Angela Bassett, who is 64 years old, won the Golden Globe award on Tuesday for her role as Queen Ramonda in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” This makes her the first actor ever to win a major acting award for a movie based on Marvel Comics.
Bassett won (and was nominated) at the Golden Globes for the second time that night. She won the award for best actress in a musical or comedy for her role in the 1993 movie “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” which was based on Tina Turner’s life.
I got to find my words. I’m so nervous. My heart is just beating,
Bassett began, taking the stage to accept the award.
The late Tony Morrison said that your life is already a miracle of chance just waiting for you to order its destiny. But in order for that destiny to manifest, I think that it requires courage to have faith. It requires patience, as we just heard. And it requires a true sense of yourself. It’s not easy because the past is circuitous and it has many unexpected detours, but, by the grace of God, I stand here. I stand here grateful.
Angela Bassett took the chance to thank her husband, fellow actor Courtney B. Vance, her family, and her Marvel co-workers, including “Wakanda Forever” director Ryan Coogler, Victoria Alonso, Nate Moore, Kevin Feige, and Louis D’Esposito. In the movie “Black Panther,” Chadwick Boseman played T’Challa. In the year 2020, he died of complications from colon cancer.
We embarked on this journey together with love. We mourned, we loved, we healed. We were surrounded each and every day by the light and the spirit of Chadwick Boseman,
Bassett said.
We have joy in knowing that with this historic ‘Black Panther’ series, it is a part of his legacy that he helped to lead us. We showed the world what Black unity, leadership and love looks like, behind and in front of the camera. To the Marvel fans, thank you for embracing these characters and showing us so much love.
When asked backstage if she was worried about going to the show because of the recent controversy over the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s (HFPA) failure to hire enough African-American journalists, Bassett kept the calm attitude that has become her trademark.
The HFPA has made strides,
Bassett said.
They know what needs to be done.
Before Angela Bassett won a Golden Globe for her role in “Wakanda Forever,” only four actors had even been nominated for a Golden Globe for their work in a superhero movie, and none of them were women: Joaquin Phoenix won for “Joker” in 2019 (actor in drama), and Heath Ledger won for “The Dark Knight” in 2008 (actor in drama). Ryan Reynolds was nominated for “Deadpool” in 2016 (actor in comedy). Jack Nicholson was nominated for an Oscar for his role in the 1989 movie “Batman” (supporting actor). Both Phoenix and Ledger played different versions of the DC Comics villain, the Joker. In their respective years, they won the most important awards, including the SAG Awards and the Oscars (though Ledger’s wins were given after his death). Both of these actors won a lot of awards for how they played the Joker.
But this is not the first time that Bassett has won a prestigious award for her role as Queen Ramonda. She was in the cast of “Black Panther,” which won the SAG Award for best ensemble performance in 2018.
Angela Bassett said that director Ryan Coogler told her how “important and vital” Queen Ramonda was to the plot of “Wakanda Forever.”
Almost to the point that I was going to get a complex, like, ‘Am I going to be able to deliver what you’re asking for?’
Bassett said with a laugh.
She had to be strong. She had to be a mother. She had to be a leader. He was just throwing all of this at me.
Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything, Everywhere, All at Once”), Dolly de Leon (“Triangle of Sadness”), and Carey Mulligan were also up for a Golden Globe (“She Said”). But Angela Bassett was the one who took home the award.
