There is always an individual that comes and elevates a sport on and off the field. As we reached the end of of February, which is Black History Month and entered Womens History Month here, which is when began working on this, we look at a sensational black athlete who is crossing over in all mediums of entertainment. Her name is Angel Reese, and she is quickly becoming a worldwide superstar, especially off the basket ball court. This sensational young woman known as the ‘Bayou Barbie‘ from her LSU championship playing days and now the ‘Chi-town Barbie‘ after being drafted in the seventh round by the Chicago Sky, is proving to be unstoppable, undeniable, and unapologetic on her descent and journey to greatness. She is getting into pop culture such as being the first ever rookie from the WNBA and only second player ever from the WNBA to be invited to the exclusive Met Gala hosted by legendary fashion icon and Editor in Chief of Vogue Magazine Anna Wintour. She was featured in an article for Vogue, while also modeling for them, and impersonated and mentioned on Saturday Night Live. She brings a swagger, magnetism, and personality I have not seen in a modern sports star for a long time that crosses over. She just recently penned a deal with the giant chocolate/candy brand Reese to be their ambassador and have her own clothing line with them. And she just made already her first outing into Hollywood as the only featured Women’s basketball star, front and center in a trailer promoting the blockbuster movie adaption of Wicked, which starred the likes of Academy Award, Grammy Award, Golden Globe and Tony Award winning trio of Michelle Yeo, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in a crossover brand promotion with Wicked and the WNBA. Wicked will premiere worldwide at the end of November.
Angel Reese is making great and historic moves on and off the court. Reese is an entire brand, not just a basketball player. She chooses not to let basketball define her. She is more than just a basketball player; at only 22 years old when this article was written, she is an all-American having already won a national basketball championship with LSU (Louisiana State University), she was a champion in high school in Baltimore as well as in volleyball, and she has won at every level of basketball in her young career so far. Her mother Angel Reese Sr. was also a very talented basketball player in her youth and university playing days at UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County). She was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame and her number 10 jersey was then retired; the same number Angel Reese would wear playing for LSU. She later played professionally in Luxembourg. Her daughter Angel Reese is now following in her footsteps, and was breaking numerous records until her season was ended early because of a wrist injury. After her first season, she is on her way to becoming the greatest rebounder ever in women’s basketball history and one of the greatest to play the game. She has the biggest following on social media of any WNBA player on all her platforms and she has also now launched her own podcast Unapologetically Angel which is on YouTube and all podcast platforms. We look forward to wherever else in movies and television Angel Reese will go as well as what she will achieve in the great sport of basketball!
Angel Reese has also started to accelerate her transition to Hollywood as she had a small role and cameo in the acclaimed Nexflix ensemble drama A House of Dynamite (2025) which starred Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Greta Lee, Gabriel Basso, Kaitlyn Dever and more. She just currently voiced Propp the polar bear in animated movie GOAT (2026) opposite talents such as Nicola Coughlan, Aaron Pierre, David harbour, Gabrielle Union and Caleb McLaughlin, a feature which was produced by fellow Basketball superstar Steph Curry. She recently had the honour of being chosen as the cover star for NBA 2K26 for the women’s version and share the cover with Carmelo Anthony and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who also had their own individual covers, with the trailer below featuring legendary filmmaker Spike Lee. Angel was recently traded to the Atlanta Dream where she is continually breaking records on the court, I believe she is the female equivalent of Michael Jordan in women’s basketball and women’s sport and will continue to break glass ceilings.
All images are copyright of the respective owners.
