Angela Bassett is an Academy Award-nominated American actress. Angela Bassett has become well known for her biographical film roles portraying real life women perhaps most prominently as singer Tina Turner in the motion picture What`s Love Got to Do with It.

Angela Bassett attended Yale University and received her B.A. degree in African-American studies in 1980.  Angela Bassett earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama. At Yale, she met her future husband Courtney B. Vance, a 1986 graduate of the drama school.

After graduation, Angela Bassett worked as a receptionist for a beauty salon and as a photo researcher. Angela Bassett soon looked for acting work in the New York theater. One of her first New York performances came in 1985 when she appeared in J. E. Franklin`s Black Girl at Second Stage Theatre.