Angela Bassett

In 1997, Angela Bassett married actor, Courtney B. Vance, whom she met while studying at Yale. After going through seven years of failed fertility treatments, the couple gave birth to twins Bronwyn Golden and Slater Josiah via a surrogate mother. The family currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

As a black woman, she considered it important for her to actively participate in politics during Barack Obama's reelection campaign in 2012. She also supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

Angela Evelyn Bassett was born on August 16, 1958, in New York City, to Betty Jane and Daniel Benjamin Bassett. Her father was an electrician and her mother worked as a nurse's aide.

After her mother got pregnant again when she was only 10 months old, her parents sent her to Winston-Salem to live with her father's sister, Aunt Golden. Her parents separated soon after, and her mother took her and her younger sister, D'nette, to St. Petersburg, Florida, to live with her grandparents.

Angela used to go to the church on Sundays and was a part of the youth choir. She loved to listen to popular Motown hits on the radio, and her mother would often make her and her sister perform on the songs. Later, a lady in their neighborhood helped them in forming a dance group.

Her mother, who slacked off in high school, didn't want her children to suffer the same fate, and was extra cautious that they do well in school. Angela attended Boca Ciega High School, where she became a member of the Upward Bound program. She also participated in the debate team, student government, drama club and choir.

She received her bachelor's degree in African-American studies from Yale University in 1980. Three years later, she earned Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama.

Angela Bassett, who studied under renowned stage director Lloyd Richards, started her acting career on stage under his direction. She appeared in two August Wilson plays, 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' (1984) and 'Joe Turner's Come and Gone' (1986), at the Yale Repertory Theatre. Around the same time, she was featured in J. E. Franklin's 'Black Girl' at Second Stage Theatre.

She soon switched to TV and films, but initially she was mostly cast in stereotypical roles reserved for African-American women. Her first major role came in 1991 when she was cast in John Singleton's 'Boyz N The Hood'. Her friend Laurence Fishburne, who also acted in the movie, had recommended her for the role.

Bassett, who was a big 'Jackson 5' fan, was offered the role of Katherine Jackson in the mini-series 'The Jacksons: An American Dream' in 1992. She went on to play the role of Betty Shabazz in the biopic 'Malcolm X', which released in the same year. She would portray Betty Shabazz again in 'Panther', released in 1995.

In 1993, she got the breakthrough role of her career, playing Tina Turner in the biographical film 'What's Love Got to Do with It'. Her friend, Laurence Fishburne, who had previously turned down the role of Ike Turner five times, portrayed the character after Bassett was roped in to play the lead role.

In 1995 and 1998, she played major roles in two film adaptations of books by Terry McMillan, 'Waiting to Exhale' and 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back'. In the former, she worked alongside Whitney Houston, the most awarded female artist of all time.

Angela Bassett is best known for portraying strong black women in a number of biographical films and TV series. She received much praise for playing Betty Shabazz in 'Malcolm X' and in 'Panther'. She charmed the audience with her portrayal of the titular character in the TV movie 'The Rosa Parks Story'.

'What's Love Got to Do with It' is her most critically acclaimed work so far and earned her a number of prestigious awards and nominations. The film boasts of a 96% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed nearly $40 million in the US.