Juanita Moore

A former Cotton Club chorus girl. Los Angeles native Juanita Moore began her career as a film extra, later honing her craft in local stage productions at the Ebony Showcase, Theater. In 1949, she made her feature film debut in "Pinky," playing a nurse. She spent the better part of the next decade trapped in mostly stereotypical roles as domestics until landing the breakthrough part of Annie Johnson, the hard-working housekeeper to actress Lora Meredith in the glossy Douglas Sirk-directed remake of "Imitation of Life" (1959). Moore excelled as Annie, whose light-skinned daughter attempted to deny her roots by passing for Caucasian, and the actress received a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. After a late-career resurgence as a character actress on television, Juanita Moore died at the age of 99 in 2013.