Angela Bassett Biography

NAME: Angela Evelyn Bassett

OCCUPATION: Film Actress, Theater Actress, Television Actress

BIRTH DATE: August 16, 1958 (Age: 53)

EDUCATION: Yale University

PLACE OF BIRTH: Harlem, New York City

Actress. Born August 16, 1958, in New York City. Bassett was raised with her sister, D'nette, in St. Petersburg, Florida by her single mother, Betty, a social worker. On a high school trip, she became inspired to act after seeing a Kennedy Center production of Of Mice and Men, starring James Earl Jones.

Encouraged by a teacher, Bassett went on to study at Yale on scholarship, earning a B.A. in Afro-American Studies and an M.F.A. in drama. While there, she studied under the renowned stage director Lloyd Richards who cast her in the Broadway productions of two August Wilson plays, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

Despite her early success on stage, Bassett had to work hard to break through the stereotypical roles usually assigned to African American women on screen. Her first role was a bit part in the cult favorite, F/X (1986). In 1991, she had a key role in the seminal anti-gang film, Boyz 'N the Hood. A year later, she landed the role of Katherine Jackson, mother of the Jackson Five singing group, in The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992). Bassett continued her stream of strong female roles by portraying Betty Shabazz in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992) with Denzel Washington in the title role. She turned in an outstanding performance in her breakthrough role as Tina Turner in What's Love Got To Do With It? (1993), earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

A recurring role as a CIA director on "Alias" (ABC, 2001-06) wooed Bassett back to series television in 2005, and the following year, she was well-cast in the family feature "Akeelah and the Bee" (2006), where she shone as the overprotective mother of a precocious 11-year-old (Keke Palmer) with her sights set on a national spelling bee dominated by rich, privileged children. After a long absence, Bassett returned to the stage to star alongside Laurence Fisburne in August Wilson's "Fences" at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. She starred in the political thriller "Time Bomb" (CBS, 2006) and voiced Mildred, the caretaker of the orphanage that houses a boy genius and inventor, in the animated family film "Meet the Robinsons" (2007). She went on to embody yet another of her infamous strong-willed, independent women in the popular Tyler Perry dramedy, "Meet the Browns" (2008), where she played a struggling single mother who discovers a family she has never known and a way of life far from her Chicago struggles in rural Georgia. The same year, she appeared on the festival circuit in Giancarlo Esposito's directorial debut "Gospel Hill" (2008) and had a supporting role in Rod Lurie's "Nothing But the Truth" (2008), a current events-based political drama about a journalist who exposes a CIA agent in which Bassett played the editor of a prominent Washington newspaper.

Angela Bassett Awards:

2002 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie - Nominee

1994 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Winner

1993 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Nominee

2001 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries - Nominee