Angela Bassett Doesn't Take 'Blessings' of NAACP Image Award Nomination for Granted
Angela Bassett is not taking any of her blessings for granted and is glorifying God for being honored with two NAACP Image Award nominations.
Basset, the 57-year-old actress and director, is being nominated for an Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture award for her work in the Spike Lee film "Chi-Raq," and Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Miniseries or Dramatic Special for her work in "American Horror Story: Hotel." After the nominations were announced Tuesday, Bassett made sure to glorify God.
"Today is a blessed day," Bassett tweeted. "Just found out I was nominated for @AHSFX God is Good!"
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Bassett grew up with grandparents who were pastors and spoke to Parade Magazine about being raised with a foundation of faith.
"My mother had us in Sunday school and choir. Growing up in the church means things like going to Bible study with your grandmother on Wednesday and if the choir director picks you up hitchhiking, he'll give you a lesson and then your mother will give you a lesson and maybe a lockdown," Bassett recalled to Parade. "Love of God makes so much sense to me when other things don't. Life is so beautiful and complex that it doesn't make sense to me that it was just an explosion. It's my belief system."
The actress believes everyone has a purpose and told the publication that hers may be tied to her acting.
"My career portrayals had an impact on certain people. It's grace," she told Parade. "And I pray to be strong. To follow my dreams, but to not crave it so much that I'm easily preyed upon. And that I can walk away."
For Bassett, acting is more than just collecting a hefty paycheck.
"All money is not good money and some of these situations can rob you of your good intentions. Knowing who you are and staying true to that is everything," she said. "Everyone is going to serve something and that can become the center of their existence. Mine is love of God and faith, as opposed to fame and money."
The actress is not condemning the money and fame but said she believes, "those things are nice, but not if you serve them. They have the potential to devour."
Last January, Bassett made her directorial debut in the Lifetime movie biopic based on the life of the late singer Whitney Houston. Bassett told The Christian Post that she had to lean on her faith in moments when she felt that her inexperience disqualified her from completing the task at hand.
However, in the moments where she encountered issues during filming, the new director said she would go to sleep and wake up thanking God because a solution would come to her.
"Doubt seeped in but thank God for faith. All things work together for good, for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose," Bassett said, quoting Romans 8:28. "So I have foundations and He is my rock I keep going back to. I know that [Whitney] had a deep [Christian] faith as well, so I was in the right place at the right time."
