Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an American actress and film director known for biographical roles. She received an Academy Award nomination for portraying Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It and has played Betty Shabazz in Malcolm X and Panther, Rosa Parks in The Rosa Parks Story, Coretta Scott King in Betty and Coretta, Katherine Jackson in The Jacksons: An American Dream, and Voletta Wallace in Notorious.
Bassett began her film career in the mid-1980s after graduating from Yale University and its drama school. She gained stability in the 1990s, appearing in films nearly every year, with continued success through the 2000s and 2010s. She earned nominations for roles in The Score (2001), Akeelah and the Bee (2006), Meet the Browns (2008), and Jumping the Broom (2011), and won awards for How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998) and Music of the Heart (1999).
In 2013, Bassett had a recurring role on FX's American Horror Story: Coven and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her role as Marie Laveau. She returned for Freak Show as Desiree Dupree, earning another Emmy nomination. In 2015, she appeared in American Horror Story: Hotel as Ramona Royale and confirmed a return for the show's sixth season in 2016.
United States
