Native Chicago knockout Karimah Westbrook first made us want to boogie opposite Julia Stiles in the MTV Films hit Save the Last Dance (2001). She followed that up with the flick Random Acts of Violence (2002) and TV appearances on ER and Moesha, but we truly turned on to Karimah’s greatness in director Mario Van Peebles’s movie meditation on his father, Baadasssss! (2003). In this acclaimed biopic, Karimah portrays Ginnie, a major love interest of Melvin Van Peebles (played by son Mario) during the creation of his explosive black cinema groundbreaker, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971). Karimah’s performance impressively conveys her character’s powerhouse nature in taking on the complicated, at times callously ambitious filmmaker--and she looks absolutely stunning in (and out of) psychedelic body paint. In Baadasssss, Karimah proves just how good she is all over.