ER has added yet another A-list actress to its ranks.  The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Angela Bassett is joining the cast of the NBC medical drama for its 15th and final season.

Bassett will reportedly portray “a tough attending with a troubled past who's coming back to Chicago after a few years in Indonesia doing tsunami relief.  Her arrival in the second episode next season promises to shake County General's ER to the core.”

This will mark Bassett's first foray as a television series regular.  She first made her appearance on television as a prostitute in the 1985 TV movie Doubletake and officially made her film debut in the 1986 film F/X.  Soon after, she won the role of Tina Turner in the feature film What's Love Got to Do with It where she earned a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.  Bassett made history as the first African-American to win the Best Actress Golden Globe for a Musical or Comedy.  While she made headlines with movies like How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Waiting to Exhale, she also gained positive reviews as she made rare guest appearances on shows like Alias and Freedom: A History of Us.

"Angela is a wonderfully talented actress whom I've long hoped to work with," said ER exec producer John Wells.

In addition to Bassett, original cast member Noah Wyle (Dr. John Carter) will also rejoin ER for the final season as well.

"ER is one of the greatest shows of all time and we can't wait to deliver to the audience the fantastic stories the series is known for," NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman said in a statement. "We will introduce new characters to the great ensemble."

ER presently includes John Stamos, Maura Tierney, Parminder Nagra, Linda Cardinelli, Gloria Reuben, Mekhi Phifer and Goran Visnjic.

Fans can catch ER every Thursday at 10pm on NBC.



-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
(Image courtesy of WireImage.com)