Angela Bassett is no stranger to collecting nominations for some of the industry’s top honors over her nearly 40-year career, but – much like that ever-elusive Academy Award – longtime fans may be surprised to know the screen diva has never nabbed a BET Award. This, despite being nominated 12 times since the award show’s inaugural ceremony in 2001.
However, the latter losing streak came to a screeching halt Sunday night (June 25).
Thanks to her work aboard the 2022 blockbuster ‘Black Panther’ sequel, ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,’ and FOX’s hit series ‘9-1-1,’ Bassett finally dialed into her first BET Award win for Best Actress.
Defeating Viola Davis as well as singer-actresses CoCo Jones, Janelle Monae, KeKe Palmer, and Zendaya for the honor, the triumph comes as Angela’s first solo BET Awards win overall. She was previously honored as part of the 2018 when the original ‘Black Panther’ film nabbed Best Movie honors at the 2018 BET Awards.
Despite the year’s highly publicized OSCAR upset, Bassett has had an overall good run of industry award wins. Beyond adding the BET Award to her mantel, she collected multiple NAACP Image awards, a Critics’ Choice Movie award, and a Golden Globe for her performance in ‘Wakanda.’