BBFs

Gabrielle Union. Wanda Sykes. Stacey Dash.

What do these three actresses have in common? They’ve all played roles that fit into the black best friend archetype, otherwise known as BBFs. These characters exist to comfort the white heroine when she’s down, to egg her on when she needs motivating or to tell her off when she loses integrity. Sometimes, though, these characters aren’t black, but other women of color. Think Keiko Agena’s character Lane Kim on Gilmore Girls or Mindy Kaling’s character Shira in the new film No Strings Attached.