Actress Angela Bassett To Be Honored for ‘Illustrious Career’ at Santa Barbara Film Festival

Variety reports that Angela Bassett is receiving her flowers as she prepares to be honored with the Montecito Award at the 38th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

The veteran film star is attending the Feb. 9 event where she will discuss her career from the start to her latest scene-snatching appearance in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The award comes as many speculate if Bassett, 64, will become the first Marvel star to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Queen Ramonda in the Black Panther saga.

“Ms. Bassett has had an illustrious career as an actor, director and producer and in ‘Wakanda Forever’ reminds us why she’s so greatly revered,” SBIFF’s Executive Director Roger Durling said.

“She’s regal, fierce and commanding as Queen Ramonda. We bow down.”

For years, the Black community has debated why Bassett, who has amazed audiences with performances in films like Malcolm X, Boyz N The Hood, Waiting to Exhale, and What’s Love Got To Do With It? has yet to receive an Oscar. While her performance as Tina Turner garnered her a nomination in 1994, she ultimately lost to Holly Hunter that year for her role in The Piano.

During a 2018 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Bassett agreed with one fan who said she was “robbed” of the award,” as noted by People.

“Yeah, me too,” Bassett said with a laugh.

“Good, I agree,” Cohen added.

In 2016, she opened up about attending the 1994 Oscars in hopes of winning the big award.

“I remember stopping all liquids at 2 o’clock because I didn’t want to miss a moment,” she told ABC News.

“I did not want to have to go the restroom. That was the era of big ballgowns because, you know, you felt like a princess.”

“And I did not want to have to manage all of that in a stall at the Oscars and miss my category. Isn’t that funny when that happens to people: ‘I was in the bathroom’?”

Her Tina Turner role did garner her a 1994 Golden Globe for Best Actress. In 2019, Bassett received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for Black Panther.