These TV series and movies with Black actors will inspire you or make you laugh!
Check out these TV series and movies with Black actors. Some of them are in theaters now while others will be hitting the big screens or your TV screens soon! You don’t want to be out of the loop while your friends are discussing these shows.
You may also like: Movies With Black Actors to Watch On Netflix.
Girls Trip
Now Playing
When four life long friends (Jada Pinkett, Regina Hall, Tiffany Haddish and Queen Latifah) travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival, sisterhoods are rekindled, wild sides are rediscovered and there’s enough dancing drinking, brawling and romancing to make the Big Easy blush.
Now Playing
Following his part in Captain America: Civil War, Peter Parker wants nothing more than to take part in defending his city and the people who need him. Unfortunately, the rest of the world is bent on him going to high school and minding his business. Watch as Peter struggles to prove himself to Tony Stark and the Avengers, as well as his classmates and Aunt May. This film features Zendaya, Donald Glover, and Laura Harrier.
Claws
TNT – Sundays at 9 p.m.
Claws is a midnight-dark, wickedly funny meditation on female badness set in a South Florida nail salon. It follows the rise of five diverse (Niecy Nash, Karrueche Tran) treacherous, manicurist working at the Nail Artisan of Manatee County salon, where there is a lot more going on than silk wraps and pedicures. Claws is about good women caught in bad places with worse men. It’s the story of hardworking women trying to get by in this economy, set against the surreal, bright, gritty landscape of Florida and the luscious, absurd, extreme excesses of crime.
Power
Starz – Sundays at 9 p.m.
While James St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick) is frantically trying to get out of the drug game and turn his money legit, his partner Tommy (Joseph Sikora) and other past dealings see otherwise. James is now the number one suspect for the murder of his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend. He is also in the process of divorcing his wife, the mother of his two children. In Season 4, James finds out his son has been kidnapped for ransom by an old rival.
Ballers
HBO – Sundays at 10 p.m.
Looking at the lives of former and current football players, half-hour comedy series Ballers follows former superstar Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) as he gets his life on track in retirement while mentoring other current and former players through the daily grind of the business of football. Ricky Jerret (John David Washington) is one of his star players he currently manages. 
Insecure
HBO – Sundays at 10:30 p.m.
Modern-day black women are usually portrayed as strong, confident and “flawless.” But Issa (Issa Rae) and Molly (Yvonne Orji) are definitely not “killing it.” These best friends must deal with their own real-life flaws as they attempt to navigate different worlds and cope with an endless series of uncomfortable everyday experiences.
Daytime Divas
VH1 – Mondays at 10 p.m.
Every weekday at noon, Maxine (Vanessa Williams), Mo (Tichina Arnold), Heather (Fiona Gubelmann), Kibby (Chloe Bridges), and Nina (Camille Guaty)—hosts of THE LUNCH HOUR, the long-running women’s talk show—gather around the table to discuss life, love, politics, and juicy gossip. But behind the scenes, it’s even juicier — a backstage world filled with power struggles, diva fits, and steamy affairs. Inspired by the book “Satan’s Sisters” by Star Jones, television personality, lawyer and journalist.
The Bold Type
Freeform – Tuesdays at 9 p.m.
In a nod to “Cosmopolitan” editor-in-chief Joanna Coles, “The Bold Type” explores the lives of the young people working for a global women’s magazine. Follow three friends as they navigate heaps of personal and professional drama, all while keeping their closets up-to-date. Aisha Dee co-stars.
Being Mary Jane
BET – Tuesdays at 10 p.m.
Smart and fierce, Mary Jane is the type of journalist who’s ambitious, on top of her game and armed for battle. As she tries to navigate singlehood and put her past behind her, she resolves to take a bite out of the Big Apple and make it to the anchor chair on Good Day USA , the top-rated New York morning show where she now works as a correspondent. Starting over isn’t easy and Mary Jane struggles to climb the ladder while keeping her relationships (both work and personal) intact.
Fear Factor
MTV – Tuesdays at 10 p.m.
Black Ink Chicago
VH1 – Wednesdays at 8 p.m.
Chicago’s best tattoo artists are back! This summer, follow the 9Mag crew through another season of successes and failures as they fight to maintain their family bond within the shop.
Queen Sugar
OWN – Wednesdays at 10 p.m.
In the second season, Nova, Charley and Ralph Angel struggle to move forward with their lives as they strive to honor the legacy of their father. Charley, as the only black sugarcane mill owner, must fight to regain her independence while rebuilding relationships with her estranged siblings. Nova finds herself torn between activism and love, while Ralph Angel tries to re-establish a relationship with his son’s mother.
Detroit
Now Playing
A police raid in Detroit 1967 results in one of the largest and most intense riots of in United States history, leading to the federalization of the Michigan National Guard, and the involvement of two Airborne Divisions of the United States Army. This film features John Boyega, Anthony Mackie and Algee Smith.
Kidnap
Now Playing
Kidnap is an American thriller film that stars Halle Berry, a mother who will stop at nothing to recover her kidnapped son.
Step
Now Playing
In inner-city Baltimore, follow the senior year of a girl’s dance team as the members compete and work to become the first in their families to go to college. This film stars Paula Dofat, Tayla Solomon, Cori Grainger, and Blessing Giraldo.
The Dark Tower
Now Playing
Gunslinger Roland Deschain (Idris Elba) roams an old west-like landscape where the world has moved on in pursuit of the man in black. He is also searching for the fabled Dark Tower, in hopes that reaching it will preserve his dying world. 
Naked
On Netflix
Rob Anderson (Marlon Wayans) is nervous about finally getting married. In a twisted way, the universe forces him to relive the same nerve-wracking hours over and over again until he gets things right on his wedding day.
Survivor’s Remorse
Starz – August 20
Through a combination of God-given talent and Boston grit, Cam Calloway (Jessie T. Usher) and Reggie Vaughn (RonReaco Lee) have achieved fame and fortune that neither could have imagined growing up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Boston. But success comes with its own challenges, and the cousins and confidantes wrestle with the rewards of money, stardom, love, and occasionally, the guilt of having “made it.” The Calloways now have to cope with the fallout of Uncle Julius’ accident. Family bonds are put to the test as this season explores themes of religion, parenting, therapy, moral outrage and cultural divides.
Marvel’s The Defenders
Netflix – August 2017
Netflix is back with four of New York’s unlikely heroes as they join forces to fight a greater evil than ever before. Watch Jessica Jones, Luke Cage (Mike Colter), Daredevil, and Iron Fist learn to work together for those who can’t defend themselves.
True to the Game
In theaters September 8
Terri Woods’s noir crime novel True to the Game is coming to the big screen with an all-star cast. Columbus Short stars as a drug-dealing millionaire who falls in love, backed up by Hollywood icon Vivica Fox and former video vixen Draya Michele.
How to Get Away with Murder Season 4
ABC – September 28
A group of ambitious law students and their brilliant criminal defense professor (Viola Davis) become involved in a twisted murder plot that changes the course of their lives forever. It even leaves one of them dead. 
Blackish
ABC – October 3
Family man Andre Johnson (Anthony Anderson) struggles to gain a sense of cultural identity while raising his kids in a predominantly white, upper-middle-class neighborhood. His wife Rainbow Johnson (Tracee Ellis Ross) and children Zoey (Yara Shahidi), Andre (Marcus Scribner), Jack (Miles Brown) and Diane (Marsai Martin) all go through problems a normal child would go through. As a family, they solve everything together.
The Mayor
ABC – October 3
A young African American struggling Hip Hop artist (Brandon Michael Hall) runs for Mayor to help promote his mix-tape. The shocker is that he really wins! Now he has to decide is he still going to pursue his rap dream or stand for the people and become the Mayor.
Marshall (2017)
In Theaters October 13
Before he became the first black Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick Boseman) was a young lawyer pitted against fear and prejudice in one of his career-defining cases where he defended a black chauffeur against his wealthy employer. Partnered with inexperienced and Jewish Samuel Friedman, the two work for justice as the United States are about to fall into WWII.
The Best Man Wedding
In Theaters 2017
We have been waiting on the movie for so long! The cast of The Best Man series returns to celebrate the group’s most unexpected wedding to date. Malcolm D. Lee again writes and directs the third film in his signature hit series, and Sean Daniel (“The Best Man Holiday”) returns to produce The Best Man Wedding alongside Lee. 
Proud Mary
In theaters January 2018
Mary (Taraji P. Henson) is a hit woman working for an organized crime family in Boston. Her life is completely turned around when she meets a young boy during a professional hit that goes wrong.
Black Panther
In theaters February 2018
T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), the new ruler of the advanced kingdom of Wakanda, must defend his land from being torn apart by enemies from outside and inside the country. Black Panther is a Marvel Comic. This film is directed by Ryan Coogler.
Fahrenheit 451
HBO – 2018
In a terrifying care-free future, a young man, Guy Montag (Michael B. Jordan), whose job as a fireman is to burn all books, questions his actions after meeting a young girl…and begins to rebel against society.
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If there are any other movies with Black actors you would like for us to add, please contact us at The Voice of Black Cincinnati.
Marissa Staples, Writer