US actress Angela Bassett has given honour to God in her acceptance speech for her history-making Golden Globe award.
On Tuesday, Bassett became the first actress to win a Golden Globe for a Marvel Studios film following her stellar performance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Her win will go down in history as the first individual actor to win a major award for a Marvel film.
While accepting the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for her role as Queen Ramonda, Bassett said: “The late Tony Morrison said that your life is already a miracle of chance, just waiting for you to order its destiny. But in order for that destiny to manifest, I think that it requires courage to have faith.
“It requires patience, as we just heard, and it requires a true sense of yourself. It's not easy because the past is circuitous and it has many unexpected detours. But by the grace of God, I stand here, I stand here grateful.
“Grateful to the Hollywood Foreign Press for giving me this honour along with Wakanda Forever. Grateful to my amazing team, who every day, each and every one of them work. [They] work along with me and beside me and on my behalf each and every day. Grateful to my family, Courtney B Vance, Bronwyn and Slater. I love you from the depths of my heart. And my mother always said that good things come to those who pray, and I see the truth of that every day as we welcome each new day as a family”.
The 64-year-old also paid tribute to her late co-star Chadwick Boseman and spoke about how the cast and crew of Wakanda Forever came together after his passing in August 2020.
"We mourned, we loved, we healed and we were surrounded each and every day by the light and the spirit of Chadwick Boseman," she said. "We have joy in knowing that with this historic Black Panther series, it is part of his legacy he helped lead us to, we showed the world what black unity, leadership and love looks like beyond, behind and in front of the camera."
Bassett also applauded Marvel fans, thanking them for "embracing these characters and showing us so much love".
"We just made history with this nomination and with this award. It belongs to all of you and all of us," she added.
Bassett previously shared the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture prize at the 2019 Screen Actors Guild Awards with her Black Panther ensemble, which also included Danai Gurira, Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Lupita Nyong'o and Letitia Wright.
The accolade marks Bassett's second Golden Globe - she won for her portrayal of Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It in 1994.
(Additonal reporting by Reuters)
