Diverse Talent in Hollywood Takes Reins to Speed up Change

US actress Angela Bassett arrives for the 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City, California, on February 26, 2023. (AFP)

For Angela Bassett, vying for an acting Oscar for the second time next Sunday in a 40-year career, every role she has taken has been an opportunity to break through perceptions of "us as Black women."

"To show our humanity, to tell the diversity of our stories, and to share the complexity of what it means to be Black and woman," Bassett said last week at the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) Awards. Nominated for her role in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever", the 64-year-old waited 29 years for her second Oscar nomination.