Angela Bassett plays a very unique yet compassionate character on FX's American Horror Story: Freak Show, which the actress says is part of the point.

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Bassett sat down with HuffPost Live (featured below) on Tuesday to discuss Freak Show, in which she plays Desiree Dupree, a three-breasted hermaphrodite who joins a freak show in Jupiter, Fla. in 1952. Part of the theme of this season of the horror anthology series is to show the value in having differences, Bassett explained.

"It's about compassion for the differences," she noted. "That's what makes the world so interesting is that we are different and some folks are a little bit odd but they may have talent and wisdom we can learn from."

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Highlighting diversity is one of the staples of American Horror Story. From the beginning the series has employed a very diverse cast full of characters whose stories are rarely depicted on television. The first season featured young Adelaide, played by actress Jamie Brewer, who has Down Syndrome. She would later return for AHS: Coven and is expected to appear again for Freak Show.

Coven featured mostly older actresses in main roles, which is a rarity for mainstream television and movies. Actresses like Bassett, Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Frances Conroy and Patti LuPone lent their talents to the third season. This season was centered on witches, with a focus on the fear of those with magical abilities. This certainly serves as an apt metaphor for society as a whole, particularly when it comes to those in the LGBT community.

Freak Show has employed a great number of actors with oddities of their own, including the world's smallest woman Jyoti Amge (who plays Ma Petite), Rose Siggins, who was born with no legs (Legless Suzi) and the very tall Erika Ervin, who is transgender and plays Amazon Eve, the world's tallest woman.

Freak Show has already featured characters like Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters) exclaiming that he and his fellow "freaks" are just like everybody else. It remains to be seen how much further the season will delve into this theme, though it has certainly become one of its main points.

American Horror Story: Freak Show airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX.

Watch Bassett's interview with HuffPost Live here:

Tags: American Horror Story television fx