*As one of the highest-earning actresses in television, Angela Bassett is speaking out about being paid fairly in the industry.
“Now, it’s good to be paid. That is one thing that I’ve said to myself since early on in my career. I mean, I literally would say, ‘I want to work in roles that can change me and change the conversation. I want to work consistently. And I want to be paid fairly,’” the actress explained in an interview with InStyle magazine published Wednesday.
We reported earlier that Bassett and her co-stars on Fox’s hit drama “9-1-1” secured pay increases ahead of Season 5, with the actress reportedly making “north of $450,000 an episode,” Deadline reports.
READ MORE: Hollywood Refuses to Pay Angela Bassett What Her White Counterparts Earn
“It’s about knowing your worth and standing on it. Being in positions and places where your worth is appreciated is a good thing. I’m glad that it can influence others,” she said.
Per Deadline, Bassett’s “911” salary “is believed to be among the top salaries on network television for any actor — male or female — and could be the highest ever for an actress of color on a broadcast drama series,” the outlet writes.
The website for “9-1-1″ says the series is based on “the real-life, high-pressure experiences of emergency response providers,” but Bassett’s character was created just for the show. Series creator Ryan Murphy previously told the New York Post that the cases depicted on the show come from actual 9-1-1 calls, but that he chose Bassett as the main character because of her acting skills, per Bustle.
“I like her when she’s emotional and I love it when she takes charge. Putting her in a family drama along with a workplace drama merges those two things into one superstar package,” Murphy said.
Bassett is also an executive producer on the series as well as its spinoff “9-1-1: Lone Star.”
We reported earlier that Bassett and her husband Courtney B. Vance are producing the upcoming docuseries “One Thousand Years of Slavery” for the Smithsonian Channel.
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