Angela Bassett Keynote Speaker

Angela Bassett is an acclaimed actress, director, and executive producer known for her powerful performances in films such as “Waiting to Exhale,” “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” “Boyz N the Hood,” and “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” for which she received a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination.

An Honorary Oscar recipient, Bassett has starred in “Black Panther,” “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” and “Bumblebee,” and has appeared in series like “9-1-1” and “Master of None.” She voiced Dorothea Williams in Disney/Pixar’s “SOUL” and starred in Netflix’s “Otherhood” and “Gunpowder Milkshake,” as well as National Geographic’s “The Flood,” earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Narrator. She also received Emmy nominations for “Imagineering Story: The Happiest Place on Earth” and “A Black Lady Sketch Show.”

Recently, Angela reprised her role as Queen Ramonda in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” earning numerous awards and nominations, including Golden Globe, Critics Choice, Academy Award, SAG, and BAFTA. She received the Variety Creative Impact in Acting Award, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Montecito Award, two Hollywood Critics Association Awards, and an NAACP Image Award.

Apple Original Films announced “Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Women in Hollywood,” with Angela and Halle Berry as executive producers. She will co-star with Millie Bobby Brown in the Netflix film “Damsel.” Angela has received multiple awards, including a SAG Award, an AAFCA Honors Award, 16 NAACP Image Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Black Girls Rock! Icon Award. She was honored as part of Glamour’s and Time Magazine’s Women of the Year and received the Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best Narration for “Good Night Oppy” and the Critics Choice Celebration of Black Cinema & Television Career Achievement Award. She earned multiple Emmy nominations and was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award for directing the Whitney Houston biopic “Whitney.” She also directed in the horror series “American Horror Story” and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Angela graduated with a B.A. in African American Studies, an M.F.A. in Drama, and an honorary doctorate from Yale University. She also has honorary doctorates from Morehouse College and Old Dominion University. Angela and her husband Courtney Vance’s Bassett Vance Productions partnered with MTVE Studios to create content for Paramount Global. Their projects include “One Thousand Years of Slavery” on the Smithsonian Channel and “Heist 88” on Showtime Networks.