Toni Vaz, The Actress Who Founded The NAACP Image Awards, Has Died At 101

Toni Vaz, actress and activist who will be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2025, has died at the age of 101.

Vaz died at the Motion Picture Fund campus in Woodland Hills , Calif on Oct. 4, per Deadline .

Vaz grew up in New York City with her four siblings and her parents, who immigrated from Barbados, Variety reported. As she grew older and decided to pursue her acting career, Vaz moved to Hollywood and landed a gig as an extra in the 1959 film Tarzan, the Ape Man . The New York native continued to find more roles in the following years, then got hired for stunt work, making her the first Black woman in Hollywood to have that position.

Vaz landed one of her first major roles when she worked as Cicely Tyson’s double on the Mission: Impossible television series. The Hollywood star dangled from helicopters and performed other daring stunts as part of her role on the show.

Vaz was also determined to open more opportunities for Black actors. As a result, she founded the NAACP Image Awards. The awards, which honor people of color, held its first ceremony on Aug. 13, 1967.

In 2021, Vaz received the Image Awards’ Founders Award. Actress Yvette Nicole Brown introduced the Founder Award and described Vaz as “a true Black innovator.”

“At a time when there were severely limited roles available to Black talent in Hollywood, a determined actress saw an opportunity to showcase our work and change the perception of African Americans in the entertainment industry,” Brown said, per Deadline. “That’s when the NAACP Image Awards was born. .. It gave us a platform to see each other the way we see ourselves.”

Vaz proudly spoke about Hollywood’s progress when the Las Vegas City Council honored the Black Stuntmen’s Association in 2006.

“Before they formed this great stuntmen association, I did a lot of the work. … And we had very little pay for it. But today we’re doing much better,” Vaz said at the event, per Deadline.

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