More Angela Bassett Bios & Profiles

The most recent Angela Bassett biography is published on the main page.

Biography #2 (for Akeelah and the Bee)

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 Bernie Mac in Mr. 3000. She will be starring opposite Andy Garcia and Frances O'Connor in the thriller The Lazarus Child which is due out next year. She is also recurring this season on the hit drama series Alias with Jennifer Garner on ABC.

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 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.

Bassett currently splits her residency in Los Angeles and New York with her husband, fellow actor Courtney B. Vance.

Bio courtesy Lionsgate Films for "Akeelah and the Bee" (06-Jun-2006)

Biography #3 (for Mr. 3000)

Angela Bassett received an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Award for her unforgettable portrayal of Tina Turner in What's Love Got To Do With It. In 2002, she received the NAACP Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her role in The Score opposite Robert de Niro, Edward Norton and Marlon Brando. She most recently starred in John Sayles' critically admired Sunshine State and in Masked & Anonymous alongside Bob Dylan, Jessica Lange and John Goodman. Her next starring role will be opposite Andy Garcia in Lazarus Child.

Bassett recently made a move behind the camera with two high profile television films she executive produced: The Rosa Parks Story and Our America. Her performance in the former earned Bassett an Emmy nomination, while the latter garnered praise for its exploration of the challenges facing inner city youth in Chicago. Her other recent television work includes Showtime's Ruby's Bucket of Blood, which gained her a SAG Award nomination and the 2002 NAACP Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries. She previously earned NAACP Best Actress honors for Boesman and Lena, in which she starred with Danny Glover.

Basset's credits also include the 1998 screen adaptation of the popular novel How Stella Got Her Groove Back with Whoopi Goldberg and Taye Diggs; Contact with Jodie Foster and Waiting To Exhale directed by Forest Whitaker. She also starred in Supernova, Strange Days, Vampire in Brooklyn, Music of the Heart, Spike Lee's Malcolm X (as Betty Shabazz), Boyz in the Hood, City of Hope, Passion Fish and Innocent Blood.

Born in New York City and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida, Bassett won a scholarship to Yale University where she received her bachelor's degree in Afro- American studies and an MFA from the prestigious Yale School of Drama. Her stage appearances include Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Colored People's Time, Black Girl, Henry IV, Part I, Joe Turner's Come and Gone and, with Alec Baldwin, a 1998 production of Macbeth at New York's Joseph Papp Public Theater.

Bio courtesy Touchstone for "Mr. 3000" (18-Sep-2004)

Biography #4

Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Angela Bassett, received an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe Award for her searing portrayal of Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It? She recently starred in the drama Boesman & Lena with Danny Glover, for which she received an Image Award nomination as Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, and provided the voice for Groove the elephant in the children's film Whispers: An Elephant's Tale.

She also starred in last year's sci-fi thriller Supernova with James Spader; the acclaimed "Music of the Heart, opposite Meryl Streep and directed by Wes Craven; and the 1998 screen adaptation of Terry McMillan's novel How Stella Got Her Groove Back, with Whoopi Goldberg and Taye Diggs. Among Bassett's other credits are the blockbuster Contact, with Jodie Foster; and the popular Waiting to Exhale, directed by Forest Whitaker.

In 1995, Bassett starred in Strange Days and played the lead opposite Eddie Murphy in Vampire in Brooklyn. She previously starred in Spike Lee's epic film Malcolm X (as Betty Shabazz), Boyz N the Hood, Kindergarten Cop, City of Hope and Innocent Blood.

Born in New York City and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida, Bassett won a scholarship to Yale University, where she received her bachelor's degree in Afro-American studies, and an MFA from the prestigious Yale School of Drama. Her stage appearances include Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Colored People's Time, Black Girl, Henry IV, Part I Joe Turner's Come and Gone and, with Alec Baldwin, a 1998 production of Macbeth at New York's Joseph Papp Public Theater.

updated 01-Jan-2000