Actress Angela Bassett is set to receive an honorary Oscar at the 2023 Governors Awards in November. In its 14th year, the annual honors will be presented at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles on November 18.
This honorary award has been established “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or outstanding service to the Academy.”
According to a statement from the Academy President Janet Yang, “The Academy’s Board of Governors is thrilled to honor four trailblazers who have transformed the film industry and inspired generations of filmmakers and movie fans.” Yang went to say about Bassett, “Across her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting.”
A Long Time Coming
Although she has been a formidable figure in Hollywood, playing iconic characters such as Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” (1993)”, she has only been nominated for two Oscars in her 40-year-long career. Bassett is renowned for her stunning acting and self-possession.
As the film critic Angelica Jade Bastién writes in Vulture, “ Bassett’s skills have often been construed on lines of strength and intellect. Yes, her characters are strong and intelligent and refuse to bend fully to the whims of others in order to retain possession of themselves. But to acknowledge Bassett for simply excelling at portraying strong Black women is a disservice. Strength is often a bind for Black women.”
Jade goes on to write, “It’s an expectation thrust upon us. What Bassett has been able to do with anger, an emotion rarely afforded to Black women in life or onscreen, is the real meat of her career. She is the Black actress in mainstream U.S. cinema to most consistently portray anger with the care and complexity such a depiction deserves.”
Bassett’s last Oscar nomination was for her role in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” She lost to Jamie Lee Curtis and fact that was met with disappointment from many who considered a win for Bassett long overdue. Bassett has starred in other highly lauded film projects “Malcolm X” (1992), “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” (1998), “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” (2018) and “Soul” (2020).
Plus, Bassett’s acting credits have been in films that helped the Academy make history. She starred in “Boyz N the Hood” (1991), a film that made John Singleton the first Black filmmaker, and youngest person to ever be nominated for best director. There was also “Black Panther,” which was the first superhero movie to be nominated for best picture.