It takes a strong woman to portray a strong female character, and Angela Bassett always fits the bill. From her breakout role as single mother Reva Styles in John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood (1991), to her portrayal of fierce Queen Ramonda in Marvel’s Black Panther films, Angela’s unmistakable voice, signature delivery, and grand presence command immediate attention.
Born in New York City, Angela lived in North Carolina until she was 4, when her mother, Betty Jane, moved her and her sister, D’nette, to St. Petersburg, Florida. Angela credits her mom for inspiring her with an insistence on excellence: “I remember [once] getting a C [in school]. That was below her standard, so I came up with my argument to persuade her that a C was average, and average was fine. And she retorted, ‘I don’t have average kids.’ So I began applying myself in a different sort of way, even still to this day.”
Angela later participated in a pre-college educational program, Upward Bound, at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, which regularly hosted talent nights. “I couldn’t sing or tap-dance,” she recalled. “But I loved poetry, so I found an album of Ruby Dee’s, where she did the poems of Langston Hughes. And it was more than just reciting the poems. She stirred something in there with it…and it just—ping!—opened up my whole imagination.”
The first Black student attending Boca Ciega High School to be admitted to the National Honors Society, Angela went on to Yale University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies in 1980. She then earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama in 1983.
In 1988, Angela moved to Los Angeles in hopes of finding more acting work. This would lead to her role in Boyz n the Hood, one that garnered her immediate public attention. She followed that performance with her role as Betty Shabazz in Spike Lee’s biopic Malcolm X (1992), along with other important roles that would keep her working steadily throughout the industry.
Angela would go on to portray many real-life women in her work, including Coretta Scott King and Rosa Parks, not to mention later voicing the animated version of former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama in an episode of The Simpsons. But it was her powerful portrayal of Tina Turner in Touchstone Pictures’ What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993) that earned her top accolades, leading not only to an Academy Award® nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role but also to her becoming the first Black performer to win a Golden Globe® Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture –Musical or Comedy. Waiting to Exhale (1995) and How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998) followed, films that represented a new era for Angela. “It felt wonderful that times had changed,” she noted, “and here were these movies that featured Black women in complicated and loving relationships. And we could do it well—it wasn’t a joke.”
Angela has further played an eclectic variety of characters throughout her illustrious career, including protection specialist Lornette “Mace” Mason in Strange Days (1995), DC Comics supervillain Amanda Waller in Green Lantern (2011), Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs in Olympus Has Fallen (2013)—a role she reprised in 2016’s London Has Fallen—and voodoo witch Marie Laveau in FX’s American Horror Story: Coven (2013–2014). She also appeared as Desiree Dupree in American Horror Story: Freak Show (2014–2015), Ramona Royale in American Horror Story: Hotel (2015–2016), and Monet Tumusiime in American Horror Story: Roanoke (2016), the latter of which she also directed an episode of, making her the first woman to direct an episode of the acclaimed series. Entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2018 via the global phenomenon hit Black Panther, Angela’s powerful performance as Queen Ramonda of Wakanda is now the stuff of Super Hero legend and lore. She was later nominated for her second Academy Award®, in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category, for her performance as Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).
She has also voiced animated characters from across the many worlds of Disney, including Mildred from Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Meet the Robinsons (2007) and Dorothea Williams from Disney and Pixar’s Academy Award-winning animated feature Soul (2020). Other films include The Flood (2018) from National Geographic, for which she received an Emmy® Award nomination for Outstanding Narrator. She was also nominated for two Emmy® Awards, including as Outstanding Narrator, for the Disney+ Original docuseries The Imagineering Story (2019) and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for A Black Lady Sketch Show (2019).
In 2024, Angela received an Honorary Academy Award® at the 14th Governors Awards. In accepting the Oscar®, she said she hoped Hollywood would offer more opportunities for women of color. “My prayer is that we leave this industry more enriched, forward-thinking, and inclusive than we found it,” Angela reflected. “At the end of the day, we all just want to have the opportunity to do great, meaningful work.”