Angela Bassett Receives Third Degree from Yale! A Doctorate!

She’s a wife, she’s a mother, she’s an award-winning actress, she’s a woman of faith, and she happens to be fine at 59, but that’s not all! Acclaimed Hollywood actress Angela Bassett can also add the title “Ph.D” to her name after she received an honorary degree from Yale on Monday, her third from the school, during the prestigious university’s commencement ceremony.

The stunning actress shared a video of this momentous occasion on Instagram, writing, “Hey Everybody you good? My heart is full! God blessed me REAL good! Thank you @yale for this blessed honor!”

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Bassett attended Yale University and received her B.A. degree in African-American studies in 1980. In 1983, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama, despite opposition from her father’s sister who warned her to not “waste” her “Yale education on theater.” She was the only member of Bassett’s family to have gone to both college and graduate school. At Yale, Bassett also met her future husband Courtney B. Vance, a 1986 graduate of the drama school.

In the 1990s, she appeared in films nearly every year. The 2000s saw a succession of films starring Bassett, with her appearing in at least one film every year. Bassett’s success has continued into the 2010s. Bassett earned nominations for her roles in films such as The Score (2001), Akeelah and the Bee (2006), Meet the Browns (2008) and Jumping the Broom (2011) and won awards for her performances in How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998) and Music of the Heart (1999) among others.

The actress is one of ten honorees receiving a degree from the university. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Elizabeth Alexander, and Willie Ruff are just a few of the other deserving honorees.

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Vice President for Communications Eileen O’Connor told the Yale Daily News that…

…, “We are absolutely thrilled to honor the ten honorants. They are all deserving of the degrees and [were chosen] through a process of careful selection, and we’re really excited to have them here to celebrate the graduation of the class of 2018.”