Love can blossom anywhere. For most actors and celebrities, love usually springs forth with a fellow star but these 15 celebs bucked Hollywood trends and married ordinary people.

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Proving that Cupid can strike anywhere, Matt Damon was on location in Miami in 2003 to film the movie Stuck On You. While visiting a local bar one night, Damon would meet the love of his life, Luciana Barroso, behind the counter. Damon made his move on the single mother of one. Two years later they were married. Now the couple has four daughters. In an interview with UK’s “The Guardian,” Damon gushed about “My wife is my soul mate. I can’t imagine being without her.”

It’s happened to the best of us. Sometimes a character’s death strikes an emotional chord in us and we can’t help but shed a tear over a person –or animal– that only lived on screen. Here are 15 of those characters who we’re still mourning.

Bambi’s mom

In the 1942 animated classic film Bambi, a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed fawn frolicked in the first snowfall of the season unaware that his world was about to change. This was Bambi’s first winter so his mother stuck closely to his side. Imagine Bambi’s horror when a hunter shot and killed his beloved mom right before his innocent eyes. Thankfully, Bambi had the love and support of his father, the Great Prince of the Forest, and his best friend, a rabbit named Thumper, to help him through the loss of his mother.

We’re finally having the type of positive success on television as black women that we’ve been looking for, for many years now. Or at least, since reality television took over scripted comedies and dramas. No longer do we have to just sit and accept that there are black women on TV fighting, arguing and acting a damn fool, because we finally have the option to change the channel on any given day to watch other beautiful black women in leading and strong supporting roles on many television shows. While we lost Tia Mowry-Hardrict on The Game, we’re gaining Issa Rae soon, as she’s working with Shonda Rhimes on a new series, and we have these nine other beautiful sistas who are changing the game as we speak.

Shonda Rhimes (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Shonda Rhimes

Calling:

Screenwriter and producer

Why we’re saluting her: 

Shonda Rhimes is one of the most influential women, let alone Black women, in the television entertainment industry right now. The screenwriter, director, and producer is the creator of three of the most-watched shows on TV right now: Grey’s Anatomy, it’s spin-off Private Practice, and our personal favorite, Scandal.

Rhimes developed a knack for storytelling as a young girl growing up in Chicago and while at Dartmouth working on her B.A., she further developed that skill, dividing her time between writing fiction and directing and performing in plays. She then went on to study screenwriting at USC, where that talent fully manifested itself into a Master of Fine Arts from the university’s School of Cinema-Television. Ranking at the top of her class, while there Rhimes earned the prestigious Gary Rosenberg Writing Fellowship Award.

Despite the academic recognition, Rhimes found herself in Hollywood and unemployed after college, working a variety of day jobs, from office administrator to counselor, to make ends meet. All was not lost though, as Rhimes also spent that time working on the 1995 Peabody Award-winning documentary, Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream, and soon after earned an assignment to write the 1999 HBO movie, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, which won numerous awards and established Rhimes as a strong force in the industry.

Ten years and experience writing, producing, and directing several successful movies passed before Rhimes gave birth to Grey’s Anatomy, but since then she’s been an unstoppable force. Grey’s is the highest-rated drama in the 18–49 demographic and was previously ranked as one of the overall top-ten rated shows in the United States. It’s also an exemplary representation of how to do diversity right, and Rhimes has continued to demonstrate that skill in her subsequent projects, especially Scandal, which stars Kerry Washington in the first lead role for an African American woman in 38 years, and the only among the major networks.

Outside of the professional realm, Rhimes is equally inspirational, having adopted her first daughter, Harper, in June 2002 and another girl named Emerson Pearl in February 2012 . For making it her business to display the diversity that occupies American Society on the television screen, we salute Shonda Rhimes.

Click here to meet all of our salutes.

Anybody else got a “thang” for actor Daniel Sunjata? The former “Rescue Me” star and the fine face on “Grey’s Anatomy” who is Irish, German, and black has been heating up our television screens for years. I can remember back to when he played the oh so swexy sailor Carrie Bradshaw was giving the eye in an episode (“Anchors Away”) of “Sex and the City,” and we can see why she was feening like he was a pair of Manolos. He’s hot! And those lips are just too beautiful and full not to notice. And I’m oh so happy to report that Sunjata will be a new face on one of my favorite underrated shows, “Smash.” Yes, 2013 is about to be a good year for all of us with Sunjata scooping up TV and movie roles left and right. But if you’re new to his loveliness, check out his hottie credentials in our slideshow!

Source: Haute Living

Dr. McDreamy, a.k.a. Patrick Dempsey isn’t the only fine actor on ABC’s hit drama “Grey’s Anatomy.” The half-Swedish, half-African American Jesse Williams who plays surgeon Jackson Avery could easily give him a run for his money, but only one of these handsome men is still on the market and it’s not the latter.

On Saturday, Jesse, 31, tied the knot with his long-time girlfriend, Aryn Drake-Lee, 32, in Los Angeles in a romantic evening ceremony, according to PEOPLE.

“Jesse was beaming with joy throughout the entire ceremony,” a wedding guest told the mag. “It was the perfect night with lots of smiling, laughing and emotion. You could feel the love they have for each other. They’re madly in love!”

Jesse and his real estate broker wife have been together for more than five years. They met during his pre-”Grey’s” days when Jesse was just a schoolteacher in New York, not considered one of the hottest celebrities in the biz, although I bet plenty of his middle and high school students were in love with him.

The fact that Jesse didn’t go all Hollywood and snatch up a new industry woman when he got his big break makes this union even more sweet. Congrats to the newlyweds!

More on Madame Noire!

• Unnecessary Adjustment: That Time I Compromised My Standards For A Relationship
• Where Are They Now? 11 Singers and Rappers Who Didn’t Blow Up Like We Thought They Would…
• Baby Geniuses: Snapshots Of 7 Of Our Favorite Black Child Prodigies
• OO-OOP! Did You Know These Celeb Women Are Deltas?
• You Don’t Have To Be Wonder Woman: The Importance of Vulnerability In Relationships
• Bison Brothers: 10 Notable Men Who Attended Howard University
• Love On Your Terms: Are Your Expectations Too High?

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If you are a single woman, you may have this problem: A favorite male friend that has become a substitute boyfriend. He’s the charming fellow who shows up at the right time, says the right thing and is always seemingly available when you want to hang out. Besides that, he’s straight. Single. And, most importantly, not trying to holler. If he was, you would look at him sideways for violating your friendship. That said, it won’t stop you from treating the homey, like the boo and showing him a little extra love. Click through the following pages and decide: Is he your friend or a substitute boyfriend.

Source: thedailybeast.com

Scandal shines as the new show to watch with Kerry Washington in its leading role. Airing on Thursdays at 10 p.m. on ABC, the show took the number one spot in the ratings for its time slot during its second week. Grey’s Anatomy showrunner, Shonda Rhimes, created the fast-paced drama that showcases Washington as the owner of a crisis management firm in Washington DC.

The series is a propelled by Black girl power, basing its scandalous plotlines on the career of Judy Smith, a noted African-American political-crisis-management expert and former White House aide. Smith has managed the fallout for some of the biggest headlines in recent years including the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Michael Vick’s dog-fighting charges. Surprisingly, this is television’s first foray into the dramatic world of crisis management.

While the show is only inspired by Smith’s career, taking more than a few liberties for the sake of storylines, many business lessons can be learned from the crisis management field. Crisis managers view every crisis as an opportunity. Here are a few tips to help you think like Washington’s astute character Olivia Pope, so you can handle any business scandal like a pro.

Planning Ahead

• Anticipate threats and prepare for them. You should be able to identify the top threats facing your company. Decide how you’ll face them now, so you don’t have to plan in the midst of crisis.
• There is no excuse for being unprepared. Every company should have a crisis plan in place. Establish a crisis communication team, at minimum it should consist of you, a public relations advisor, and a lawyer. No one outside of this team should make any crisis-related decisions or speak on behalf of your business.
• Write down everything. When dealing with sensitive situations, a written record of what transpired is the best way to protect yourself.

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The population of the United States is more diverse than ever, but you wouldn’t know it by the TV guide. The number of roles for African-Americans has improved…slightly. There were over 30 Black actors and actresses on the primetime pilots scheduled for last Fall, and sprinkled throughout ensemble casts like Grey’s Anatomy. However, predominately minority casts are few, and largely regulated to cable channels like BET and TBS. For better or for worse, reality television is leading the way for diversity on TV. And that may not be such a bad thing.

Thanks to attractive economics, the reality format has come to rule the airwaves. Reality programming is cheaper than traditional programming in every way imaginable. It requires less equipment, a smaller crew, and fewer paid performers. Networks see reality television as a saving grace to balance the price of programming across their schedule.

Viewers and critics often lament the Black sitcoms of yesterday, complaining that shows like The Jeffersons, Martin, and Girlfriends are nonexistent. But, sitcoms are in decline overall. The popularity of reality television has come at the expense of the sitcom. In 2002-03, reality’s share of the top 10 prime time show audience almost tripled to 63%, while sitcoms’ share declined by more than half to 17%, according to historical data from The Nielsen Company. The television business and viewers’ taste has changed. It’s a safe bet that we will never see the amount of scripted Black sitcoms we had in the 90’s again.

Admittedly, most of reality television relies on well-worn stereotypes of women and minorities to shape its characters. Basketball Wives is not doing the image of Black women any favors. Even in showslike Survivor, minorities aren’t cast positively. Diversity means differences. Differences often stoke conflict, and conflict equals ratings.  Watching Bad Girls Club can give one the urge to weep for the careers of talented out of work Black actors; however, is it possible that reality television can uplift, as well as tear us down?

On any given day, you can walk down the street and see a real good looking guy. You acknowledge it – either to yourself or aloud – and keep it moving. But when you see a good-looking man that’s probably “of a certain age,” you might do a double take because you are glad to see an older man taking care of himself. Well, here are a few of our favorite celebrity men over age 40 that look darn good.

Here we go…

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