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Few names are as synonymous with Black Hollywood as Angela Bassett.
The legendary actress turns 65 years old today (we know, we can’t believe it either) and has a lot to celebrate.
She’s been dominating tinsel town, acting in iconic films like Boyz n the Hood, Malcolm X, Waiting to Exhale, and How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
Then, she found a second breath on Fox’s TV series 9-1-1, where she also serves as an executive producer. That role made her TV’s highest-paid Black actress thanks to her raking in $450,000 an episode.
Aside from all that paper to count, she also became the first person from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to win in an acting category at the Globes for her role as Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Then, similarly, she became the first person of color, woman, and Marvel actor to be nominated for an Oscar for a role in a comic book adaptation.
“This morning is a little extra special in the Bassett Vance household with news of my Oscar nomination,” Bassett told CNN of her nomination early this year. “What has drawn me to each of the women I’ve portrayed throughout my career is their strength, compassion, resilience, and power. Wakanda Forever’s Queen Ramonda is a character that touched my spirit because she is a mother and a leader who must care for her grieving nation as much as she cares for her family in mourning. Ramonda is a love letter that reflects and acknowledges what we women do every day.”
She is certainly being celebrated now, and after more than four decades, she’s still irresistible. Whenever she shares a bikini photo on Instagram, social media erupts.
“You have to keep the stress down and the attitude hot,” she told Allure in 2018 when asked about staying so youthful.
In honor of her 65th birthday, check out some of her most stunning moments on Instagram below.
