Angela Bassett's Real Name: Angela Evelyn Bassett

Quick answer: Angela Bassett's documented full name is Angela Evelyn Bassett. Encyclopaedia Britannica lists that form as also known as and dates her birth to August 16, 1958, in New York, New York. The Television Academy biography independently gives the August 16 birthday and New York, N.Y., as her birthplace, though it does not restate the year or the middle name (Britannica; Television Academy).

Real name and early life

She is known professionally as Angela Bassett. Britannica says she was born in New York and raised for a time by an aunt in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, then, at about age five, moved with her sister to St. Petersburg, Florida, to live with their mother. After seeing a production of Of Mice and Men in high school, she decided to act. She attended Yale, earning a bachelor's degree in African American studies in 1980 and a master's degree from the Yale School of Drama in 1983. The Television Academy also identifies her as a Yale School of Drama graduate. Britannica notes that at Yale she met the actor Courtney B. Vance, whom she married in 1997.

Career highlights

Her Broadway debut was in August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Britannica and the Television Academy both record, and she had early television work including The Cosby Show. Britannica dates a film debut to F/X (1986) and a small but widely noticed role in Boyz n the Hood (1991), followed by Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992) and the miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream, in which she played Katherine Jackson. Her portrayal of Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) brought an Academy Award nomination for best actress. Britannica says she also won a Golden Globe for best actress in a motion picture musical or comedy; the Television Academy describes the Globe as best actress in a drama, a category wording the two sources do not share.

Later credits in Britannica include Waiting to Exhale (1995), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), The Rosa Parks Story (2002), Akeelah and the Bee (2006), Notorious (2009), a recurring role on Alias, and later Marvel work as Ramonda in Black Panther (2018). The Television Academy also highlights The Score and later seasons of American Horror Story.

Name notes for searchers

Angela Evelyn Bassett is the documented full name in Britannica; the professional name is Angela Bassett. Searchers looking for the star of What's Love Got to Do with It or for Ramonda in Black Panther are usually aiming at the same person.