Over the years Hollywood has paid homage to some of the most influential, and sometimes controversial, women of our time and in honor of Women’s History month, we take a look at some of the best movies about these important figures.

The Josephine Baker Story

Dancer/singer Josephine Baker was the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture film and become a world famous entertainer. Known for performing the banana dance, Baker would wear the fruit covering her bottom while remaining topless. She was also known for her contributions to the Civil Rights movement. Actress Lynn Whitfield stepped into the shoes of Baker for the 1991 HBO biopic The Josephine Baker Story. Unlike most biographical films, this one dug as deep into Baker’s personal life as her public one. Whitfield took home an Emmy and an NAACP award for her role in the film.

In this day and age where celebs and everyday folks take to their social media pages to share every little detail of their lives, there are still some stars who like to keep their private lives very private.

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Cassie and Diddy

Rumor had it Diddy and Cassie were dating well before they were ever photographed together. Caught up in a love triangle with Cassie and his children’s mother Kim Porter, Diddy snuck around with the “Me & U” singer showing up at the same events but making sure to never arrive or leave together. Recently the two have been more open about their relationship in public and on social media. Diddy has posted photos professing his love for Cassie and last month sparked rumors when he put up a picture of an engagement ring with the caption, “Baby do you like it? I just want to get you wat you Like!” he added. “I just wanna Mk you smile #takeDat!”

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It appears a petition has started for Lupita Nyong’o to play the character of “Storm” in the Marvel series of X-Men movies.

The petition started on the Change.org website by BlackGirlNerds blogger, Jamie Broadnax pleads:

“This is important because listening to the demands of your consumer base means more than your own personal casting choices. She has the accent, the look, and the acting chops to play Storm as the comic book intended.  Please kindly take this into consideration and respect the demand of Marvel consumers and fans of this amazing franchise.  This petition was started based on the overwhelming responses to my tweet ‘I volunteer as tribute to lead a social media charge to get Lupita cast as Storm!’”

Halle Berry played “Storm” in the original X-Men movie as well as 2003’s X2: X-Men United and 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand. The next installation in the franchise, X-Men: Days of Future Past is currently in post production.

The average movie-goer probably thinks Berry did a solid job as the mutant with the ability to control the weather. But comic book aficionados know that Storm is actually African, and that Halle Berry probably wasn’t the best fit for the character, but simply won the role due to the lack of viable candidates in Hollywood.

We love Lupita as much as the next person but we wonder if this is a another sad case of “there can only be one”. It seems like since Lupita won her Oscar and became Hollywood’s “It Girl” critics everywhere have been discrediting every other black actress. We hope comic book nerds everywhere can get Lupita noticed, but it seems unlikely that Hollywood execs would change the character so far in the series. Either way, we’re sure there will be plenty of roles for Nyong’o as well as Kerry Washington, Angela Bassett and every other black actress we’ve seemed to up and forget about since we became convinced Lupita came and changed the game.

Do you think this petition will get any play?

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From BlackVoices 

Halle Berry spoke out for the first time since welcoming her second child in October.

The new mom attended the Fame & Philanthropy Post Oscar party in Beverly Hills on Sunday, March 2, and told “Extra” that her 5-month-old son Maceo is “fantastic,”as is his almost 6-year-old “great big sister” Nahla, who is even “more fantastic.”

Berry, who stunned in a black vintage Versace dress at the post-Oscar event, admitted to People that she’s been focused getting back in shape as she shoots the new TV series, “Extant.”"You know, I’m working on a television show now, so I’m juggling working and being a mom and breastfeeding while I’m working,” the 47-year-old explained, adding that she’s “working hard” to lose the baby weight.

Read more on Halle Berry and motherhood at BlackVoices.com 

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Halle Berry has a new movie coming out this spring and it looks like it’s going to be a good one.

The biopic, “Frankie and Alice,” revolves around the life of Frankie Murdoch, a Black ’70s go-go dancer who struggles to maintain her sanity after finding out she suffers from multiple-personality disorder. Interestingly, Frankie struggled with two distinct personalities — a 7-year-old version of herself and Alice, a Caucasian bigot southern belle who was constantly in conflict with Frankie’s actual race and culture.

For the movie, Halle will transform herself in a way we’ve never seen her before, which many speculate could mean major critical acclaim. “Frankie and Alice” was actually made in 2008 and already released in Europe in 2010, and at the time many expected Halle to pick up an Oscar nomination, but no such luck. This time around, the movie will hit U.S. theaters April 4, 2014, and though the Academy may not be checking for it a second time around, audiences and American critics likely will. Check out the trailer in the video below and tell us what you think.

Will you go see “Frankie and Alice”?

Hollywood just loves to have a white person donning a cape come in and save some poor, Black soul. While some of these White Savior movies were based on true stories, others were just made up and a little too over the top.

The Blindside

Sandra Bullock is known as America’s sweetheart but she won even more hearts over in the 2009 film The Blind Side. Based on the 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, the film follows Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Michael Oher’s life from impoverished beginnings to the NFL. Oher had nothing in his life going for him but football until a white couple, played by Bulllock and Tim McGraw, came along to adopt him. The film grossed over $300 million and Bullock earned critical acclaim and accolades for her performance. She also won a Golden Globe and the coveted Oscar gold for Best Actress.

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Halle Berry is back (not that she really disappeared or anything)! The actress stepped away from the bright lights and crazy photogs in Hollywood to tackle mommy duties after giving birth to her son, Maceo Martinez, in October, her first child with new husband Olivier Martinez. It has been almost four months since we last saw her, and at that time, she was toting a big baby belly.

Berry, 47, attended the Acapulco Film Festival this week and the mother of two showed off her still svelte figure in an All Saints dress and strappy heels. The “girls” were out and the hair, as usual, was chic with short sides and long bangs. She was in Mexico to pick up the Silver Jaguar Award at the film festival, which is the highest honor awarded to actors and actresses for their work.

This should be another great year for Berry (who as we said, finished up 2013 with a baby, a new marriage, and a new law she helped get put in place that would keep paparazzi from photographing the children of stars in a manner that alarms or annoys them). She is starring in a new show on CBS called Extant, where she will play an astronaut trying to reconnect with her family after spending more than a year disconnected in outer space. And seeing how great she looks, new mommy on her face, Berry is kicking the year off right!

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We’ve all been guilty of letting our tempers get the best of us at one time or another but these stars clearly have anger issues and were forced to attend management classes to get their emotions in check.

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Chris Brown

Chris Brown virtually grew up in the public limelight and was one of R&B’s brightest stars until he assaulted Rihanna in 2009. Since then Brown has had a hard rehabilitating his image and his anger issues certainly aren’t helping. After a string of arrests for assault and hit and run charges, Brown decided to be proactive and seek help for his anger issues. But he left treatment early after going into a fit of rage and a judge ordered the “Don’t Judge Me” singer back to anger management for 90 days and to be subject to random drug testing.

Not every woman is interested in dropping her last name after marriage or even taking their husband’s name at all and quite a few leading ladies had no problem keeping their maiden name entirely. There was no hyphenation or dropping of anything, because the name they were born with was perfectly fine. Unlike these women who kept their husband’s last name after divorce, these women didn’t bother making the change to begin with.

Source: WENN

Diana Ross

The diva of all divas, Diana Ross, has been married twice and kept her last name during both marriages. She married music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein in 1971, which led to divorce in 1977. She remarried billionaire shipping magnate Arne Naess, Jr. in 1986 and divorced in 2000. The last name Ross rings bells across the world so it makes perfect sense that she hasn’t changed it.

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Halle Berry is taking a left turn into television. She’s been there before with her movie Their Eyes Were Watching God. And HBO’s Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, for which she took home an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a SAG Award, was a successful project. But this time she will develop a Hannibal miniseries for the History Channel, according to The Hollywood Reporter, serving as executive producer for the project, which will focus on one of history’s greatest generals. Hannibal and his archrival Scipio Africanus went head-to-head in the Second Punic War and it was an epic battle.

“Hannibal was not only the greatest African general to ever live,” said Berry in a statement, “he may have been the greatest general, period. His story is an intricate and captivating ride, and I’m thrilled to get this project off the ground with our partners at History.”

The Hannibal miniseries will begin in Carthage, in 264 B.C., at the beginning of his life in North Africa and will cover the second Punic War between Carthage and Rome including his rival with Scipio Africanus which eventually tuns into a friendship.

Hannibal will be Berry’s latest trek into television. Earlier this year it was announced the Oscar winner will star in CBS’ 13-episode summer series Extant from executive producer Steven Spielberg, and she signed a two-year first-look deal with CBS Television Studios.

Which could indicate that Berry is going to focus her career a little more on television. Although her X-Men flicks are guaranteed winners, most of her other big budget films as of late have been major flops, such as Cloud Atlas, which also had the star power that Tom Hanks usually affords.

Berry’s Hannibal might have some competition from Vin Diesel’s own project on the famed general. For years Diesel has been trying to get backing for his own trilogy. According to Indiewire, his project was still alive as of August 2013. Diesel called his project “the first history-of-the-universe trilogy,” and told Variety he was taking his time to get it right. It has been four-plus years since he first announced the concept. There was even interest from Denzel Washington to be in the project as Hannibal’s father. Some big names directors have met with Diesel as well about the trilogy.

Seems like a slightly obscure thing for so many Hollywood types to be jumping all over. Will you check it out?