Paul Byrne catches up with Angela Bassett, the acclaimed actor whose talents include giving the kiss of life to TV’s ER as Dr Cate Banfield.

Partly, it’s to do with the fact that Angela Bassett clearly isn’t in this for the awards or the accolades. She is happier to spend her time off the stage and film set, looking after her two-year-old surrogate twins, Josiah and Bronwyn Golden, alongside her husband of 11 years, fellow actor Courtney B Vance.

Bassett would also rather attend church than any Hollywood shindig.

So, when Bassett does step before the cameras, she does so because she believes she can bring something to the role, rather than because the role can bring something to her.

Take her involvement with the final season of ER, in which Bassett plays Dr Cate Banfield. Real-life hubby Courtney just happens to play her on-screen hubby too.

“Which, for both of us, is a real treat,” smiles Bassett. “There’s something about getting up in the morning with your loved one, and heading off for a day’s work where they get to play your loved one under a different name. I guess it adds a little bit of role-play to our marriage.” She lets out a hearty laugh.

Not that she has turned her back on the big screen. This month, the acclaimed actress also steps out into the big bad world of Hollywood for the biopic Notorious, playing the saintly mother of renowned rapper, Biggie Smalls,aka Notorious BIG, or, as his mum, Voletta, knew him, Christopher George Latore Wallace.

The rapper was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in LA on March 9, 1997, when he was just 24 years old. It was the result of an East Coast-West Coast rap war that escalated when Smalls was believed by some to have played a part in the gunning down of his former friend and fellow rapper, Tupac Shakur.

Chuckle

Playing a real-life character is always a major challenge for an actor, especially when that real-life character is on the set with you. How was it for Bassett, having Voletta Wallace looking over her shoulder as she played Biggie’s mum on-screen?

“Hmm, yeah,” smiles Bassett, before breaking into a chuckle, “you don’t want to step on her toes. You want to get it right, but she’s a lovely lady, so, it was great having her around.”

As any true Dub will know, it’s hard to be a saint in the city, but even in the drug-riddled Brooklyn of the 1980s, Voletta Wallace just about managed it, despite being a single mum with a son clearly going off the rails. Given that Voletta is one of the producers of Notorious, it would seem like a little soft focus was applied here.

“Well, I can only go by what she told me,” says Bassett, “and she was just a young woman who came from Trelawny [Jamaica] and there, you don’t seek an education. It was rough and circumstances led them to Brooklyn. But you can’t show everything in a two-hour movie.”

Bassett is also, of course, an incredibly attractive woman, something that French filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin obviously recognises. His recent movie, the acclaimed A Christmas Tale, features a young woman being complimented on having “Angela Bassett’s ass”.

“Bassett’s an asset!” the actor practically squeals. “A friend of mine saw it. I haven’t been able to see the film myself, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Given that ER is about to come to an end, talk turns to how far TV has come in the last few years — to the point that it’s better than much of what’s going on in your local multiplex. Does it feel that way for Bassett?

“The way I’ve always looked at it, I just want to go where the work is. I appreciate now that we don’t have that idea that, ‘oh, it’s a step down, it’s a step back,’ or whatever, to do television. It’s just an opportunity to continue with your craft, because you can’t do it in a vacuum. I just got to make sure that my ass remains in good shape, no matter what the platform is . . .”

     Angela Bassett was raised along with her sister by their single mother in the housing projects of Saint Petersburg, Florida. It was after watching James Earl Jones’ Broadway performance in Of Mice and Men that Angela decided she wanted a career in acting. After graduating from high school, Angela went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale College, and a Masters of Fine Arts from Yale School of Drama.
      Upon graduation, Angela Bassett moved to New York and it wasn’t long before she was landing roles in off-Broadway productions. But is was difficult to avoid the stereotypical roles afforded to African-American women in film. However, Angela worked her way through such typecasting and into mainstream stardom with such roles as Katherine Jackson in “The Jacksons: An American Dream”.
      In 1990, John Singleton cast Bassett in his feature film debut Boyz N the Hood. A role in which she played a single mother trying to raise her troubled, teenaged son. Angela’s work received even more attention when she starred opposite Denzel Washington in Malcolm X, but it was her riveting portrayal of singing legend Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do With It? that cemented Angela’s growing reputation as a powerful and versatile actor, and won her an Oscar nomination in the Best Actress category.