Angela Bassett Says Her Career Has Always Been About 'the Work, Not the Fame'

Angela Bassett is reflecting on her long-standing career and what she hopes her legacy will be in the years to come.

For the actress, it’s always been about “the work, not the fame,” she told People in a new interview, which was published on Wednesday, February 28.

“I've always been a hard worker,” the brunette beauty, who has received two Oscar nominations, dished. “You have to know what to say no to as well as what to say yes to. And during this time, a lot of things have been worthy of me saying yes to.”

Though she is not always home to be with her children before they head off to college, she is trying to cherish this time in her life.

“But also I hope that what will come out of that is that they see a mama, a woman, a Black woman achieving her dreams, having success,” she added of what roles she ultimately decides to take on. “They’ll see that hard work pays off. And they’ll be about that life for themselves.”

According to Bassett's husband, Courtney B. Vance, whom she shares twins Bronwyn and Slater with, his wife is "very shy" about her accomplishments.

“She’ll never toot her own horn,” the actor shared. “The honorary Oscar was a wonderful night, but I flashed back to 30 years ago when they didn’t call her name, and then when they didn’t call her name last March. This was an opportunity for her to stand up there. A lot of people saw it, but not the billion people that would see it at the Oscars. But it meant everything to her.”

But she does have some advice for her kiddos.

“One of the things that always that I say to myself and to my kids is, ‘Find the good and praise it,'" she noted.

“The fact that it’s happening all at the same time, it can be a little overwhelming unless you just breathe through it and remember to be grateful,” she concluded. “For all of it. For what you prayed for, what you worked for, for what you dreamed of.”