Angela Bassett is having a great week. She has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress at both the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes for her role as Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and there is plenty of buzz that she will also land only her second career Oscar nomination for reprising the part in the Ryan Coogler sequel in which she takes on new emotional heft with the loss of the Queen’s son, King T’Challa as well as the beloved actor who played him, Chadwick Boseman. Of course this is topic number one as she visits my Deadline video series, The Actor’s Side for this week’s episode. Bassett is no stranger to awards, having won a Golden Globe, a SAG award, 7 Image Awards, 7 Emmy nominations, and that Oscar nod as Tina Turner in What’s Love Got To Do With It?
And we also talk about playing Tina, as well as the long list of real life icons she has brought to life on the screen – big and small – like Betty Shabazz in Malcolm X, Violetta Wallace, the mother of Biggie Smalls, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Katherine Jackson, and even as the voice of Michelle Obama in a Simpsons episode. We also talk about her television work that includes numerous iterations and characters for American Horror Story, as well as her current Fox hit, 9-1-1 for which she is also a producer. Lots to discuss, so to watch our conversation and get the ‘actor’s side’ from Angela Bassett just click the link above.
Join me every Wednesday during Oscar season for another edition of The Actor’s Side.