Black Alumni in this Week’s Hollywood News

When kids dream, they dream big. What a lot of Black kids don’t know about their dreams–especially their dreams of being althletes, singers, actresses–is that college played a key role in  success.many of the sports figures and celebrities whose performances thrill and inspire them.

This week’s Black celebrity news included a number of proud African American alumni. Here a just a few of the Black grads who made news this week:

Shonda Rimes, creator and executive producer of television’s Grey’s Anatomy, which won the Best TV drama prize at this year’s Golden Globe awards.

• Earned a Bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in 1991

• Earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television.

Forest Whitaker, winner of this years Best Actor in a Film award at the Golden Globes.

• Completed his Bachelor’s degree at USC in 1982. Initially accepted into the Music Conservatory (to study opera), he eventually transferred to the Drama Conservatory.

Sylvain White, director of this past week’s number one film, Stomp the Yard.

• After a brief stint in the law program at La Sorbonne in Paris, he won a scholarship to Pomona College in California, where he graduated with honors in both Media Studies and Film and Video Production.

Brian J. White, one of the stars of Stomp the Yard (he plays Sylvester, head of Theta Nu Theta fraternity).

• Graduated from Dartmouth College with a double major in Political Psychology and Theatre Arts.

Laz Alonso, Zeke in Stomp the Yard.

• Graduated from Howard University with a degree in Marketing. He eventually left a job on Wall Street to pursue acting.

Posted by Ajuan Mance