24 Celebrities You Would Never Guess Are Actually Black

5. Carol Channing

Growing up in an era where a drop of African American blood could ruin your career, Carol kept her heritage a secret until 2002. In her autobiography she wrote that her mother told her when she was 16 that her father was at least half black. The remarkably pale actress gave no hint that she had any African American blood in her and went on to have a very prolific Broadway career.