CCH Pounder

A true Renaissance woman, this self-possessed character actress worked on stage before being cast in film and TV. Pounder — whose unusual moniker is short for her birth name Carol Christine Hilaria — was 35 when she landed her first major movie role, playing a bitter single mother running a roadside eatery in the 1987 indie Baghdad Café. The character was something of an anomaly, since her subsequent roles usually found her in professional positions of authority, including her Emmy-nominated turns as an FBI agent (The X Files), a surgeon (ER) and a no-nonsense police detective (The Shield). Off screen, Pounder is involved in a variety of projects and causes: She creates one-of-a-kind jewelry, runs the Los Angeles art salon PounderKone Artspace and is active in the nonprofit organization Artists for a New South Africa, which works to combat the HIV epidemic.