Angela Bassett’s 9 Best Roles in Film and TV

Angela Bassett has had an illustrious acting career, spanning as far back as the ’80s. Since then, the actress has received numerous accolades for her work on film and television.

Following her minor role as Reva Styles in 1991’s Boyz n the Hood, Bassett had her breakthrough with her portrayal of singer Tina Turner in the biopic What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993), which garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She went on to star in numerous acclaimed and successful films, including her role as Betty Shabazz in Malcolm X (1992) and recently played the role of Queen Ramonda in Marvel’s Black Panther (2018) and its sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).

On television, Bassett’s portrayal of Rosa Parks in the television film The Rosa Parks Story (2002), garnered her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. In 2013, Bassett had a recurring role on the FX horror anthology series American Horror Story: Coven, returning as a series regular for season four, Freak Show, portraying Desiree Dupree; season five, Hotel, as Ramona Royale; season six, Roanoke, as Monet Tumusiime; and finally, in season eight Apocalypse, resprising her role as Marie Laveau in a guest role. In 2018, Bassett began producing and starring in the Fox first responder drama series 9-1-1, playing LAPD patrol sergeant Athena Grant.

With over 100 acting credits under her belt, Bassett shows no signs of slowing down as she is in her 60s now. She is a face we love to see on our screens, big and small, with her charismatic and intense personality.

See our 9 favorite Angela Bassett roles in film and television below:

• 9. The Score

  Bassett plays Diane, the fiancée of career thief Nick Wells (Robert De Niro) in this 2001 thriller/action film. Nick is about to mastermind a nearly impossible theft that will require him to join forces with a clever young accomplice (Edward Norton). The unlikely alliance, arranged by Nick’s longtime friend and fence, Max (Marlon Brando), interrupts Nick’s plan to retire from crime and settle down with Diane. Worse, it requires that Nick violate his most important rule: Always work alone.

• 8. Boyz n the Hood

  In this culturally impactful film from 1991, Angela Bassett stars as Reva Devereaux, single mother to Tre Styles’ (Cuba Gooding Jr.). After Tre gets into a fight at school in Inglewood, California, his teacher calls Reva and says that although Tre is intelligent, he is immature and lacks respect. Frightened about Tre’s future, Reva sends him to live in the Crenshaw neighborhood of South Central with his father, Furious Styles (Laurence Fishburne), from whom she hopes Tre will learn life lessons. Although his hard-nosed father instills proper values and respect in him and his devout girlfriend Brandi (Nia Long) teaches him about faith, Tre’s friends Doughboy (Ice Cube) and Ricky (Morris Chestnut) don’t have the same kind of support and are drawn into the neighborhood’s booming drug and gang culture, with increasingly tragic results.

• 7. Black Panther

  Bassett portrays T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and Shuri’s (Letitia Wright) mother, the Queen Mother of Wakanda, Ramonda. She serves as an adviser to T’Challa. When a powerful enemy suddenly reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king — and as Black Panther — gets tested when he’s drawn into a conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. It’s a support role, but an important one. Bassett’s portrayal of the Queen makes you feel her sorrow when she loses a family member.

• 5. Strange Days

  Before Y2K, films were having a fun time imagining what the new millenium would be like. Former policeman Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) illegally sells virtual reality-like recordings that allow users to experience the emotions and past experiences of others. While the bootlegs typically contain cheap thrills, Nero is shocked when he receives one showing a murder. He enlists a friend, bodyguard Mace (Angela Bassett), to help find the killer — and the two soon stumble upon a vast conspiracy involving the police force Nero once worked for.

• 4. Waiting to Exhale

  Navigating through careers, family and romance, four friends bond over the shortcomings in their love lives — namely, the scarcity of good men in this 1995 Forest Whittaker-directed romance film. Both as the “other woman,” Savannah (Whitney Houston) and Robin (Lela Rochon) carry on relationships with married men, each believing their lovers will leave their wives for them. On the flip side, Bernadine (Angela Bassett) ends up alone when her husband divorces her for his mistress. Meanwhile, Gloria (Loretta Devine) finds love with a new neighbor.

• 6. Malcolm X

  Angela Bassett stars as Betty Shabazz, a nurse and Nation of Islam (NOI) activist who marries Malcolm X (Denzel Washington), NOI minister and activist for African Americans in this 1992 tribute. Malcolm X’s assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.

• 3. What's Love Got to Do with It

  Based on the life of the legendary soul singer, Tina Turner (Angela Bassett) — born Anna Mae Bullock — discovers her love of singing in her Tennessee church choir. She moves to St. Louis to pursue a career, and there she meets the charismatic Ike Turner (Laurence Fishburne), who rechristens her Tina and offers to help her succeed. As a musical team, Ike and Tina take the charts by storm. But as his physical abuse worsens, Tina has to make the tough decision to leave Ike and set out on her own in this 1993 film.

• 2. 9-1-1

  American Horror Story‘s Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear reimagine the procedural drama with 9-1-1. The series explores the high-pressure experiences of first responders — including police officers, firefighters and dispatchers — who are thrust into the most frightening, shocking and heart-stopping situations. These emergency responders must try to balance saving those who are at their most vulnerable with solving the problems in their own lives. The show draws from real-life, high-pressure experiences of first responders who regularly face heart-stopping situations that are often unpredictable, intense and uplifting at the same time. Bassett stars as Athena Grant-Nash, LAPD patrol sergeant.

• 1. American Horror Story

  Though not the best American Horror Story season, it’s certainly not one of their worst. Bassett made her AHS debut playing the role of a fictional version of Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans in season three’s Coven. Since then, Bassett has become a member of the ensemble cast, portraying Desiree Dupree, a three-breasted Freak Show performer at the Fräulein Elsa’s Cabinet of Curiosities in the show’s fourth season. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for both seasons.