International celeb – Angela Basset
Veteran actress ANGELA BASSETT, 59, is a dominant figure in Hollywood. This month, she stars in yet another historic movie, the highly-anticipated Black Panther.
This talented powerhouse is in yet another historic movie, the American superhero film Black Panther, which hits the big screen this month. Finally – a reputable black superhero movie! Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, it stars the likes of Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa – the Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Forest Whitaker and our very own veteran thespian John Kani as T’Chaka, a role he’s reprised from yet another big hit American movie, Captain America: Civil War. Angela co-stars in this star-studded cast playing Ramonda, Queen Mother of Wakanda and mom to the Black Panther. “It’s thrilling you know. It’s all new to me, the whole superhero and huge franchise [movies]. It was cast from actors from all over the globe. I think that fans have been asking for it, looking for it, expecting it, and you’re going to be satisfied,” the actress told NBCNews. During a video interview with Toofab, Angela applauded the quality of the cast. “It seems like there’s a wide audience of people who are eagerly anticipating the arrival of Black Panther at the top of the new year. I had a fantastic time [being on set] and no one’s going to be disappointed.” She also showed appreciation for the new talent she’s starred alongside: “It’s a lot of strength and balance and beauty, and I’m just thrilled by getting to work with Danai (Gurira) and Lupita and actresses and brand new faces across the diaspora. It was beautifully cast. It’s going to be quite a sight and I think it’s going to be magnetic.”
It’s thrilling you know. It’s all new to me –the whole superhero and huge franchise.
Angela, of course, has starred in a wide range of films. She’s recently been cast in another big franchise movie, Mission Impossible 6 starring alongside Tom Cruise. Other big movies on her long CV include How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Akeelah and the Bee, Olympus Has Fallen and Black Nativity. Who can forget the iconic scene from Waiting to Exhale, in which she walks away from a burning car after she’d burnt all of her soon-to-be ex-husband’s clothes? The screen-grab of that scene has since made its rounds on social media as a popular meme. That’s just one of many amazing movie moments from this leading lady. Popular for going against the grain, Angela once turned down the leading role in Monster’s Ball, which was snapped up by Halle Berry. Halle would go on to be the first African-American to win a Best Actress trophy at the Oscars for the role. Angela later told Newsweek that despite experiencing a “career drought”, she had turned down the role because she found it demeaning. “I wasn’t going to be a prostitute on film,” she says. The controversial character was a waitress who had an affair with her convict husband’s executioner. “I couldn’t do that because it’s such a stereotype about black women and sexuality. Film is forever. It’s about putting something out there that you can be proud of 10 years later.” Angela made it clear, however, that her scathing comments were not aimed at Halle but at the negative typecasting in Hollywood movies.
Angela has built a reputable career over the more than 30 years in acting. Her most prominent, it seems, are playing real life women in biographical films. These include portraying Tina Turner in the biopic What’s Love Got To Do With It, which earned her an Academy Award nod in the Best Actress category; she won the Golden Globes equivalent. That win made her the first African-American to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. She’s also played Betty Shabazz, wife to the late iconic American freedom fighter, Malcolm X in both biopics about the man, Malcolm X and Panther. Other black queens she’s portrayed also include Katherine Jackson in The Jacksons: An American Dream, activist Rosa Parks in The Rosa Parks Story, which earned Angela her first Primetime Emmy Award. She’s also played mother to the late rapper Christopher ‘Notorious B.I.G.’ Voletta Wallace in Notorious, and played civil rights leader and activist Coretta Scott King in Betty & Coretta.
At 59, Angela looks amazing! Her physique gets tongues wagging. Her husband, Courtney B. Vance, often gushes over his wife’s beauty. Before the couple attended the 2016 Emmy Awards, Courtney shared a picture of Angela slaying the red carpet and tweeted, “Who’s hotter @ the Emmys tonite? The sun, or my wife? @ImAngelaBassett?#alreadywonwhenshesaidyes.” Speaking to HuffPost Live, Angela opened up about aging. “Our culture is very youth-driven, but I think there is absolute value and wisdom with experience,” she said. The couple has been married 20 years. Their 11-yearold twins, son Slater and daughter Bronwyn were delivered by a surrogate.
The actress studied at Yale University on a scholarship, finishing with a BA in Afro-American Studies and an M.F.A. in drama. When she embarked on her first director project for the biopic movie on Whitney Houston, the movie was criticised before it even aired, particularly from the Houston family. Angela responded to the uproar and explained to HuffPost Live that, “I did spend a little time [with Whitney], to know her intimately...Who knows a person? But I know a little about being in the spotlight, a little about celebrity and its demands, a little about trying to find a mate and the support that’s needed in your industry – mine being acting, hers [the] music industry. I know about being a black woman from a little town... and yet you are able to become a success because of this God-given gift or talent. So I know a little bit about what it might have been like.”