This tier separates themselves from the first group with more experience and some heavy 2025 workloads. This list features several familiar faces, some who have carried projects on their names alone.
The Scouting Report
Biggest Surprise
Regina Hall put in some work last year; I missed most of those projects, and it impacted her position this year.
Most Underrated
My personal favorite, Nicole Beharie, is a bit low on the list. I need to make more of an effort to check out her projects.
Group 4: The Sleeper Cell
80. Zazie Beetz
Zazie is a heavy hitter in my mind. To see her having 4 projects last year is not a shock at all. I can say that she won’t miss a step for 2026 either from my early movie watching.
79. Gemma Knight Jones
If I was up on MobLand, Gemma would be up on this list as well.
78: Taylour Paige (📉33)
Pops out at here after missing the list last year but has been holding strong on The Morning Show
77. Regina Hall
Regina pulled me in as Candy, but she’s put some depth behind her roles over the years. Her voice, face, and presence is enough to sign me up for a view.
76. Krys Marshall
Marshall slides into this tier with work on two shows, Paraqdise and For All Mankind.
Expect to see some upward movement from Zazie Beetz next year.
Group 3: Tried and True
75. Joy Sunday
This antagonist in Wednesday is giving all the mean school girl energy over on Netflix.
74. Miriam A. Hyman
Hyman comes in to foil the operations on Power Book IV: Force as one of its US attorneys.
73. Alison Sealy-Smith (📉71)
Voicing Storm, has brought an nostalgic X-Men series back for our 90s cartoon love.
72. June Carryl
I do need to become more familiar with June’s work. Recently, I saw her portrayal of a parent who’s child was killed during the Atlanta serial murders in the second season of Mindhunter.
71. India Brown
Discovered while watching Invasion, Brown portrays a determined English teen on the hunt for her abducted friend in the second season.
My hope is high for Joy Sunday to pop up from this low ranking.
Group 2: Movers and Shakers
70. Zoe Saldana (📉13)
Zoe has been in a bag of sci-fi franchises of late, yet it is her lead part in Lioness that is high on my list of projects to watch as soon as I carve out some time.
69. Starletta DuPois
Possibly the most experienced of the group, DuPois was featured in last year’s block buster One Battle After Another.
68. Amber Friendly
As Layla Bell, Amber can be found putting a spin on the news industry in The Morning Show.
67. Sonequa Martin-Green
The Walking Dead alum came through in Sarah’s Oil last year among other projects.
66. Nicole Beharie
Nicole stole my eyes on a now defuct UPN series about the headless horseman, but now she’s all over The Morning Show.
Cute and talented, Sonequa and Nicole are the stars of this tier.
Group 1: Breakout Ladies
65. Gabrielle Union
A small stint of voice acting was all that Gabby turned in last year, but who wouldn’t want to catch her in a film?
64. Priah Ferguson
Priah grew up on screen with the Stranger Things gang. Now that she’s done there, where will we see her next?
63. Rutina Wesley
Rutina has honed in on the stoic bad ass to a loving, down ass friend. It’s good to see that she got her run on Queen Sugar. I wonder if she has a spot in a feature film in her future.
62. Hailey Kilgore
It took appearances in Power Book III: Rasing Kanan and 9-1-1: Nashville for this debut to become possible. She could have been higher if I could check out either show.
61. Angel Laketa Moore (📉47)
Paradise, Bel-Air, and Safe Space all gave Angel some time to shine in ’25.
Next up are some established stars in the 41-60 release of the Black Actress Review
