The first person who came to mind is Shari Headley. She's been in a ton of stuff, but I was first introduced to her via the soap opera All My Children. My mom was a fan of the show, and so I grew up on it. Headley's character was a cop called Mimi. I think she was probably the first strong female figure I ever saw on TV and I became enamored with her. I thought she was gorgeous and decided to steal her hair style. I grew my hair out to one length to emulate her and have not changed the style since. I actually hadn't thought of her in many many years until I saw this question, but it's kind of weird how something I saw as a child still impacts the way I present myself to the world today. It's also weird thinking of it in terms of race- something I'd never done before either. I stole a black woman's hair style and kept it my whole life. I feel like a poser now. lol
Also a current fan of Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy, Halle Berry, Tracy Morgan, Will Smith, Samuel L Jackson, and Danai Gurira.