Halle Berry opens up about her ‘sadness’ at being the only Black actress to have won Best Actress Academy Award
Halle Berry said that she’s upset that no other Black entertainer has been honored with the Best Actress Academy Award, more than two decades after she was the first person to do so.
‘I’m still eternally miffed that no Black woman has come behind me for that best actress Oscar,’ the Academy Award-wining actress, 58, told Marie Claire in an article published Tuesday. ‘I’m continually saddened by that year after year.’
The Bruised actress and filmmaker added that ‘it’s certainly not because there has been nobody deserving.’
The Cleveland native won the Best Actress Oscar in 2002 for her work in the 2001 motion picture Monster’s Ball; in the 22 years since, only one other person of color, actress Michelle Yeoh, has won the honor (for Everything Everywhere All at Once, last year).
Berry ‘proudly acknowledges the role she’s played in making the industry more hospitable for all women of color,’ according to the Marie Claire article, which noted that Black women ‘have enjoyed unprecedented levels of Hollywood visibility and opportunity, both on and off camera, in recent years.’
Halle Berry, 58, said that she’s upset that no other Black entertainer has been honored with the Best Actress Academy Award, more than two decades after she was the first person to do so. Pictured last month in LA
The Cleveland native won the Best Actress Oscar in March of 2002 for her work in the 2001 motion picture Monster’s Ball
Berry said, ‘Would I rather have awards or a kickass, robust, soaring career as a Black woman? I’d take the kickass, soaring career over an award any day.’
The Moonfall actress cited a series of nominations she felt should have earned Oscars: Andra Day in 2021’s The United States vs. Billie Holiday, and Viola Davis in 2020’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
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Berry, in an October 2020 chat with Variety, also cited Cynthia Erivo in 2019’s Harriet and Ruth Negga in 2016’s Loving as performers who deserved Oscars for their respective efforts.
She told the outlet at the time, ‘I thought there were women that rightfully, arguably, could have, should have. I hoped they would have, but why it hasn’t gone that way, I don’t have the answer.’
Berry told the outlet at the time that it had been one of her ‘biggest heartbreaks’ that it has been decades since a Black Actress has won the top acting honors.
‘The morning after, I thought, “Wow, I was chosen to open a door,”‘ Berry said. ‘And then, to have no one … I question, “Was that an important moment, or was it just an important moment for me?”
‘I wanted to believe it was so much bigger than me. It felt so much bigger than me, mainly because I knew others should have been there before me and they weren’t … just because I won an award doesn’t mean that, magically, the next day, there was a place for me. I was just continuing to forge a way out of no way.’
In her acceptance speech 22 years ago, Berry said, ‘This moment is so much bigger than me – this moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll … and it’s for every nameless and faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.’
Berry won Hollywood’s top honors for her performance as Leticia Musgrove in 2002
Berry said Tuesday, ‘I’m still eternally miffed that no Black woman has come behind me for that best actress Oscar’
The Moonfall actress cited a series of nominations she felt should have earned Oscars: Andra Day in 2021’s The United States vs. Billie Holiday, and Viola Davis in 2020’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
She added at the time, ‘It inspired me to try to get involved in other ways, which is why I want to start directing. I want to start producing more. I want to start making more opportunities for people of color.’
Berry stars opposite Anthony B. Jenkins and Stephanie Lavigne in the upcoming film Never Let Go, which debuts September 20.
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