Actor Al Freeman Jr. is 77 today. The accomplished actor, who began his career in an episode of the 1958 TV series Suspicion, became the first African-American actor to be honored with an Emmy award in the Best Lead Actor category. His credits include a long list of various television programs and movies such as Kojak, Roots: The Next Generation, Dutchman, soap opera One Life To Live and Down In The Delta. Playing Elijah Muhammed in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X may be considered his most memorable role.

Actress Sabrina LeBeauf will be 53 today. The actress is probably best known for her role as Sondra Huxtable on The Cosby Show. She beat out Whitney Houston for that role. She earned a BA in Theatre Arts from UCLA and an MFA in acting from the Yale School of Drama where she was a classmate of John Turturro, Charles S. Dutton and Oscar-nominee Angela Bassett.

Following The Cosby Show‘s run, she enrolled in the UCLA Professional Interior Design Progam while continuing to work as an actress on television and in theatre. She has her own interior design business.