Angela Bassett Defends Feeling 'Disappointed' She Lost Oscar to Jamie Lee Curtis: 'I Was Deserving'

Mar. 15, 2025

Angela Bassett forTown & Country’s March 2025 issue.Photo:Ruven Afanador

Ruven Afanador

Angela Bassettis getting candid about losing the Best Supporting ActressAcademy Awardin 2023, for her work inBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever.

In her cover story forTown & Country’s March issue, theZero Dayactress said she “found it interesting … that I wouldn’t be allowed to be disappointed at an outcome where I thought I was deserving.”

And while that doesn’t mean she isn’t happy forJamie Lee Curtis, who wonher first-ever Oscarfor her performance inEverything Everywhere All at Once, Bassett, 66, said the loss still stung at the time.

“I love applauding people. But in that moment … " she continued. “I have put in: put in the time, put in good work over time. I didn’t think that was a gift. I thought it was a given.”

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From L: Jamie Lee Curtis and Angela Bassett at the 95th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on March 12, 2023.Rodin Eckenroth/Getty; Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty; Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

Although Bassett didn’t take home the Best Supporting Actress trophy in 2023 — which marked her second Oscar nomination, after a Best Actress nod nearly 30 years earlier for her performance asTina Turnerin 1993’sWhat’s Love Got to Do with It— she didreceive an Honorary Oscarfor her contributions to the film industry in 2024.

“It was standing on their strong, spiritually fortified shoulders that I often was sustained, and I thank them for every sacrifice, every doubt, every disappointment, every rejection, every triumph that I know they experienced along the way,” the actress said. “Because had it not been for their resilience, continuing to fight through their fears and the uncertainty and their willingness as they fought for every role, I would not have had a representationof what was possible for me.”

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Angela Bassett on the cover ofTown & Country’s March 2025 issue.Ruven Afanador

“But this honor isn’t just for or about me,” she continued. “What I hope this moment means is that we are taking the necessary steps toward a future in which it is the norm, not the exception, to see and embrace one another’s full humanity, stories and perspectives.”

Bassett reflected on herearly days in show businessduring her interview withTown & Country, telling the magazine, “You’re just trying to find little pieces where you are, little moments of daylight to be able to do this. So no matter how small it was, it was just a joy and a blessing.”

“I wonder if that’s why, when I get the opportunity, whatever opportunity it is, to perform or to be in front of an audience, to me it’s daylight. It’s really … you don’t take it for granted,” she added.

Zero Dayis now streaming on Netflix.

source: people.com