Perhaps you've noticed one of the hottest threads in our forum lately: Your 10 Hottest Women of Color. We did! And it seems as if a lot of these ladies were forgotten about during Hot 100 voting time this year. We compiled a list of the names that seem to keep popping up on your lists in the forum. If you're not hip to who these women are, make sure to take mental notes – you'll need them for next year.

America Ferrera

She doesn't need much introduction, yet surprisingly she didn't make it to the top 100 this year. The star of Ugly Betty is known for her sexy curves that she hides well in character, but embraces in real life.

Kerry Washington

A serious actress, Kerry has played the lovers of great actors like James Earl Jones and Jamie Fox. We think it's time she gets a role where the men are her sidekicks.

Parminder Nagra

Keira who? For us, it was Parminder who made Bend it Like Beckham a fun film to watch. The Indian actress will star in the upcoming Batman: Gotham Knight. Lucky us! … continue reading

Celebrities have power. (This should be no surprise to you.) They get ushered to the front of lines at clubs and in Disney World, they make more money filming one movie for a few months than I will ever see in my lifetime, and they have “people” — people that cook for them and clean for them and even drive them around. Sometimes, it’s shocking what money and a recognizable name gets these people.

But amidst all the glitz and glamour, there are the occasional celebrities out there who use their power and presence for good. While news of Oprah’s charity or Angelina Jolie’s support of cause X and Y on any given day is abundant, there is a rising trend of Tinsel Town’s finest testifying in hearings before Congress on behalf of their pet causes.

Sheryl Crow was the most recent to do so when, in late May, she spoke before the congressional subcommittee on health about the need to pass the Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act. The act would provide $200 million towards researching the environmental factors contributing to breast cancer.

This wasn’t a new arena for Crow, though. Last year, she spoke at a press conference about the same bill that was highly attended by many members of congress (including Hillary Clinton). In her most recent trip to Washington, D.C., the breast cancer survivor had this to say: “I don't live in a political world, and while this might seem like a political discussion, until you are [one of] the one in seven women diagnosed with breast cancer, you will never know how not political this is.” You tell ‘em, sister! … continue reading

It's an award-a-rific weekend. Along with the Oscars on Sunday, you can catch the BET Honors (tonight at 8/7c on, uh, BET) and the Independent Spirit Awards (Saturday at 5 p.m. EST on IFC). Both of them look considerably more interesting than There Will Be Boredom and No Country for Any Women.

Scheduled to appear on the BET Honors are Alicia Keys, Tyra Banks, Vivica A. Fox, Kerry Washington, Keyshia Cole and more. This picture of Kerry Washington and Zoe Saldana has nothing to do with the BET Honors, but it sure is pretty. (I found it on the website for the UNDP/UNEP Poverty and Environment Initiative. Activism is sexy!)

On Sunday before the Oscars, Barbara Walters talks to Miley Ray Cyrus, Vanessa Williams, Harrison Ford and the awesome-but-slightly-overexposed Ellen Page.

Sheesh, so much to watch — and my DVR is full, too. Gone are those lazy, book-reading days of the writers' strike!

The July issue of Essence includes an interview with Kerry Washington. She comes across as strong, smart and generally awesome — like a survivor. Narrowly miss a tsunami in Thailand? Sure. Overcome an eating disorder? Definitely. Handle the hassles of fame? Yep: "I don't live my life based on bloggers; I live my life based on what my heart is telling me to do."

Washington's career has featured a couple of lesbian roles, in She Hate Me and The Dead Girl.

Dania Ramirez as Alex and Kerry Washington as Fatima in She Hate Me … continue reading

The Dead Girl, rated 75% fresh by rottentomatoes.com, appears straightforward enough at first. The title would seem to say it all. But writer/director Karen Moncrieff (Blue Car) veers off the beaten storytelling path and instead rushes headlong into the prickly bramble of human relations. If you could shove troubled people under a microscope, this is pretty much what you would find on the slide. [Warning: Spoilers ahead.]

… continue reading

Told in five interconnected vignettes, the movie begins with "The Stranger." Toni Collette plays Arden, the hangdog caregiver to her foul and vile mother (Piper Laurie, playing up the crazy every bit as much as she did in Carrie). While out on a walk, Arden discovers the mutilated corpse of a young woman, Krista. Arden alerts the police, which serves to earn her nothing more than her mother's ire and venomous tongue.