Angela Bassett To Receive Long Overdue Oscar As A 2023 HonoraryWinner

Angela Bassett is finally getting her just due. After being a staple in the culture for decades, the prolific actress will officially receive her long-awaited Oscar later this year. She is one of four honorees named by The Academy today (June 26) who have been tapped to receive honorary awards.

The 14th annual honors will be presented at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles on Nov. 18. Also being awarded that day along with Basset are writer and director Mel Brooks and film editor Carol Littleton. Former Sundance Institute chief Michelle Satter will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award the 2023 Governors Awards.

“The Academy’s Board of Governors is thrilled to honor four trailblazers who have transformed the film industry and inspired generations of filmmakers and movie fans,” Academy president Janet Yang said in a statement. “Across her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting.”

Each year, Honorary Oscars are presented to recognize “extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences or for outstanding service to the Academy.”

The 64-year-old has two Oscar nods under her belt, one for her lead role as Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do with It, and another for Best Supporting Actress in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She also recently won a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award for her performance as Queen Ramonda.

This June marked the 30th anniversary of the aforementioned What’s Love Got to Do with It film. In a new interview with Variety, the actress reflected on the sheer determination needed to execute the iconic role. “You got up at five in the morning, went to the gym to workout for two and a half hours,” she said. “Then you would head to Michael Peters and learn routines — which were all intense cardio — for about 10 hours. Ten hours! You had to be so focused and so determined. Pain was irrelevant.”