Angela Evelyn Bassett was born on August 16, 1958, and is an award winning American actress known for her film work that centers around some of America's most influential women. Her attitude is reflected in her quote, "You just have to live and laugh-joy looks great on everybody," an attitude that makes her a pleasure to work with.

Angela was born in New York City, but her mother moved the family to St. Petersburg, Florida. She spend her young years in housing projects, but she also showedher acting talents early on, putting on shows with her sister and reading aloud or performing musical numbers for family. Her high marks in high school earned her a scholarship at Yale University, and she graduated with a bachelor's degree in African American studies. She returned to Yale for her M.F.A from the school of drama. Although she held jobs as a receptionist and photo researcher right out of college, her background set her up for her career and future on the stage and under the lights.

She began finding work on stage first, portraying characters in dramas like Black Girl, a J.E. Franklin work, and August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Joe Turner's Come and Gone. These performances got her recognized as an actress, and began her career on stage and film. Since then, she has appeared in movies like Doubletake and F/X. In fact, it was after these moves that she realized her love was in film, and she moved to Los Angeles to develop her career as a film actress.

After her move she began working in more controversial films, such as Malcolm X and Boyz in the Hood, and even played Tina Turner in the film What's Love Got to Do With It. She is also active in promoting arts to young people, and continues her award-winning work as an actress as well.