Angela Bassett is the first Emmy Award winner after taking home the award for Outstanding Storyteller at the 2024 Creative Arts Emmys on Saturday. The actress was nominated for her work on National Geographic's Queens.
“It's a great feeling; really, really great,” Bassett said in his acceptance speech. “Thank you to National Geographic, Wild Star Film and all the filmmakers – all women — who brought this incredible story, this incredible docuseries that focuses on the wild and magnificent things in the animal kingdom. I couldn’t be more thrilled and more grateful.”
Bassett initially said no to the project, saying The Hollywood Reporter in a previous interview, “It was summer. It was break [for 9-1-1]. It had been a long season. I was looking forward to going on vacation and spending time with my family and taking some time off work because it’s a constant rollercoaster. But they came back and sent me the sizzle reel and I said, “OK, let me just focus on this for a moment and see what it’s all about.” Once I did that, it didn’t pass me by.”
Queensa seven-part series, tells the story of animal matriarchies around the world and features an all-female production team, which Bassett said DAY It was “one of the big attractions and highlights.”
“We don’t work for these, but we get them for all the hard work that we do,” Bassett said of her win in the Emmy press room. “Of course, it’s not a job that you do alone, even though it’s storytelling, but there’s a whole team that has pursued me and believed in me and fought for me and worked with me to tell this incredible story of women in the wild, led by an all-female production team, which is a first in wildlife documentary filmmaking. So that was pretty inspiring for me in and of itself.”
Bassett has received a total of nine Emmy nominations, including a 2023 nomination for Outstanding Narrator for his work on Goodnight Oppy.