Best known for her roles in biographical movies like Malcolm X (1992), What`s Love Got to Do with It (1993) and Panther (1995), Angela Bassett is an American actress, film director and activist. She received her B.A. degree in African-American studies from Yale University and did Masters in Fine Arts from Yale School of Drama. Bassett made her acting debut as Leonie Peach in the 1975 episode of the TV series, Ryan`s Hope (1975-1989). In 1985 she had a recurring role as Salina McCulla in the long running CBS/NBC TV soap, Search for Tomorrow (1951-1986). With F/X (1986), Bassett made her film debut as a news reporter. Bassett acted as Katherine Jackson in the biographical miniseries, The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992). She received much acclaim for her role in John Singleton`s Boyz n the Hood (1991). Bassett played Betty Shabazz, the wife of legendary African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist, Malcolm X in the biographical movie, Malcolm X (1992). She would go on to play Betty Shabazz again in Mario Van Peebles political drama, Panther in 1995. Brian Gibson`s 1993 biographical movie What`s Love Got to Do with It, saw Bassett play prominent singer Tina Turner. The movie was nominated for two Oscars, one of them for Bassett in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category. She won the Golden Globe that year for her role. Her other well known movies around the time include Strange Days (1995), Contact (1997), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), and Music of the Heart (1999).

Bassett continued acting in popular movies like The Score (2001), Sunshine State (2002), Akeelah and the Bee (2006), Nothing But the Truth (2008), Notorious (2009), Green Lantern (2011), Olympus Has Fallen (2013), White Bird in a Blizzard (2014), Chi-Raq (2015) London Has Fallen (2016). She had recurring roles in popular TV shows like Alias (2001-2006), ER (1994-2009), American Horror Story (2011- ), BoJack Horseman (2014- ) and 9-1-1 (2018- ).

In 2018 Bassett played Ramonda in the Marvel Cinematic Universe`s (MCU) Black Panther. The movie directed by Ryan Coogler has Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong`o, Michael B. Jordan, Forest Whitaker, Martin Freeman, and Andy Serkis in pivotal roles. Later this year Bassett will also be seen in Avengers: Infinity War and Mission: Impossible - Fallout. On the personal front, Bassett has been married to actor Courtney B. Vance and has two kids. As a director Bassett has directed the TV movie, Whitney Houston: A Tragic Love (2015) and a couple of episodes for the horror anthology, American Horror Story. Her other notable works include London Has Fallen (2016), Black Panther (2018), Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Soul (2020) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).