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Compiled by The Birmingham Times
On October 12, actors Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance celebrated 29 of marriage — a rare milestone in Hollywood. In 2020, Bassett told People magazine that the key to staying together, whether in entertainment or not, is choosing the right person. “Make sure you’re both looking in the same direction.”
How They Met
Bassett and Vance first met in the 1980s as graduate students at the Yale School of Drama. But Vance had a girlfriend then.
The two reconnected 14 years later in Los Angeles. By then, both of their acting careers were flourishing. Vance had made his Broadway debut in the original production of August Wilson‘s Fences (1985) and earned his first Tony Award nomination. Bassett had won a Golden Globe and earned an Oscar nomination for her performance as Tina Turner in the 1993 biopic What’s Love Got To Do With It?
“I had such an appreciation for him over those years—of his consistency, how he treated other people, of what a supporter he is, what a connector of people and ideas he is, how passionate he is,” Bassett once said of Vance in an interview.
Their first date, however, was a flop.
“Dare I say it wasn’t memorable,” Bassett admitted during an interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show. “He just seemed like a really, really nice guy, which translated to kind of boring. That was it. Wasn’t gonna give him a second thought.”
But she did give him a second thought and a second date, and that’s when the magic happened.
The Wedding
After dating for about three years, the couple tied the knot on October 12, 1997. Their wedding date fell just a few weeks before Bassett was due to begin shooting a leading role in the 1998 movie How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
Bassett told People that Vance stepping up to support her confirmed she’d chosen the right man.
“That’s all you have to do, is tell him to step in, and he shows up for you,” she said. “Not just for me, but for any of his friends, whoever he loves, or whatever mentee may reach out to him. He steps up and steps in for you.”
The Family Business
Though known in the 1990s for her roles as Tina and Stella and in movies like Waiting to Exhale, Bassett was just getting started.
In the following decades, she took on supporting roles in the drama Notorious (2009), and the action films Green Lantern (2011), Olympus Has Fallen (2013), and London Has Fallen (2016). She also played Queen Ramonda in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). For the latter, she won another Golden Globe and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
On television, Bassett has starred as Katherine Jackson in the miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992). Her portrayal of Rosa Parks in the television film The Rosa Parks Story (2002) earned her an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress. Her performances in two seasons of the FX horror anthology series American Horror Story earned her Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2014 and 2015. In 2018, Bassett began producing and starring as an LAPD patrol sergeant Athena Grant in the Fox/ABC drama series 9-1-1.
In 2023, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and she received an Academy Honorary Award.
Meanwhile, Vance’s career also continued to soar. In addition to his work on Broadway, Vance has also starred in several movies including Hamburger Hill (1987), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Tuskegee Airmen (1995), The Preacher’s Wife (1996), Cookie’s Fortune (1999), and Isle of Dogs (2018).
Vance was a series regular on the NBC drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the third series in the sprawling L&O franchise, playing Assistant District Attorney Ron Carver for the show’s first five seasons, from 2001 to 2006
He earned Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his portrayal of Johnnie Cochran in the FX limited series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016), and for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for playing George Freeman in the HBO series Lovecraft Country (2020). He played Sir Lord Keenan Kester Cofield in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017) and C. L. Franklin in Genius: Aretha (2020).
Bassett and Vance have rarely acted together, but they still work closely together off-screen. They co-run a production company, Bassett Vance Productions, and in 2009, they published a book together titled Friends: A Love Story.
Happily Ever After
On Jan. 27, 2006, Bassett and Vance welcomed fraternal twins Bronwyn Golden and Slater Josiah via surrogate, after undergoing several years of fertility treatments in an effort to get pregnant.
“I was devastated when it didn’t happen [again and again],” Bassett said during an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. “I had to remain hopeful and resilient.” After a friend introduced the couple to the idea of surrogacy, the couple decided it was the right choice for them.
In 2024, Bassett told PEOPLE that she often felt guilty about her long hours while filming a movie or television show, but she hopes that “what will come out of that is that they see a mama, a woman, a Black woman achieving her dreams, having success.”
She continued, “They’ll see that hard work pays off. And they’ll be about that life for themselves.”
Sources: People.com, Parade.com, Wikipedia.org
Built to Last: Share Your Love Story
What does lasting love look like? Maybe it’s handwritten notes tucked into lunch bags, dancing in the kitchen after a long day, praying together through hard seasons, or simply choosing each other again and again over the years. Whatever your story looks like, we want to hear it.
For years, the Birmingham Times has celebrated local couples and the love that binds them through our popular “You Had Me at Hello” column. Now, we’re looking for more inspiring stories of commitment, partnership, laughter, resilience, and romance.
Have you been married seven years or longer? Tell us the secret to your enduring love. No relationship is ordinary, and every couple has a story worth sharing. Your journey could encourage newlyweds, inspire singles, or remind readers that lasting love still exists.
Whether your love story began with a blind date, a high school romance, a chance encounter, or friendship that grew into forever, we’d love to feature it.
To be considered for a future “You Had Me at Hello” column or to nominate a couple you admire, email editor@birminghamtimes.com with the couple’s names, contact information, and the number of years they’ve been married.
