Generations of Pioneering Entertainers, Journalists of the 20th and 21st Centuries

BY SUSAN GRAHAM

The Origins

These 9 talented individuals lives are different depending on which era they were brought up in but each of them had their struggles and never gave up when they achieve their dreams when made it to the top.

Even in scandals along with controversies they keep striving with support from fans like us even haters threatened their reputations.

Pioneering Funny Girl of the Modern Generation

Alexandra Wentworth Stephanopoulos Best known for her roles in the 1990’s Variety Comedy Series “In Living Color” she 1st joined in the 1992-93 season and stayed until 2 or 3 episodes before the show’s series finale. Ali is currently married to ABC News anchorman and Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos since 2001. In many interviews she has been asked about her blind date with her then future husband and doesn’t recall if she took a shower or not. In recent times Ali starred in STARZ series Head Case for 4 seasons but she also didSomething no one expected she went under the knife to say goodbye to her under eye bagsAnd got Botox after actress Lena Dunham called her husband “A sexual Icon” but despite it all Ali still loves and adores her sexual icon

Pioneering Journalist of Transitional Phases of the Modern News Age

George Robert Stephanopoulos (born February 10, 1961) is a Greek-American journalist, a former U.S. Democratic Party political advisor, and chief anchor of ABC News.Stephanopoulos rose to early prominence as a communications director for the 1992 U.S. presidential campaign of Bill Clinton, subsequently becoming White House Communications Director, then Senior Advisor for Policy and Strategy before departing in December 1996. Today he is chief anchor and chief political correspondent for ABC News, co-anchor of ABC News' Good Morning America, and host of ABC's Sunday morning This Week. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Stephanopoulos is also a common fill-in anchor for ABC World News Tonight with David Muir.

Pioneering Journalist of Transitional Phases of the Modern News Age 2.0

George has been married to actress, comedian Alexandra Wentworth since 2001 and he stated in previous interviews his wife makes him blush every time she does something wild and crazy and even say some embarrassing stuff that would make George Blush even more but much, much worse. Underneath a tough journalist persona George is quiet and most of the time a shy behind the sidelines kind of a man

And together they have 2 daughters. Elliott Anastasia Stephanopoulos (13 years old) and Harper Andrea Stephanopoulos (10 years old). The family lives in Manhattan.

Pioneering Man During the hardest moments in US History and defying the odds

Sammy Davis Jr.

(December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American entertainer. Primarily a dancer and singer, he was also an actor of stage and screen, musician, and impressionist, noted for his impersonations of actors, musicians and other celebrities. At the age of three Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father and Will Mastin as the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally. After military service Davis returned to the trio. Davis became an overnight sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciro's (in West Hollywood, California) after the 1951 Academy Awards. With the trio, he became a recording artist. In 1954, he lost his left eye in a car accident, and several years later, he converted to Judaism

As an African-American, Davis was the victim of racism throughout his life and was a large financial supporter of the Civil Rights movement. Davis had a complex relationship with the African-American community, and drew criticism after physically embracing President Richard M. Nixon in 1972. One day on a golf course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. "Handicap?" he asked. "Talk about handicap — I'm a one-eyed Negro Jew."

Davis died in Beverly Hills, California, on May 16, 1990 at age 64, of complications from a 2 year battle with throat cancer.Over the last 2 decades since his passing Sammy Davis Jr. At the 2001 Grammy Awards he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Also Davis was a subject on Unsung Hollywood on TVOne this season.

Sammy Davis Jr.’s Legacy has endured 25 years after his death but many artists today still consider him a major influence since breaking down racial barriers since his early years in the Vegas Strip. Sammy’s recognition for his contributions to the Entertainment Industry has been too long overdue until recently on September 29, 2015 a road has been officially renamed the Sammy Davis Jr. Drive.

Pioneering Guitarist who inspired girls to take the Rock N Roll Route

Nancy Lamoureaux Wilson – longtime member of Heart on guitar and various instruments.She and her older sister Ann are the core of the rock band Heart.After signing with Capitol Records in 1985 but only if they agreed to record songs written by others, or if they co-write with "hit factory" songwriters. They reluctantly agreed. Capitol also brought in Ron Nevison as producer. One of the first things he wanted was to lose the acoustic guitar, and Nancy agreed.Nancy gained her 1st #1 hit as lead singer of the song "These Dreams“ in 1986.Over the years Nancy has been a huge inspiration for girls across America picking up the guitar and playing it.

Pioneering Singer Who inspired girls to take the Rock N Roll Route

Ann Wilson the lead singer of Heart also flute player.Shy because of a stutter, Wilson sought fulfillment in music. In the early 1970s she joined a local band, White Heart, which changed its name to Hocus Pocus, and then in 1974, to Heart.Regarded as one of the best female vocalists in rock music history, Wilson was listed as one of the "Top Heavy Metal Vocalists of All Time" by Hit Parade magazine in 2006.As a child, Wilson was bullied for being overweight. She revealed that in the 1970s and into the early 1980s she would starve herself to stay thin. When Heart made a comeback in the mid-1980s, Wilson had gained significant weight. Fearing it would compromise the band's image, record company executives and band members began pressuring her to lose weight. In music videos, camera angles and clothes were often used to minimize her size, and more focus was put on her svelte sister Nancy. Ann stated she began suffering from stress-related panic attacks due to the negative publicity surrounding her obesity. She underwent a weight-loss surgery called "adjustable gastric band" in January 2002In the band's 2012 autobiography, Wilson revealed her past struggles with cocaine and alcoholism. She stated she has been sober since 2009With a vocal range of Soprano Wilson belts out a powerful signature sound making Heart legendary.

Pioneering Woman who redefines Lead Actress and overcoming obstacles to embrace the woman from within

Halle Maria Berry (born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) actress and former fashion model. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her performance in the romantic drama Monster's Ball (2001), becoming the first and, as of 2015, the only woman of color to win an Oscar for a leading role.

Born to an African-American father and Caucasian mother, Berry stated that her biracial background was "painful and confusing" when she was a young woman, and she made the decision early on to identify as a black woman because she knew that was how she would be perceived.

Pioneering Trans Woman For the new Era of equality

Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1984)Is an actress, reality television star, television producer, and LGBT advocate,best known for her portrayal of Sophia Burset on the Netflix television series Orange Is the New Black, for which she became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the acting category, and the first to be nominated for an Emmy Award since composer/musician Angela Morley in 1990. On June 26, 2015 she became the first openly transgender person to have a wax figure of herself at Madame Tussauds.

In Recent interviews Cox stated she attempted suicide at the age of 11, when she noticed that she had developed feelings about her male classmates and had been bullied for several years for not acting "the way someone assigned male at birth was supposed to act".

Laverne Cox has been noted by her LGBTQ peers, and many others, for being a trailblazer for the transgender community, and has won numerous awards for her activist approach in spreading awareness. Her impact and prominence in the media has led to a growing conversation about transgender people, specifically transgender women, and how it intersects with one's race and identity. She is the first transgender person to be on the cover of Time magazine, be nominated for a Primetime Emmy, and have a wax work in Madame Tussauds.

Pioneering Sports Anchor defining Sports News with a dose of Hip Hop

Stuart Orlando Scott (July 19, 1965 – January 4, 2015) was an American sportscaster and anchor on ESPN, most notably on SportsCenter. Well known for his hip-hop style and use of catchphrases, Scott was also a regular for the network in its National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Football League (NFL) coverage.

Scott blended hip-hop culture and sports in a way that had never been seen before on television. He talked in the same manner as fans would at home. ESPN director of news Vince Doria told ABC: "But Stuart spoke a much different language ... that appealed to a young demographic, particularly a young African-American demographic." Michael Wilbon wrote that Scott allowed his personality to infuse the coverage and his emotion to pour out.

on a Sunday morning in 2007 for Monday Night Football in Pittsburgh, Scott had a stomach ache. After the stomach ache got worse, he went to the hospital instead of the game and had his appendix removed. After testing the appendix, doctors learned that he had cancer.

On July 16, 2014, Scott was honored at the ESPY Awards, with the Jimmy V Award for his ongoing battle against cancer. He shared that he had 4 surgeries in 7 days in the week prior to his appearance, when he was suffering from liver complications and kidney failure. Scott told the audience, "When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.

On the morning of January 4, 2015, Scott died in his home in Avon, Connecticut of cancer at age 49, six months before his 50th birthday. Stuart Scott will always be part of the ESPN’s Elite Force Also as one of the modern journalists pioneers of all time.

Pioneering Young Woman who Takes on the evil Taliban and thrives for the future of Success of Women

Malala Yousafzai S.St (Malālah Yūsafzay, Pashto: یوسفزۍ ;[məˈlaːlə jusəf ˈzəj] ملالهborn 12 July 1997)a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. She is known mainly for human rights advocacy for education and for women in her native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Yousafzai's advocacy has since grown into an international movement.

On 9 October 2012, a Taliban gunman shot Yousafzai as she rode home on a bus after taking an exam in Pakistan's Swat Valley. The masked gunman shouted "Which one of you is Malala? Speak up, otherwise I will shoot you all", and, on her being identified, shot at her. She was hit with one bullet, which went through her head, neck, and ended in her shoulder.

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arranged for Yousafzai's appearance before the United Nations in July 2013. Brown also requested that McKinsey consultant Shiza Shahid, a friend of the Yousafzai family, chair Malala's charity fund, which had gained the support of Angelina Jolie. Google's vice president Megan Smith also sits on the fund's board.

On 12 July 2013, Yousafzai's 16th birthday, she spoke at the UN to call for worldwide access to education. The UN dubbed the event "Malala Day". It was her first public speech since the attack, leading the first ever Youth Takeover of the UN, with an audience of over 500 young education advocates from around the world.

Malala day is not my day. Today is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl who have raised their voice for their rights.

Pioneers In Their Own Way

Different Careers but one goal in mind Striving to be the best at their talentsAnd contributing to the industry with pure class andStyle. We salute these 9 individuals for their accomplishments.