Image Award 1997
The 1997 Image Award was presented for the 28th time by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on February 8, 1997 .
Film winners and nominees
Best movie
- Courage for the truth
- In the narrowest space
- Once Upon a Time… When We Were Colored
- Rendezvous with an angel
Best Actor
Denzel Washington - Courage for Truth
- Ossie Davis - Get on the Bus
- Cuba Gooding Junior - Jerry Maguire - Game of Life
- Samuel L. Jackson - Deadly Christmas
- Eddie Murphy - The Mad Professor
Best main actress
Whitney Houston - rendezvous with an angel
- Jada Pinkett Smith - Set It Off
- Queen Latifah - Set It Off
- Phylicia Rashad - Once Upon a Time… When We Were Colored
- Whoopi Goldberg - The Assassination
Best supporting actor
- Charles S. Dutton - The Jury
- Forest Whitaker - Phenomenon - The impossible comes true
- Delroy Lindo - Bounty - One will pay
- Blair Underwood - Set It Off
The best supporting actress
Loretta Devine - Rendezvous with an angel
- Tonea Stewart - Courage for the Truth
- Regina Taylor - The Jury
- Alfre Woodard - Star Trek: First Contact
- Jenifer Lewis - rendezvous with an angel
Television winners and nominees
Best series - drama
Best Actor in a Series - Drama
Malik Yoba - New York Undercover
- Eriq La Salle - Emergency Room - The emergency room
- Andre Braugher - Homicide
- Yaphet Kotto - Homicide
- Avery Brooks - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Best Actress in a Series - Drama
Della Reese - A touch of heaven
- Vanessa A. Williams - Chicago Hope - Hope terminus
- Gloria Reuben - Emergency Room - The emergency room
- S. Epatha Merkerson - Law & Order
- Lauren Vélez - New York Undercover
Best series - comedy
Best Actor in a Series - Comedy
Jaleel White - all under one roof
- Martin Lawrence - Martin
- LL Cool J - An awfully nice house
- Terrence Carson - Living Single
- Will Smith - The Prince of Bel-Air
Best Actress in a Series - Comedy
- Erika Alexander - Living Single
- Kim Coles - Living Single
- Queen Latifah - Living Single
- Tisha Campbell-Martin - Martin
Best TV movie or mini-series
- Deadly Voyage
- Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault
- Run for the Dream: The Gail Devers Story
- Soul of the Game
Best Actor - TV Movie / Miniseries
Wesley Snipes - America's Dream
- Louis Gossett Junior - Captive Heart: The James Mink Story
- Don Cheadle - Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault
- Delroy Lindo - Soul of the Game
- Blair Underwood - Soul of the Game
Best Actress - TV Movie / Miniseries
Cicely Tyson - The Road to Galveston
- Vanessa Bell Calloway - America's Dream
- Jasmine Guy - America's Dream
- Ruby Dee - Captive Heart: The James Mink Story
- Jada Pinkett Smith - House of Mute Screams
Best Actor - Soap Opera
Kristoff St. John - Shadow of Passion
- Keith Hamilton Cobb - All My Children
- Nathan Purdee - love, lie, passion
- Shemar Moore - Shadow of Passion
- Joseph C. Phillips - General Hospital