You know who Angela Bassett‘s No. 1 fan is? Her devoted husband, actor Courtney B. Vance. It’s the same vice versa. The legendary actress stans for her man, too. You see it in the way they support each other’s work, from their TV work to their films. You can hear it in the way they laud each other, like the way Vance said his wife was past due for an Academy Award ahead of the 2023 event (where things didn’t go as planned despite her being the frontrunner for Best Supporting Actress).
“It’s time, and I can’t wait for the moment when they call the first syllable of the name because that’s all any of us ever listened for,” he said to PEOPLE a week before the Oscars.
“If you’ve been to these events, you know that the only thing you listen for is [making A phonetic sounds], or if it’s me [making K phonetic sounds]. If they don’t do [making A phonetic sounds], I’m out. You know. So I’m excited,” he added. “It’s been 29 years, she’s overdue and I think everybody recognizes that. So I’m excited.”
You also see the mutual adoration in the way they look at each other, hold onto one another and share kisses on the red carpet. Whether it’s all the red carpets of award season or smaller festivities they can’t help but shine at, the love always radiates from these two. Check out photos of them packing on the PDA over the years.
Long before they were husband and wife, Bassett and Vance were already solid as a rock. They were captured here in 1996 with Vance whispering in the ear of his love.
The couple is photographed a few months before they tied the knot (doing so in the fall of ’97), with Vance planting a smooch on the cheek of Bassett.
At an event honoring jazz great Wynton Marsalis in 2005, the pair were photographed cheek to cheek.
Vance proudly embraced his bride at a movie premiere back in 2002.
Vance held his lady love close at the 1998 premiere for her classic film, How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
The beautiful pair showed off some PDA at the American Black Film Festival in 2004.
The couple coordinated attire for the 8th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2002.
Vance, a lover of a good red carpet smooch, planted one on Bassett in 2016. It happened at the premiere of FX’s American Crime Story – The People V. O.J. Simpson, which was a career game changer for the talented actor.
While Bassett served face, Vance offered up a smile at the Netflix premiere of Otherhood in 2019.
Vance couldn’t let the professional photogs be the only ones capturing the beauty of his wife at the 2019 Emmy Awards. He got his amateur paparazzi on to get some shots of Bassett in all her glory.
Vance was the ultimate gentleman, helping to spread out Bassett’s skirt so she could strike a proper pose on the red carpet at the 28th Annual Critics Choice Awards in January.
