Angela Bassett

Angela Evelyn Bassett Vance (born August 16, 1958) is an American actress, director, producer, and activist. Known for her portrayals of strong African-American female leads, Bassett is the recipient of numerous accolades, including; three Black Reel Awards, a Golden Globe Award, seven NAACP Image Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, and seven Primetime Emmy Awards.

Bassett began her acting career in the 1980s, after graduating from Yale University. Following a few minor roles, including as Reva Styles in Boyz n the Hood (1991), Bassett had her breakthrough with her portrayal of singer Tina Turner in the biopic What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), which garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She went on to star in numerous acclaimed and successful films, including; as Betty Shabazz in both Malcolm X (1992) and Panther (1995), as Katherine Jackson in The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992), as Voletta Wallace in Notorious (2009), as Coretta Scott King in Betty & Coretta (2013). Her other notable film roles include Bernie Harris in Waiting to Exhale (1995), Rachel Constantine in Contact (1997), Stella Payne in How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), Janet Williams in Music of the Heart (1999), Lynne Jacobs in Olympus Has Fallen (2013) and London Has Fallen (2016), and Queen Ramonda in Black Panther (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

On television, Bassett's portrayal of Rosa Parks in the television film The Rosa Parks Story (2002), garnered her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. In 2013, Bassett had a recurring role on the FX horror anthology series American Horror Story: Coven, earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. She returned as a series regular for Freak Show, the series' fourth season, portraying Desiree Dupree, for which she received another Primetime Emmy Award nomination. For the fifth season, Hotel, she portrayed Ramona Royale, a famous movie star. Bassett returned to the series's sixth season, Roanoke, portraying an alcoholic actress named Monet Tumusiime, who plays struggling mother and former police officer Lee Harris in the My Roanoke Nightmare documentary, and she reprised her role as Marie Laveau in a guest role in the eighth season Apocalypse. In 2018, Bassett began producing and starring in the Fox first responder drama series 9-1-1, playing LAPD patrol sergeant Athena Grant.