Entertainment
All of the ‘things’ Angela Bassett has done, for those wondering after Ariana DeBose’s viral Bafta rap-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro
‘Angela Bassett did the thing, Viola Davis my ‘Woman King’’, in case anyone could forget.
We are here to help by shining a light on some of the multiple ‘things’ Angela has done (Picture: Marvel/Getty)
Ah, the question on everybody’s lips right now — what is ‘the thing’ exactly, which Angela Bassett did?
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock since Sunday, we’ve all seen Ariana DeBose’s viral rap that formed part of an energetic, show-starting performance at the Baftas on Sunday.
Primarily a mash-up of Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves and We Are Family, the song then segued into an original rap verse highlighting the female acting nominees.
With such lyrics as ‘Angela Bassett did the thing, Viola Davis my ‘Woman King,’ Blanchett Cate you’re a genius, Jamie Lee you are all of us’, it’s safe to say that fans online were rapt.
And with some namechecks more specific than others, just which was ‘the thing’ being referred to that Angela Bassett did?
With DeBose sadly deactivating her Twitter account following criticism of the ‘painful’ rap (we come in peace), the star later resurfaced on Instagram to admit in a comment ‘honestly I love this’ when it came to the creative ways in which her now-iconic utterance had been preserved in memes.
BUT WHAT DID ANGELA BASSETT DO…. pic.twitter.com/AnRkgJ1CwJ
— Joshua J Woodhaus (@JoshJWoodhaus) February 22, 2023
Following those choice examples, we’ve got a selection below of particularly great ‘things’ that Angela Bassett did that we are putting forward as candidates for the one ‘thing’.
Angela Bassett became the first Oscar-nominated actor for a Marvel movie
Regal queen Angela as Ramonda (Picture: Marvel Studios via AP)
One of the most recent ‘things’ Angela Bassett has achieved is to become the first person ever nominated for an Oscar for a performance in a Marvel movie.
The 64-year-old is in contention in the best supporting actress category at the Academy Awards next month, thanks to her powerful turn as Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
She has already scooped a Golden Globe for it, and was a nominee on at the Baftas on Sunday, losing out to Kerry Condon for The Banshees of Inisherin.
Comic book adaptations have historically been overlooked in categories outside the technical until recent years when Black Panther became the first Marvel movie nominated for best picture at the Oscars in 2019.
Angela Bassett is a nine-time Emmy nominee
Currently ruling the small screen in 9-1-1, surely this will become an Emmy-nominated performnce at some point? (Credits: Fox Fast)
Anglea is actually a performer laurelled with other awards and nominations.
Outside her Golden Globe and pending Oscar from this year, she was previously Academy Award nominated in 1993, when she also picked up her first Golden Globe.
She’s also been BET Award and SAG Award nominated.
However, perhaps the most impressive run of awards nods in her career is her staggering seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Recognised work includes her turn in The Rosa Parks Story, Master of None and American Horror Story.
Angela has also been put forward as an outstanding narrator twice, for The Flood and The Imagineering Story.
The star also has two Daytime Emmy Award nods too, for Storytime and Our America, so when is this woman going to get an Emmy win?!
Angela Bassett played Tina Turner in her breakout role
Angela proving that icons be icons, in her1993 role as Tina Turner (Picture: Touchstone Pictures)
Returning to that first Oscar nomination and Golden Globe win, it was for the role that shot her to stardom.
Anglea played the part of Tina Turner in a 1993 biopic about the singer’s life called What’s Love Got to Do with It?, which was based on the star’s autobiography I, Tina.
(Not to be confused with the new rom-com starring Lily James and Shazad Latif!)
Prior to that, she was already getting attention for starring as Betty Shabazz in Malcolm X opposite Denzel Washington, and had steadily been working in increasing-sized parts since the mid 1980s.
However, it was opposite Laurence Fishburne as her husband Ike Turner, and with just a month to prepare, that Angela really got to shine.
Angela Bassett Got Her Groove Back
A classic rom-com is of course one of Angela’s possible ‘things’ (Picture: Stevens/20th Century Fox/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock)
Would it be possible to do an article on Angela Bassett and not mention How Stella Got Her Groove Back?
I think not.
This glorious 1998 rom-com features our leading lady as a single parent stockbroker heading on a holiday to Jamica to reconnect with herself… and a man 20 years her junior, it turns out.
Starring Angela alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Taye Diggs in his film debut and Regina King, it provides an instant burst of welcome nostalgia, 25 years later.
Angela Bassett directed a film about Whitney Houston
Yaya DaCosta as Whitney Houston in Angela’s TV film about the singer (Picture: A+E Networks Inc)
Not only a talent in front of the camera, but our Angela also directed a film about Whitney Houston.
Having benefited from inheriting her Tina Turner role when Houston turned it down due to upcoming maternity leave, and with the pair working together prior to Houston’s death in 2012, Angela was a perfect choice.
She helmed the 2015 TV movie Whitney, starring Yaya DaCosta in the biographical film about Houston’s turbulent marriage to R&B artist Bobby Brown (Arlen Escarpeta).
‘I have such regard for both Whitney’s and Bobby’s amazing talents and accomplishments, and I feel a responsibility in the telling of their story.
‘Their humanity and bond fascinates us all. I’m beyond excited to have this opportunity to go behind the camera and into their world,’ Angela said at the time.
Angela Bassett looks absolutely stunning, always
This Golden Globe winning stunner is 64 (Picture: Frederic J. Brown/AFP)
We need to take a moment to admire the glorious, age-defying person that is Angela Basset.
Not that we need to focus on numbers because Angela is clearly phenomenal full-stop.
Always immaculately turned out and gorgeous, the star is clearly nails that exercise regimen, once giving pointers to a journalist who wanted to know ‘the formula’ (don’t we all?) to looking like her.
Did Ariana actually tell her what ‘the thing’ was on Sunday at the Baftas? (Picture: Joe Maher/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA)
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Well, that and Angela’s genes, we would imagine.
The actress has undoubtedly done other things that could be claimed as ‘the thing’, but this is our selection of the best from the iconic Ms Bassett.
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