 Alluring audiences with emotionally tinged performances has
been the signature of Angela Bassett who personifies a sense of dignity and
pride whenever she appears on screen. Her talent and abilities as an actress and
executive producer in both television and film have time and again earned the
respect and acclaim from her peers and her fans to prove herself to be one of
the industry’s premier leading ladies.
Bassett most recently starred opposite Laurence Fishburne in the
critically-acclaimed Akeelah and the Bee for Lions Gate Films. Currently,
Bassett is receiving rave reviews again for her work with Fishburne in August
Wilson’s classic play Fences at the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse.
Next up is the release of a book she co-wrote with her husband, actor Courtney
B. Vance, entitled FRIENDS: A Love Story , set to release in January 2007. The
inspirational book is the real-life love story of Bassett and Vance, who were
friends for many years before marrying. Then in March 2007, Bassett voices the
character Mildred in the animated Disney film “Meet the Robinsons,” based on the
successful children’s book of the same name by William Joyce.
Perhaps best known for her intense portrayal of Tina Turner in the biopic What’s
Love Got To Do With It opposite Laurence Fishburne, Bassett earned the Golden
Globe for Best Actress in a Drama as well as an NAACP Image Award for
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture and earned an Academy Award
nomination for her powerful performance.
Bassett has also received NAACP Image Awards for her performance in How Stella
Got Her Groove Back opposite Whoopi Goldberg and Taye Diggs as well as her
supporting roles in The Score opposite Robert DeNiro, Edward Norton and Marlon
Brando, Music of the Heart with Meryl Streep, and Malcolm X opposite Denzel
Washington. She was also recognized for her leading role in the television movie
Ruby’s Bucket of Blood, bringing her total number of Image Awards to nine. In
addition, she received NAACP Image Award nominations for her work in the sci-fi
blockbuster Contact opposite Jodie Foster and Boesman and Lena with Danny
Glover. Bassett also received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her
performance in Ruby’s Bucket of Blood. She received an Emmy nomination for Best
Actress in a television movie for her work in The Rosa Parks Story.
Other memorable roles include a recurring role in the hit drama series Alias,
the comedy Mr. 3000 with Bernie Mac, John Sayles’ Sunshine State with Edie Falco,
Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale co-starring Whitney Houston, James Cameron’s
futuristic Strange Days with Ralph Fiennes, Vampire in Brooklyn opposite Eddie
Murphy, and Supernova with James Spader.
Beginning her career on stage, this Yale School of Drama graduate completed
several productions on and off Broadway, which include Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,
Colored People’s Time, Henry IV, Part I and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Antigone,
Pericles, and Black Girl. She returned to the stage in 1998 to star opposite
Alec Baldwin in Macbeth at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in New York.
Bassett first made the successful crossover to the silver screen when she
appeared in a small but rich role as the ambitious single mother who sends her
son to live with his father in John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood. She also
appeared in the ABC mini-series The Jacksons: An American Dream, receiving
critical raves for her touching performance as Katherine Jackson as well as
receiving an Emmy nomination for the “Uncle Jed’s Barbershop” episode of PBS’
Storytime; and critical nods for narrating miniseries, Africans in America, also
for PBS.
A gifted speaker, Angela’s uplifting message of hope and empowerment never fails
to enlighten and inspire her listeners.
|
