Bernie Mac, an American actor and comedian known for his fiery brand of humor and being one of the few African-American comedians to break out of the traditional "black comedy" genre, died unexpectedly in August 2008 leaving millions of fans and the entertainment industry to mourn a great loss.

Born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, Mac was raised on the south side of Chicago, a poor and rough neighborhood, by his single mother. Mac wrote about his up-bringing in his autobiography, "Maybe You Never Cry Again." Mac reveals that he decided to be a comedian in an effort to make his mother laugh.

He started out as a stand-up comedian winning a Miller Lite Comedy Search at clubs like the Cotton Pickin’ Club in Chicago. He appeared in HBO’s Def Comedy Jam, opened for legendary performers Dionne Warwick, Redd Foxx and Natalie Cole and garnered attention from the entertainment industry. He also appeared in many small roles in movies like rapper Ice Cube’s "Friday," which is considered his breakthrough role. Other small roles in films like "Booty Call," "How to Be a Player," "Life" and "What’s the Worst That Could Happen?" Read more about these movies in entertainment magazines like Entertainment Weekly, Essence and People magazine.

In 1999 Mac along with three other African-American comedians—Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric the Entertainer—launched a successful comedy tour that became the highest-grossing comedy tour to date. The purpose and effort was to revive stand-up comedy of great comedians like Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby. In 2000 director Spike Lee filmed a tour stop in Charlotte, NC and the footage became the film "The Original Kings of Comedy."

Largely due to the success of "The Original Kings of Comedy" tour and movie, Mac landed his own sitcom on Fox called "The Bernie Mac Show," in 2001. The TV show was roughly based on his life; his fictional character "Bernie" becomes the custodian of his sister’s three children after she has to go to rehab. Mac talked directly into the camera expressing his traditional views on parenting directly to the audience. The show was popular and ran for 5 seasons and won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Writing" among other awards.

Also in 2001 Mac landed a role in the star-studded remake of the comedy-caper "Ocean’s Eleven," which also starred Hollywood stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt. The movie was a success and helped Mac land a starring role in "Mr. 3000," which was released in 2004 and was about a retired baseball legend despised by everyone for his cocky attitude who returns to the Major League to recapture his winning record after a tallying error. The movie was a modest success and film critic Roger Ebert praised Mac’s performance, "Bernie Mac gives a funny and kind of touching performance as a man who attains greatness once and then has to do it again."

After "Mr. 3000" Mac’s film career took off. Between 2004 and 2008 Mac broke out of traditional black movie roles with starring roles in a variety of movies including the "Ocean’s Eleven," sequels, "Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle," "Bad Santa," "Guess Who?" and "Transformers" and many more. Read more about these movies in Entertainment Weekly magazine.

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