Langston Hughes.
Lee Louis Daniels is an American film and television writer, director, and producer. He produced Monster's Ball and directed Precious, which received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Director; it won two of the awards.
Ruby Rose Langenheim is an Australian model, actress, and television presenter. Rose came to attention as a presenter on MTV Australia (2007–2011), followed by several high-profile modelling gigs, notably as the face of Maybelline New York in Australia. In addition, she has co-hosted various television shows, most notably Australia's Next Top Model (2009) and The Project on Network Ten (2009–2011).
Yara Sayeh Shahidi is an American actress, model, and activist. She gained recognition for her starring role as the oldest daughter Zoey Johnson on the sitcom Black-ish (2014–present) and its spin-off series Grown-ish (2018–present). Her film credits include Imagine That (2009), Smallfoot (2018), and the lead role in The Sun Is Also a Star (2019).
Jake Smollett is an American actor and cooking personality.
A racial hoax is a hoax that occurs "when someone fabricates a crime and blames it on another person because of [his or her] race or when an actual crime has been committed and the perpetrator falsely blames someone because of [his or her] race".
Blackbird is a 2014 drama film directed by Patrik-Ian Polk and starring Mo'Nique and Isaiah Washington in the lead roles. The film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Larry Duplechan and was released theatrically on April 24, 2015.
Empire is an American musical drama television series created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong for Fox. It is a joint production by Imagine Television and 20th Century Fox Television and syndicated by 20th Television. Although it is filmed in Chicago, the show is set in New York. The series centers on the fictional hip hop music and entertainment company, Empire Entertainment, and the drama among the members of the founders' family as they fight for control of it.
Jamal Joseph Lyon is a fictional character from the American musical drama, Empire on Fox. Portrayed by Jussie Smollett, Jamal is the middle son of hip-hop mogul Lucious and his wife Cookie. Jamal, a talented R&B singer and songwriter, struggles to gain his father's approval, but is able to overcome this adversity with Cookie's support. He initially expresses resentment towards fame and is hesitant to be in the limelight, but he gradually embraces it once Cookie begins to manage his career. Jamal engages in what was once a friendly competition against his younger brother and best friend Hakeem to determine who is more musically gifted, while maintaining a cold distance from his older brother Andre for his perpetual scheming. Jamal struggles with his father's objection to his homosexuality, which was inspired by Empire creator Lee Daniels' own relationship with his father.
Bryshere Yazuan Gray, also known by the stage name Yazz The Greatest or simply Yazz, is an American actor and rapper, best known for his role as Hakeem Lyon in the Fox primetime musical drama television series Empire. He is also known for his portrayal as Michael Bivins in the 2017 BET miniseries The New Edition Story.
Empire: Original Soundtrack from Season 1 is the debut soundtrack album by the cast of the musical drama television series Empire, which airs on Fox. The album includes songs that featured during the first season of the show, and performed by various artists. The album was released by Columbia Records. The soundtrack received positive critical reception and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. On September 11, 2015, another soundtrack titled Empire: The Complete Season 1 was released containing every song heard on the show that weren't included on the official soundtrack.
Drop the Mic is an American musical reality competition television series that premiered on October 24, 2017, airing on TBS for its first two seasons before moving to TNT for its third season on January 23, 2019. The show is based on a recurring segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden.
Katorah Marrero, better known by her stage name Young M.A, is an American rapper and entrepreneur. The abbreviation in her stage name, "M.A" stands for "Me Always". She first gained widespread recognition with the release of the now triple-platinum hit single "Ooouuu", breaking the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, boasting 150,000 radio spins and 300 million YouTube views on the music video.
America Divided is an American documentary television series, created by Solly Granatstein, Lucian Read, and Richard Rowley, that premiered on September 30, 2016, on Epix.
The fifth season of the American television drama series Empire premiered on September 26, 2018, in the United States on Fox. The season was ordered on May 2, 2018, consisting of eighteen episodes with Brett Mahoney taking over as showrunner from Ilene Chaiken. The show is produced by 20th Century Fox Television, in association with Imagine Entertainment, Lee Daniels Entertainment, Danny Strong Productions and Little Chicken Inc. The showrunners for this season are Mahoney, Danny Strong and Lee Daniels.
On January 29, 2019, American actor Jussie Smollett told police that he was attacked in the early morning at the 300 block of East Lower North Water Street in Chicago's Streeterville by two men in ski masks who called him racial and homophobic slurs. On February 20, 2019, Smollett was indicted for disorderly conduct consisting of allegedly paying two Nigerian-American brothers to stage a fake hate crime assault on him and filing a false police report. Smollett's defense team reached a deal with prosecutors on March 26, 2019, in which all charges were dropped in return for Smollett performing community service and forfeiting his $10,000 bond. On March 27, 2019, it was announced that the FBI would be investigating as to why the charges were dismissed.
