Angela Bassett

Bassett was born in New York City, to Betty Jane (née Gilbert), a social worker and civil servant, the second wife of Daniel Benjamin Bassett, a preacher's son. Bassett's middle name was given to her in honor of her aunt Evelyn. Ten months after Bassett was born, her mother became pregnant and had a second child, Bassett's sister D'nette. Bassett said the pregnancy "only made things harder", leading her parents to send her to her father's sister, Golden, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. While her aunt did not have any children of her own, she "loved children, and she was good with them." At the age of four, Bassett was picked up by her mother after her parents divorced; her mother took her and her sister to St. Petersburg, Florida. Bassett did not see her father again for several years, until she attended her grandmother's funeral. There, Bassett met her father's daughter Jean, from his first marriage, who was twelve years old, and several years older than Bassett. After graduating from Jordan Park Elementary School, Bassett was bused to attend Disston Middle School for seventh grade. She began at that school in 1970, a year before the city of St. Petersburg formally established busing to integrate its public schools. After completing seventh grade, Bassett was bused to Azalea Middle School for eighth and ninth grades. Bassett's mother became more involved in her daughters' studies and told the two that they would go to college. In her younger years, Bassett was "in love" with the Jackson 5, and dreamed of marrying a member of the family group. She said her choice would probably be "whoever had the cutest, roundest Afro at the time. In my imagination we would have children and live in a real house." As her interest in entertainment developed, Angela and her sister would often put on shows, reading poems or performing popular music for their family. At Boca Ciega High School, Bassett was a cheerleader and a member of the Upward Bound college prep program, the debate team, student government, drama club and choir. An "A" and "B" student for the most part, Bassett got her first "C" in physical education. She tried to convince her mother not to be disappointed by the grade. Bassett called the grade the "average," leading her mother to say she did not have "average kids." As Bassett described, she developed a "sense of pride" and did not get another "C" until college. During high school, Bassett became the first African American in that school to be admitted to the National Honor Society. The Upward Bound program is an academic and cultural enrichment program for underprivileged students. Bassett says she and the other participants did not see themselves as underprivileged. Bassett studied at Yale University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies in 1980. She studied acting at the Yale School of Drama and obtained a Master of Fine Arts in 1983. Her paternal aunt had warned her not to "waste" her "Yale education on theater." She was the only member of Bassett's family to have gone to both college and graduate school. At Yale, Bassett met her future husband Courtney B. Vance, a 1986 graduate of the drama school. Bassett was also classmates with actor Charles S. Dutton.