Al Jolson

American singer and entertainer, born in 1886. One of the biggest stars of the first half of the 20th century, he began in vaudeville and minstrel shows and became a Broadway headliner. He starred in The Jazz Singer (1927), the film that announced the arrival of synchronized sound, and The Singing Fool (1928). His performing style, with its direct address to the camera and the audience, set the template for early talkie musicals. He also performed in blackface throughout his career, a practice central to his act that is now understood as a defining example of its racism.