“I’m continually saddened by that year after year”: Halle Berry Had Enough of Academy Not Having Any Black Woman as the Best Actress Since 2002 as She Voices Her Frustration
- Halle Berry’s 2002 Academy win for 'Monster’s Ball' was meant to spark change.
- However, since then, no other Black woman has won the Oscar for Best Actress.
- Berry expressed ongoing disappointment and sadness over the lack of progress.
Imagine winning an Oscar and hoping it will spark a wave of change, only to find that, two decades later, you’re still the only one in that category. That’s where Halle Berry finds herself today. In 2002, she made history by becoming the first Black woman to snag the Best Actress Oscar for her role in Monster’s Ball.
It was supposed to be a beacon of progress. Yet, here we are, and Berry remains the only Black actress to have won in this category. Despite other amazing performances by actresses, the award has not been given to another Black woman since.
Berry’s disappointment is clear. She had hoped her win would pave the way for others, but it seems the door she opened is still ajar, with no one else having walked through it.
Halle Berry Still Disheartened by Lack of Black Women Oscar Winners
Halle Berry’s Oscar win was supposed to be a breakthrough, not a dead end. In a recent interview with Marie Claire, she expressed her ongoing disappointment over the lack of subsequent Academy wins by Black actresses in the Best Actress category.
Since her historic win, only one other woman of color, Michelle Yeoh, has taken home the Best Actress Oscar. Berry said in the interview:
I’m still eternally miffed that no Black woman has come behind me for that best actress Oscar, I’m continually saddened by that year after year. And it’s certainly not because there has been nobody deserving.
Speaking to Variety a few years ago, Berry said that winning the Oscar remains “one of my biggest heartbreaks” because it didn’t lead to more opportunities for Black women at the Oscars, as she had hoped. The Hollywood beauty also cited Cynthia Erivo in Harriet and Ruth Negga in Loving as other Oscar-worthy performances by Black women, adding:
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.
Even at Cannes Lions the year after #OscarsSoWhite, the actress shared a moment of honesty (via Vanity Fair). Berry said she used to think her Oscar “meant something.” But now it feels like it didn’t mean much at all.
Halle Berry is More Than Just a Pretty Face
Despite the Oscars’ shortcomings, Halle Berry remains a standout star in Hollywood. With a career spanning over three decades, Berry has shown incredible versatility, taking on roles from a Bond girl in Die Another Day to a gritty MMA fighter in Bruised.
Her latest projects include the thriller Never Let Go and the recently released action-comedy The Union. In the same interview with Marie Claire, Berry shared that she is excited for people to notice her other skills and passions.
The 58-year-old feels that as her appearance changes over time, it will be a chance for everyone to see her for who she really is beyond just her physical appearance. Berry believes there’s much more to her that’s intriguing and important.
