By Lana K. Wilson-Combs | OBSERVER CORRESPONDENT

LOS ANGELES - Before landing the starring role in Tyler Perry’s latest movie, “Meet the Browns, ”Academy Award nominated actress Angela Bassett admitted that she was not too familiar with Perry’s work until she and her mother watched the movies “Madea Goes to Jail” and “Madea’s Family Reunion.”

“We watched those videos back to back and just bowled over with laughter,” explained
the strikingly beautiful Bassett ("What's Love Got To Do With It?") while seated next to Perry and the rest of the cast of “Meet the Browns,” which opens nationwide March 21, at a recent press junket at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.

“I had the opportunity to see Tyler (Perry) on stage and the whole cast and crew,” Bassett added. “Then I saw “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” and I told someone I was really jealous of Kimberly Elise and I was like “How come I didn’t hear about that? But after “Madea Goes to Jail,” I met Tyler back stage and he said, ‘I want to work with you one day.’ And I thought 'oh, I hope he really means that and that’s gonna happen one day soon.' And it did.”

In “Meet the Browns,” Bassett plays a single parent named Brenda who lives in Chicago with her three kids and struggles to make ends meet. Things get even worse when she loses her job and her world begins to fall apart. Then she gets a strange letter explaining that her father - who she never met - has died and she should come to Georgia for his funeral.

When Brenda uproots her family from Chicago to Georgia to meet the Browns, her father’s dysfunctional, yet warm-hearted kinfolk, she gets a new lease on life especially when a handsome basketball coach (Rick Fox) she briefly met back in
Chicago, re-enters her life and offers to mentor her talented hoops star son, Michael (Lance Gross, TV‘s “House of Payne“), with hopes of getting next to her.

“It’s always a pleasure for me to go to work,” Bassett said. “But working with a handsome devil like Rick Fox made it even more of a pleasure. He was just absolutely great.”

Bassett said what she loves most about Perry’s movies are the recurring themes of “family, hope and compassion.”

“They are so uplifting and ones which so many people of various ethnicities can relate to," she said. "That was one of the reasons I was anxious to be a part of Tyler’s work.”

Bassett said she also admires that Perry’s characters are multi-faceted and strong-willed individuals and she said that she can personally relate to the Black family dynamic that his movies showcase.

“The extended family that we see in his movies is very real and important,” she said. “I grew up with a single parent and my mother did the best that she could. But sometimes her eyes were off me for quite a number of hours of the day, so that was the extended family, the neighborhood. And it was OK for the assistant principal to look after you or the teachers look after you or the choir director of the church to look after you. Today, we don’t have that nearly as much. So if it weren’t for extended family or the community as family looking out for me, I don’t think I’d be sitting here because they had high expectations of me and they saw potential in me that I was too young and green and dumb to see or know that it was even there.”

Bassett attributes much of her success to surrounding herself with positive people who share her same values, goals and aspirations. That’s one of the reasons she said she’d love to work with Perry again.

“I’m a little late climbing aboard Tyler’s bandwagon, but now that I have, I want
to ride as long as I can," Bassett said. "He mentioned that he may have some other projects with me in mind. That’s pretty exciting. I’d like to see what they are because he always has something good up his sleeve. He’s just a phenomenally talented actor, writer, director and producer who bring out the best in his actors.”

For now, Bassett is pretty busy and is having an amazing year. She has several movies in development including director George Tillman Jr’s biopic, “Notorious,” the story of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Christopher Wallace). In the film, Bassett plays Biggie’s mother Voletta Wallace.

“We start shooting March 31,” Bassett said. “And I’m excited about the role because I was able to meet with Voletta, who is a beautiful woman. She told me that I was her only choice to play her. So when someone tells you that, you know you have to really step up and do the role justice. I’ve already spent a lot of time with her and picked up on things to bring to the part. So I’m looking forward to that and I know a lot of people have some big expectations for the film. But hey, there’s no pressure on me.”

In addition to “Notorious” which is due out next year, Bassett will also star in “Toussaint” playing the wife of Toussaint Louverture who led a successful slave rebellion during the 18th century which sparked the Haitian revolution. Other films include: “Nothing but the Truth,” a ripped from the headlines movie starring Kate Beckinsale and Alan Alda about former CIA operative, Valerie Plame. Bassett plays a newspaper editor. Then there’s “Of Boys and Men,” and “Gospel Hill. “ The latter film stars Danny Glover.

“I’m very happy to have such a variety of work right now,” Bassett said. "The only thing is it keeps me away from my twin babies. And I do miss them. But my wonderful husband, Courtney (Vance) really loves his Mr. Mom role. Although he will also be resurfacing soon on TV and film, playing Mr. Mom is another role he’s become very good at.”

Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a syndicated music and entertainment writer who lives in Sacramento. Contact her at www.N2Entertainment.net.