Angela Bassett Biography And Filmography:

This majestically beautiful stage-trained African American performer has distinguished herself on stage, television and film, often playing gifted but long-suffering women who show strength, patience and quiet elegance. ANgela Bassett has played opposite some of Hollywood's most well-known black leading men including Laurence Fishburne, Denzel Washington and Eddie Murphy. Bassett has also worked with such notable black filmmakers as Ossie Davis, Spike Lee and John Singleton. Bassett, however, has not been confined to "black subjects" as she has also been featured prominently in diverse TV projects and in film collaborations with writer-directors John Sayles and Wes Craven.

Though born on August 16, 1958 in New York, NY, Bassett was raised in St. Petersburg, FL where she attended Jordan Elementary and Azalea Junior High. She moved on to Boca Ciega High School, becoming the first African-American student from the school to be accepted into the National Honor Society. Bassett later attended the Yale School of Drama where she began a valuable association with the dean, celebrated stage director Lloyd Richards, who later directed the actress on Broadway in two August Wilson plays: "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" (1985) and "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" (1988).

Bassett's onscreen career began in 1985 with a guest shot on the ABC detective drama "Spenser: For Hire" and a short turn as a hooker on the CBS miniseries "Doubletake.” While the action thriller "F/X" (1986) marked her move into features, Bassett remained more regularly employed in television during the late 1980s and early 90s with guest appearances, brief roles as recurring characters and roles in high-profile TV-movies and miniseries. Some fans may remember her from the "Spencer" spin-off, "A Man Called Hawk" (ABC, 1989), as Avery Brooks' "pseudo-cryptic clandestine girlfriend" (her phrase). Bassett registered stronger as the wife of ill-fated astronaut Ronald McNair in the 1990 ABC Theater presentation "Challenger.” She won raves for her role as Katherine Jackson, Michael's mom, in the miniseries "The Jackson's: An American Dream" (ABC, 1992).

Angela Bassett first gained notice in features as the separated, go-getting wife of Laurence Fishburne in John Singleton's "Boyz in the Hood" (1991). Her impressive resume grew to include the role of the "do-gooder" wife of politician Joe Morton in John Sayles' "City of Hope" (1991) and an outstanding portrayal of Betty Shabazz, the strong wife of activist and preacher Malcolm X in Spike Lee's epic biopic "Malcolm X" (1992)with Denzel Washington and Spike Lee. A trim and fit Bassett earned great reviews, celebrity and a Best Actress Oscar nomination in her debut as a feature lead in "What's Love Got To Do With It" (1993). Bassett's spellbinding and convincing role of three decades in the life of pop icon Tina Turner transformed her career.

After a vacation, Bassett returned to the screen with leads in three highly publicized 1995 Hollywood releases: the millennial sci-fi actioner "Strange Days," the Eddie Murphy horror comedy vehicle "Vampire in Brooklyn" and the adaptation of Terry McMillan's best-selling novel "Waiting to Exhale.” The first two films built upon her figure as a strong black woman by giving her firearms and fangs, the latter paired her with recording superstar Whitney Houston in a character-driven comedy-drama that proved a box-office success. 

Bassett undertook another McMillan superwoman playing a divorcee who begins a relationship with a much younger man in "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" (1998). In 2002, Bassett was cast as Rosa Parks in the CBS television biopic "The Rosa Parks Story.” For her portrayal of the civil rights icon, Bassett received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie.

Angela Bassett gave a great performance as a Florida-born woman return to confront her tangled past in writer-director John Sayles' pleasant "Sunshine State" (2002). After appearing as herself on an episode of the Fox sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show" (Fox, 2001-06) she joined the series' titular star for the baseball comedy "Mr. 3000" (2004), playing a sexy, but hard-minded reporter who had a trist with a talented, but big-mouthed baseball player (Bernie Mac) trying to make a comeback after realizing he quit the game three hits shy of 3000.

In “Akeelah and the Bee” (2006), Bassett was the domineering mother of a precocious 11-year-old (Keke Palmer) who tries to keep her daughter away from the pressures of the national spelling bee dominated by rich, privileged children so she can concentrate instead on her schoolwork. After a brief return to television as the Undersecretary of Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection in the terrorist thriller “Time Bomb” (CBS, 2006). Bassett then lent her voice talents as Mildred in the animated comedy "Meet the Robinsons" (2007), as the caretaker of the orphanage that houses a boy genius and inventor whose search for a family leads him to discover time travel, a mysterious stranger and the futuristic Robinson family.

Next for Angela Bassett was the dramatic "Gospel Hill" (2008). Gospel Hill is about haunted men, the former sheriff of the southern town dealing with past sins, and the former civil rights worker withdrawn since the martyrdom of his brother thirty years before. Their final confrontation comes when a corporation descends on the town, echoing a struggle thirty years old. The actress rolled right along with an appearance in the comedy "Meet The Browns" (2008), about a single mom who takes her family to Georgia for the funeral of her father -- a man she never met. There, her clan is introduced to the crass, fun-loving Brown family. She was the cast in ""Of Boys And Men" (2008), about the patriarch of a family who is devastated when his wife is killed in a senseless auto accident. 

Bassett ended the year with the dramatic "Nothing But The Truth" (2008) featuring Kate Beckinsale and Noah Wyle, set in Washington, D.C., a female reporter faces a possible jail sentence for outing a CIA agent and refusing to reveal her source. A dramatic music biography followed with "Notorious" (2009) about the life and death story of Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Christopher Wallace), who came straight out of Brooklyn to take the world of rap music by storm. Bassett ended the year with "Toussaint" (2009), a historical action epic based on the life of Toussaint Louverture, who led a successful slave rebellion in the 18th century that sparked the Haitian Revolution.

• Job Titles:
  Actor, Appointment booker for beauty salon, Photo cataloger (at US News and World Report)

Family

• Aunt: Golden. first Ph.D. in family; raised Bassett until she was four or five years old
• Daughter: Bronwyn Golden Vance. twin of Slater; born January 27, 2006; father, Courtney Vance
• Mother: Betty Bassett. divorced from Bassett's father; raised both Angela and her sister after the collapse of her week-long second marriage (she had the union annulled after an incident of abuse); worked for Florida's Health and Human Services Agency
• Sister: D'nette Bassett. younger
• Son: Slater Josiah Vance. twin of Bronwyn; born January 27, 2006; father, Courtney Vance

Significant Others

• Husband: Courtney Vance. married October 12, 1997
• Companion: Mark Jenkins.

Education

• Boca Ciega High School, St Petersburg, Florida, 1976
  

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