Halle Berry said she is upset that no other black female performer has been honored with the Academy Award for Best Actress, more than two decades after she became the first person to do so.
“I’m eternally upset that no black woman has followed me in the race for the best actress Oscar,” said the Oscar-winning actress, 58. Maria Clara in an article published Tuesday. “I am continually saddened by this year after year.”
The Bruised actress and filmmaker added that “it’s certainly not because there wasn’t anyone who deserved it.”
The Cleveland native won the Best Actress Oscar in 2002 for her work in the 2001 film 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 has played in making the industry more hospitable to all women of color,” according to the Marie Claire article, which noted that black women “have enjoyed unprecedented levels of visibility and opportunity in Hollywood, both on and off camera, in recent years.”
Halle Berry, 58, said she is upset that no other black female performer has been honored with the Academy Award for Best Actress, more than two decades after she was the first person to receive it. Pictured last month in Los Angeles
The Cleveland native won the Oscar for Best Actress in March 2002 for her work in the 2001 film Monster’s Ball.
Berry said: “Would I rather have awards or a solid, brilliant, successful career as a black woman? I’ll take a solid, successful career over an award any day.”
The Moonfall actress cited a number of nominations that she believes should have earned her the Oscar: Andra Day in 2021’s The United States vs. Billie Holiday, and Viola Davis in 2020’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Berry, in an October 2020 chat with VarietyShe also cited Cynthia Erivo in 2019’s Harriet and Ruth Negga in 2016’s Loving as performers who deserved Oscars for their respective efforts.
At the time, she told the outlet: “I thought there were women who, rightly, could have done it, should have done it. I hoped that would be the case, but I don’t have the answer to why it didn’t happen that way.”
Berry told the outlet at the time that one of her “biggest heartbreaks” had been that it had been decades since a black actress won top acting honors.
“The next morning I was like, ‘Wow, I got picked to open a door,'” Berry said. “And then not having anyone there… I was like, ‘Was that a big moment or was it just a big moment for me?'”
“I wanted to believe that it was so much bigger than me. It felt so much bigger than me, mainly because I knew that 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 just kept carving out a way out to a place that didn’t exist.”
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 is for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance because this door has opened tonight.”
Berry won top Hollywood honors for her portrayal of Leticia Musgrove in 2002.
Berry said Tuesday: “I am eternally upset that no black woman has followed me in the best actress Oscar race.”
The Moonfall actress cited a number of nominations that she believes should have earned her the Oscar: Andra Day in 2021’s The United States vs. Billie Holiday, and Viola Davis in 2020’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Berry spoke out in 2017 about the #OscarsSoWhite scandal that circulated in 2016, saying at Cannes Lion: ‘I sat there and I really thought, ‘Wow, that moment really didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean anything. I thought it meant something, but I guess it didn’t mean anything. ‘
At the time, she added: “It inspired me to try to get involved in other ways, so I want to start directing. I want to start producing more. I want to start creating more opportunities for people of color.”
Berry stars alongside Anthony B. Jenkins and Stephanie Lavigne in the upcoming film Never Let Go, out September 20.