Interview
AngelaBassett
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Angela Bassett, award-winning actress, director, producer and activist is a true Hollywood legend. Although she hasn’t stopped working since the early 1990s when she first found fame in the groundbreaking Boyz n the Hood, she is best known for her biographical portrayal of strong African American women such as Rosa Parks, Betty Shabazz, Katherine Jackson, Voletta Wallace and her Oscar-nominated role as Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do with It. In more recent years, Yale-educated Angela has starred in Mission: Impossible Fallout, American Horror Story and is currently in the midst of filming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, where the versatile actress is repeating her role as Queen Mother to recently passed Chadwick Boseman’s King T’Challa. Angela found time during her extremely busy filming schedule to catch up with The Citizen to talk about her long and illustrious career and why type 2 diabetes prevention is a cause close to her heart.
Having portrayed powerful Black women on screen, how important is it that Black history is portrayed in movies? As someone who loves and appreciates history, I have always believed that documenting the past is an important part of the legacy of filmmaking, especially when it comes to Black history. When we tell our stories, we raise awareness, inspire present and future generations, and give them a roadmap to the circumstances and the people who paved the way for them. History allows us to have a greater appreciation of our present and to be able to see different interpretations of that history is truly a gift. Last issue, we interviewed Shabier Kirchner, award-winning cinematographer in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series of films. Do you think that the Black experience is finally changing in the world of movies and television and there is more diversity? I would like to think that it is changing, but we can’t assume that we’ve done all there is to do. We have to keep pushing and creating and teaching. We also need to make sure that we are constantly building and nurturing the talent pipelines in every
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