Angela Bassett's Kids: Meet Her Children Slater and Bronwyn

Mom of two Angela Bassett doesn’t have to try hard when it comes to raising her kids! Being a mother comes naturally to the actress, who shares her teenage children, twins Bronwyn Vance and Slater Vance, with her longtime husband, Courtney B. Vance.

If there’s anything that Angela gives her children, it’s tough love! “I had ‘em making up beds at 18 months,” the 9-1-1 star jokingly told Closer Weekly and other reporters during an event in October 2019. “I’m not trying to get them to do anything. They’re used to doing the right thing.”

By “[putting] the work in early,” Angela has taught her kids a lot about responsibility. The American Horror Story actress — who married Courtney in 1997 — said her children are so accountable, she doesn’t even help them with their homework.

“They are in public school. I went to public school. Turned out OK. I do not help them with their homework,” she once revealed an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, while hilariously recalling the time her son, Slater, went above and beyond with a project. “They’re doing TED Talks at school. My son did something on ‘Do aliens exist?’ It went very well, he gets very far on charisma, but no one understood what his TED Talk was about.”

Aside from being extremely smart, Angela’s kids are independent just like their mom. Even though both Angela and Courtney have busy schedules as Hollywood stars, Bronwyn and Slater have embraced the independence they had growing up.

“They want to be with their friends. They have their school friends, they have their sports friends, church friends … and they want to spend time with them,” the What’s Love Got to Do With It actress has shared. “You know what? I want to spend time with my friends too, so I get it, but I know what they like!”

But just because Angela’s family is used to running around in different directions, she still makes time for them to bond together at home. “I just try to find a moment, something that we can enjoy together that I know that they would really appreciate,” she gushed.

Considering Slater and Bronwyn are the kids of two incredible performers, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if the twins followed in Angela and Courtney’s acting footsteps. The Waiting to Exhale star revealed it’s not exactly acting, though, that peaks their interests.

“They both play the piano and rap and play guitar, so they have a little musical interest that I drill into them … that I insist upon!” she told People in February 2021, adding they truly enjoyed her 2020 film Soul. “I thought maybe they wouldn’t get into it because it’s jazz … but surprisingly they loved it.”

Keep scrolling to learn more about Angela’s two kids!

Slater Vance

Angela became a mom when she welcomed twins, one of which is son Slater, in January 2006. Since he arrived, he’s brought so much joy to his parents’ lives.

“It’s hard not to focus all of your attention on your children because they come so helpless, and they come so beautiful, and the smell — they’re really designed to suck you in,” Angela once said while promoting her Netflix movie Otherhood, according to Shondaland. “They’re really persuasive, and they persuade you to focus all of your attention on them and maybe put your dreams on the back burner at times. But you have to be really adept at balancing your dreams, hopes, and desires and raising them so you don’t lose yourself, or your relationship, in the process.”

Angela still gets overwhelmed when she thinks of Slater as a little boy, but the teenager is quickly growing up. Though he has yet to pave a career in Hollywood, he’s attended tons of Hollywood events with his famous mom and dad. Despite his red carpet outings, Angela joked her kids have yet to understand the gravity of her superstar status because they “haven’t seen” her hit 1993 film What’s Love Got to Do With It.

“Let them discover it,” Angela joked on the “People Every Day” podcast in January 2021. “Let their friends discover it … maybe [then] I’d get some more respect around here! … I tell them, ‘You don’t know what I got up my sleeve.'”

Bronwyn Vance

Alongside her twin brother, Angela’s daughter, Bronwyn, also arrived in January 2006. As the mom of her little girl, Angela will be the first one to admit Bronwyn looks up to her!

“I’m just speaking from my experience, but my daughter, from the time she was a little one, was always sort of looking to me for the example of what to do and how to be,” she explained to Vulture in 2019. “I have twins, and if I told her brother something like, ‘Slater, put that down. Slater, don’t stand on that. Slater —’ she would be my little copy. If he would do something, she would say, ‘Slater, put that down! Slater, don’t stand on that!’ She was my little copycat!”

Bronwyn considers her mom to be an amazing role model, so it’s no surprise the two love spending time together. In January 2020, the SAG Award winner shared the cutest pic of the mother-daughter duo, writing, “On a stretch of unspoiled California coastline with my beautiful daughter.”

In May 2021, Angela revealed that her daughter started dating. “My daughter asked if she could have a boyfriend, so she’s starting to date, but it’s still sweet,” the Black Panther actress told Us Weekly. “Sometimes I’ll have the nerve to ask, ‘Have, you kissed?’ And she says, ‘No.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, OK, well that wasn’t my journey.’”

While her daughter has expressed an interest in dating, Angela shared that her son was “not interested” and “just wants to work on his music.”