Who Was The First African American Film Star Nominated For An Oscar As Best Actress?

Dorothy Dandridge started her performing career in Cleveland when she was only six years old, singing, dancing, doing acrobatics, and playing the violin with her sister, Vivian, in an act called The Wonder Children. They performed around the South for several years and in 1930 moved to Los Angeles.
After the two were joined by a third young woman , Etta Jones, to form The Dandridge Sisters, they toured the country, recording with the Jimmy Lunceford band and performing at the Cotton Club with Cab Calloway. They appeared in A Day at the Races and a few other films before the group broke up in 1940.
Dandridge continued to sing in  clubs and played a few bit parts in films.
 Her big break came in 1953 when she costarred with Harry Belafonte in Bright Road, and a year later she won an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, for her role in Carmen Jones-a first for an African American actress. Dandridge's career,built on her image as a seductress, began a gradual decline. She failed at a comeback attempt in the 1960's and met her tragic end at the age of forty-three when she died in her Los Angeles apartment from an overdose of antidepressants.
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