Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958 in New York City) is an American actress. She is well-known for her biographical film roles portraying famous Black women, including Tina Turner, Betty Shabazz, Rosa Parks and Katherine Jackson, and as she has gotten older, she has become one of Hollywood's go-to actresses to play a Black Boss Lady—she has played such roles in Green Lantern (2011), Black Panther, and Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
Bassett was born in Harlem, New York and moved to St. Petersburg, Florida as a child. She has a bachelor's degree in African-American Studies and a Masters in Fine Arts from Yale University. After a handful of early film and TV appearances, her first significant recognition came with her roles in Boyz n the Hood and Malcolm X before several of the above-mentioned roles elevated her to fame.
Among her awards, she has won two Golden Globes for her performances as Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) and as Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; the first win made her the first African-American to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy. For both of these roles, she was also nominated for two Academy Awards (for Best Lead and Supporting Actress, respectively); her Black Panther nomination marked the first time an actor has been Oscar-nominated for a role in a Marvel film. She has further been nominated for seven Emmy Awards and a BAFTA.
Bassett has been married to Courtney B. Vance since 1997; the two appeared as husband and wife on ER. They have two children together.
Selected Filmography:
- Boyz n the Hood (1991) as Reva Devereaux
- Critters 4 (1992) as Fran
- The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992) as Katherine Jackson
- Malcolm X (1992) as Betty Shabazz
- What's Love Got to Do with It? (1993) as Tina Turner
- Waiting to Exhale (1995) as Bernadine 'Bernie' Harris
- Strange Days (1996) as Lornette 'Mace' Mason
- Contact (1997) as Rachel Constantine
- How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998) as Stella
- Our Friend Martin (1999) as Mrs. Woodman (voice)
- Whispers: An Elephant's Tale (2000) as Groove (voice)
- The Score (2001) as Diane
- Akeelah and the Bee (2006) as Tanya Anderson
- Meet the Robinsons (2007) as Mildred (voice)
- ER (2008 — 2009) as Dr. Cate Banfield
- Notorious (2009) as Violetta Wallace
- Jumping the Broom (2011) as Claudine Watson
- Green Lantern (2011) as Amanda Waller note
- This Means War (2012) as Sarah Collins
- Olympus Has Fallen (2013) as Lynne Jacobs
- London Has Fallen (2016)
- American Horror Story (2013 — present) in various roles:
- American Horror Story: Coven (2013 — 2014) as Marie LaVeau
- American Horror Story: Freak Show (2014 — 2015) as Desiree Dupree
- American Horror Story: Hotel (2015 — 2016) as Ramona Royale
- American Horror Story: Roanoke (2016) as Monet Tumusiime
- American Horror Story: Apocalypse (2018) as Marie LaVeau
- Survivor (2015) as Maureen Crane
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (2015) as Six (voice and motion capture)
- BoJack Horseman (2015 - 2016) as Ana Spanakopita (voice)
- Marvel Cinematic Universe (2018 — present) as Queen Ramonda
- Black Panther (2018)
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)
- What If...? (2021) (voice)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
- Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) as CIA Director Erika Sloane
- Bumblebee (2018) as Shatter (voice)
- 9-1-1 (2018 — present) as Sgt. Athena Grant
- Soul (2020) as Dorothea Williams (voice)
- Gunpowder Milkshake (2021) as Anna May
- Horizon Forbidden West (2022) as Regalla (voice and motion capture)
- Wendell & Wild (2022) as Sister Helley (voice)
Related Tropes:
- Happily Married: To Courtney B. Vance since 1997 (although the two had been together for several years beforehand).
- Older Than They Look: She is currently in her sixties, but could pass for being in her forties. In fact, when she arrived on the red carpet at the 70th Emmy Awards, Twitter quickly filled up with shocked posts when people learned that she was 60 years old at that time.
- Typecasting: Downplayed: her range allows her to play a variety of roles, but plenty of her projects have her as a mother/matriarch (The Jacksons: An American Dream, Notorious, Black Panther, etc.)
