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The ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards is an annual celebration that honors pioneering and immensely talented Black women in Hollywood – both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. It is our love letter of sincere reverence, camaraderie and celebration to each woman and those who aspire to be like them.
This 2025 flagship event will celebrate its 18th year as ESSENCE honors actresses and talent who are making their undeniable mark in film and television & forging forward their own definition of what it means to be a Black Woman in Hollywood.
Stream it live on March 3rd at 8pm ET with the pre-show airing at 7pm ET airing exclusively on YouTube.
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Meet Our 2025 Honorees
VOTE Our ESSIES' CHOICE AWARDS
Teyana Taylor
Marla Gibbs has always been on the right side of history—from her role as Florence Johnston on the groundbreaking sitcom The Jeffersons to advocating for a Black woman to hold the highest office in the nation one day. “I hope to see a Black woman president in my lifetime,” says Gibbs, 93, reflecting on her desire for the world that future barrier-breakers like herself will live in. “We didn’t get it this time, but I think next time we might.”
Gibbs’s dream for the Black girls who will follow her should come as no surprise. Black women have been a cornerstone of her career—both as inspirations and as allies on her acting journey, which began in the early 1970s. In fact, retracing the steps of the Black actresses who came before her gave Gibbs her first big break, in a community workshop at the Performing Arts Society of Los Angeles (PASLA). “There was a young lady named Ta-Tanisha, who starred in Room 222, whom we admired so much—and she went to that workshop,” Gibbs says. “So my daughter Angela and I wanted to go, because she went there. Angela is also an actress, and it turned out to be the best decision we could have made. We started at PASLA, and then we went to Mafundi Institute when PASLA was ending. And at Mafundi, we found out about Margaret Avery’s workshop and decided we wanted to try that, because they’d just won an award for Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? We wanted to know if we were as good as they were.”
It was at that workshop that Gibbs met screenwriter and director Ted Lange and began acting in his plays. She’d later appear in his 1977 film Passing Through and on the popular TV series The Love Boat, in which he starred. It was also at Mafundi that she found out about auditions for the Norman Lear TV show that would change her life.
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As a veteran in the fast-paced world of network television, Raamla Mohamed has learned how to craft TV magic—swiftly. “My writing process is like Maxwell,” says Mohamed, 43. “Whenever, wherever, whatever.”
The creator and showrunner of the Hulu legal drama Reasonable Doubt takes no shortcuts, however, when it comes to the narratives she presents on-screen. Having climbed up the ranks in the entertainment industry—working as an intern at Fox Searchlight while earning a Master’s in Fine Arts from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, then landing her first job as a PA on the reality show Trading Spouses—she’s no stranger to working hard. Her big break came in the form of a writer’s PA gig, during season six of Grey’s Anatomy. This placed her in Shondaland, where she remained for the next nine years: as a researcher on Scandal, then moving up to staff writer and eventually supervising producer.
“That show was so important to a lot of Black women,” says Mohamed of the ABC political drama. “Kerry Washington was the first Black woman to headline a network show on television in 37 years. For me, seeing how that impacted other Black women, how people showed up for Kerry, how people showed up for Shonda Rhimes, and also that it was a hit show—that inspired me to want to put more Black women on television.” Mohamed does exactly that with Jax (played by Emayatzy Corinealdi) and her group of girlfriends in Reasonable Doubt. The show features a crew of relatable women who, like many of us, excel in one area of adult life—often professional roles—yet struggle with relationships, parenting or other aspects of the everyday.
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Playing well-known historical figures and fictional characters, in a manner that honors the truth of who they are while making them your own, is no easy feat. Yet Cynthia Erivo has built a career doing just that, and to widespread critical acclaim.
The British actress’s Broadway debut—as Celie in the musical revival of The Color Purple, from 2015 to 2017— earned her a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and an Emmy for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program. Two years later, Erivo’s turn as Harriet Tubman, in the 2019 Kasi Lemmons–directed biopic Harriet, led to her first Academy Award nomination. Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy nods followed for her portrayal of the Queen of Soul in the 2021 National Geographic series Genius: Aretha Franklin. And now her take on Elphaba, in Jon M. Chu’s feature adaptation of Wicked, has brought another Oscar nom for Best Actress—making Erivo the second Black actress, after Viola Davis, to be nominated for the award multiple times.
“I tend to pick roles that give me the chance to get at the center of who the characters are,” says Erivo, 38. “I think when you look at a character like Elphaba, there might be the temptation to just play her as the villain, but I always look for the layers.”
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Teyana Taylor knows her strengths as an artist, and she isn’t shy about them. “I work really, really well under pressure,” says the performer, 34. “And I’m a really good problem solver. The queen of pivoting.” Taylor’s ability to transfer her talents across multiple industries has made her a cultural mainstay for nearly 20 years. The singer and songwriter first amassed fans as a budding recording artist signed to Pharrell’s Star Trak Entertainment record label. She was introduced to the world on MTV’s My Super Sweet 16, and she continued to grow a following through the release of her solo music projects VII, K.T.S.E. and The Album.
Movie roles in Stomp the Yard: Homecoming, Madea’s Big Happy Family and Coming 2 America, as well as in the TV musical-drama Star, built Taylor’s acting career along the way—preparing her for the lead part of Inez de la Paz, in A.V. Rockwell’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize–winning A Thousand and One. For that latter role, Taylor won the Breakthrough Performance Award from the National Board of Review in 2023.
“I’ve never allowed myself to be put into one box,” says Taylor. “I’m like a Glade PlugIn. Why only make the kitchen smell good, when you can make the whole house smell good?” The multi-hyphenate entertainer’s first choreography credit came when she was just 15, for her work on the set of the music video for Beyoncé’s 2006 single “Ring the Alarm.” She later went on to win the 2017 MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography for her sultry performance in Kanye West’s “Fade.”
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Cynthia Erivo
Raamla Mohamed
Marla Gibbs
love each other because we're all one”
“You don't have to wait for people to
see who you are to step into yourself.”
“I've never allowed myself
to be put into one box.”
“My writing process is like Maxwell,
whenever, wherever, whatever.”
“That’s what God wants us to do,
Cynthia Erivo
Teyana Taylor
Raamla Mohamed
Marla Gibbs
Sponsored by
Cynthia
Erivo
teyana
taylor
Sponsored by
Raamla
mohamed
