Halle Berry was the first woman of color to ever win the Best Actress Oscar. She won in 2002 for Monster’s Ball. And Halle is still the only woman of color to ever win for Best Actress, although Gabourey Sidibe, Viola Davis and Quvenzhané Wallis have all been nominated for Best Actress in the years since Halle’s win, and many people (me) believed that Viola was robbed. In the past few weeks, Halle has been silent about #OscarsSoWhite, but she attended the Makers Conference this week and she did a Q&A session with Kevin Huvane. Here’s what she said:
“Honestly, that win almost 15 years ago was iconic,” she told CAA’s Kevin Huvane. “It was important to me, but I had the knowing in the moment that it was bigger than me. I believed that in that moment, that when I said, ‘The door tonight has been opened,’ I believed that with every bone in my body, that this was going to incite change because this door, this barrier, had been broken. And to sit here almost 15 years later, and knowing that another woman of color has not walked through that door, is heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking, because I thought that moment was bigger than me. It’s heartbreaking to start to think maybe it wasn’t bigger than me. Maybe it wasn’t. And I so desperately felt like it was.”
“It’s really about truth telling,” added Berry “And as filmmakers and as actors, we have a responsibility to tell the truth. And the films, I think, that are coming out of Hollywood aren’t truthful. And the reason they’re not truthful, these days, is that they’re not really depicting the importance and the involvement and the participation of people of color in our American culture.”
Yeah, I’ll throw shade at Halle for a lot of things, but I think she’s completely on target here. In that moment, when she won, she really did believe that her win was a watershed moment for Hollywood diversity. She really believed that she was one part of breaking the glass ceiling for women of color. And I buy that her disappointment is genuine, that here in 2016, she really doesn’t want to be the only woman of color to ever win a Best Actress Oscar.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
People can say what they want about halle,but she told the truth.
+1
Man she is gorgeous.
Super-crazy-pretty. She has such a perfect hourglass figure too. B*tch. lol
And what she said was spot-on.
Agreed. Esp when you watch the video of her win you could see that she thought “THIS is going to change things” sadly it hasn’t
I agree about doors opening say what you will she has always been very articulate IMO she doesn’t get enough credit for this as she is so pretty
I have left my thoughts though on her specific Oscar win elsewhere
Yep. I side-her for her relationship antics but she speaks true and, I believe, from the heart on this topic.
What work has she done since then that is award worthy? Forget the Oscars, there was no women of color to nominate because they were not in films. Take action against the studios, filmmakers n casting, they r not putting out films for women let alone WOC. But they won’t, too afraid to get blacklisted, its time to fight ladies.
My problem with people like Halle Berry making comments like this and the whole diversity in Hollywood obsession in the media is that the NEXT black actress who turns in a half decent performance will get nominated and win for affirmative action reasons whereas people like Denzel Washington paid their dues. It would be awful to have the Academy Awards next year with token Hispanics, black actors or Asian actors everywhere who don’t deserve to be nominated, nominated just for window dressing and I think it would be a huge insult to hugely talented black actors like Forest Whittaker, Morgan Freeman and Denzel who paid their dues before they won.
Funny how no one ever says it’s “Affirmative action” when a white actress wins for a barely decent performance ( I am looking at you Sandra B and JLaw ), and what’s even more funny is that white women benefit from affirmative action more than anyone else in America.
These things are obviously subjective but it goes back to the idea that black people have to be twice as good to get half the recognition (if any). Black people have to be extraordinary which wouldn’t have been bad if only white people were held to the same high standards.
It was either this or go on as usual and no matter what people would still say it’s a “token win” or a “token nomination” so there’s no winning for losing.
How about we get rid of the female category all together? Isn’t gender categories a bit sexist? Besides actresses can compete with the men, they are just as good and if a woman turns in a great performance she will get nominated fair and square. And if she doesn’t, and all the nominees just happen to be men year after year well it just means you weren’t as good and you shouldn’t get a token nomination just because you are a woman.
She’s right!
Please do not get angry with me, but I have to dispute Halle Barry’s WOC title – Cher won for Best Actress for Moonstruck in 1988 – she is not 100 percent Cherokee but nevertheless she recognizes her heritage.. please forgive me if Indigenous people are not considered of “Colour” but we are considered minorities. Erasing us from history does not mean we did not exist.
This is what I found on wiki
Cher was born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California, on May 20, 1946.[1] Her father, John Sarkisian, was an Armenian-American truck driver with drug and gambling problems, and her mother, Jackie Jean Crouch, was an occasional model and bit-part actress with Irish, English, German and Cherokee ancestry.[2]
This is what I found on wiki
Cher was born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California, on May 20, 1946.[1] Her father, John Sarkisian, was an Armenian-American truck driver with drug and gambling problems, and her mother, Jackie Jean Crouch, was an occasional model and bit-part actress with Irish, English, German and Cherokee ancestry.[2]
Rosa Lee u r correct. I for one do not like to be placed as a white women cause its either white or black,seems no room for gray area. I’m European, dark olive skin n do ethnic, never seen anyone of my heritage win the damn thing. I’ve seen plenty English, Australian, Irish etc…
I love Sandra Bullock but the year Gaby Sidibe lost to her broke my heart. Especially considering the type of film Sandra won for. I would have happily given Sandy the trophy for Gravity but Gabby had the better performance that year. Anyway, Halle is right. Disappointing regression.
Yeah; Gabby without a doubt had the better performance.
I would have given the award to anybody other than Sandra that year. She was just out-acted by 4 of the 5 nominees. Imagine if they would have thrown Meryl her 3rd Oscar for that and then Viola Davis could have won years later for The Help.
Not just that year though.
Sorry but Bullock is so f*cking overrated it kills me. She is a very VERY average, forgettable actress.
Sidibe gave a performance that still haunts me to this day. She was phenomenal.
Dang, Kitten, I thought I was the only one who thought that.
I love Sandra too, but she shouldn’t have been nominated for The Blind Side or Gravity.
The Blind Side & Erin Brockovitch were not oscar worthy movies IMO. Sandra shouldn’t have won for it & Same goes for Julia Roberts. I actually think others were better than Halle that year.
She is beautiful & crazy. She was also raised by her white mother but says she believes in a single drop theory which is beyond atrocious as it was a horribly racist measurement used to pigeon hole people of mixed heritages.
With that said Viola was robbed
Especially to have won it for Monsters Ball…
This was pre-Halle’s win, but I thought Angela Bassett did wonderful job in “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” Both she and Laurence Fishburne went home empty-handed. Can’t remember who their competition was, though. Other than Angela, I’m not sure which WOC should’ve taken home an Oscar. Haven’t seen “Precious,” so I can’t speak to Gabby’s performance in it.
WTW- this also shows that WOC don’t get high profile roles. The Oscars debate needs to go deeper and talk about how amazing WOC aren’t getting important roles.
Holly Hunter in THE PIANO won that year.
I always thought Pam Grier in Jackie Brown was outstanding. She should not only have been nominated for an Oscar, she should have been a serious contender to win. I believe was the year Helen Hunt won for As Good As It Gets. Anyone else remember that performance? Me neither.
I would have thrown all the Oscars at The Color Purple including Whoopi Goldberg for her performance as Celie. All of them.
Angela Bassett needs to be offered more roles. She is fantastic in the roles she does get, but instead we get more Jennifer Lawrence playing someone years older than her actual age.
And I agree Sandra Bullock was nowhere near as good as Viola Davis or really anyone else in her category the year she won. Plus her role was pretty condescending. How many white saviour roles do we need to see?
Yes. That movie was awful and I did not believe her acting elevated the material. It was just, bad.
I’m a violinist, and The Piano severely traumatized me! Still feel sickened…
I thought Viola Davis should have won for Doubt, although that was in the supporting category. It stands out as one of the most moving performances I can think of.
OMG, I saw that again recently. That one scene was heartbreaking. She inhabited her character. A wonderful performance.
Agree, TrixC. I feel that way about everyone in Doubt, too: Amy Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl, the little boy who played Donald, everyone.
I still think after all this years, that was the best Viola Davis performance. She was in the movie for not more than 10 minutes but completely stole it. Her two scenes mark a before and after in the movie. I get shivers just by remembering those 2 seconds were a tear slides off her cheek.
When people say acting is just remembering lines I think nope. Look at what Viola Davis did in that movie. That takes SKILL.
That movie, amazing!
I loved Monster’s Ball as well and I think Halle deserved her win. That scene where they’re taking her dead son away, made me bawl my eyes out.
She is absolutely right. My son was born that April and I saved the People magazine (and other things too) with Halle on the cover so he would know the cool and important things that happened the year of his birth. I was excited for her win. It is sad that nothing much seems to have changed. At times I feel things are going backward.
Oh there will probably be a win next year so they can claim to be fair before reverting to the status quo
I think it’s disappointing and also predictable that she would be the first.
So I feel very shallow for forgetting about the issue at hand for a good 10 seconds and thinking about how freakin gorgeous she is. Goodness. That short cut was everything.
I have no issues with what she said. Halle’s win should have opened the door to more opportunities and it did not. Her sadness/anger here is genuine and for good reason.
This Oscars debate is annoying me so much.
People really think minorities are pushing to be given nominations and wins which they don’t deserve purely to fill a race quota. So many people don’t understand that this is about amazing performances by minorities not being recognized while white actors are nominated when they probably didn’t deserve it
I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to explain and had people say they think the awards are given based on merit and minorities just want awards that they don’t deserve.
IWhat they’re saying is that white people have a lock on talent and merit and that by being more inclusive, the quality ceiling is lowered. They’re saying the only way minorites can get these awards is if white people decide to bite the bullet and accept that they’ll just have to put up with the inherent inferiority that will inevitably follow. Gross.
She is probably right, it’s a damned shame. However, the movie she won it for was awful and I personally did not think that she deserved the award that year. Sissy Spacek was amazing in “In the Bedroom” and I always thought she should have won.
I disagree. Halle’s performance was fantastic. Sissy’s role wasn’t even a lead part, as far as I’m concerned, and was more of a supporting role. Tom Wilkinson was brilliant and the lead actor and role in that movie.
I’m so glad I’m not alone here. I saw Monster’s ball after Halle Berry’s win and even if she delivered a great performance I still think this Oscar should be on Spacek’s mantelpiece.
@Happy21
Thank you , Sissy Spacek was sooh robbed , I am a BW who was initially happy for Halle that night but then the win made me go see the movie , What a disaster! laughable accent and cringe worthy acting , Im sorry but she only won because of raw graphic S3x scene which Im sure the old white men who voted made sure to go see (unlike recent movies ) plus a few yrs before similar to now there was a Oscars bruhahah after the Color Purple snagged like 12 noms and no wins despite the fact that at the time Spielberg was the Academys darling so IMO some tokenism was there as well
Lee Daniels initially didnt want Halle for the role as he thought she didnt have the chops but Angella Basset, Queen Latifah and Vanessa Williams all turned it down as too degrading to Black women before they finally gave it to Halle, so yes Halle it breaks my heart too to see what a WOC had to do to win an Oscar
ita monsters ball was awful. it’s not halle’s fault it is awful but i dont think it deserves any awards.
I agree. I went into Monster’s Ball (after her Oscar win) expecting to be blown away both by the film and her performance. And I wasn’t…by either.
Monster’s Ball was an odd film, an overwrought Lifetime movie with graphic sex and swearing.
But to be fair, most of the films that get actresses an Oscar, and many of the films that get actors and Oscar, just aren’t very good, especially with hindsight.
Today I learned: Halle Berry being messy in her romantic relationships does not mean she isn’t a thoughtful, intelligent and honest person about this very important topic. Sometimes, when a celebrity gets lots of coverage on their negative affairs, I forget that I liked them before. I’m basking in a little nostalgia right now, remembering a decade and a half ago, watching her walk onstage to accept her award and she’s bawling, just emotionally overwrought with happiness because she can’t believe that moment is real. A beautiful moment of television, truly.
I agree with everything she said here and she is truly one of the most beautiful women ever. However, I still cannot like her because I do not forgive her for that hit and run where she left the victim for dead and didn’t even have the empathy to call for help anonymously. I don’t care about her relationship drama; she’s never apologized for her hit and run and so I cannot like her because that too me reeks of thinking that the peasants beneath her do not matter.
She is completely on point here though.
I didn’t like Monster’s Ball at all, bored the life out of me and her performance is overrated. However, it is embarrassing, insulting and disheartening to realise all other best actress winners before and after have been exclusively white.
I wasn’t a fan of the movie either and I also said she wasn’t that great in it. But then again there are plenty of other Oscar winners that weren’t that great or deserving of an Oscar as well. As mentioned above Sandra Bullock performance wasn’t worthy of an Oscar. As much as I like Jennifer Lawrence her performance in SLPB was not worthy of an Oscar.
Denzel Washington has won a Best Supporting and a Best Actor Oscar. However, I think he should have won for Malcolm X or The Hurricane as over Training Day.
Halle’s half white herself. I definitely don’t think that is pure coincidence given the Academy’s record.
I do no think this is an Oscar issue. This is a Hollywood issue. I cannot honestly think of one female actress of color that put out a recent performance worthy of a best actress award. Not because they are not good, but because they are not in the movies/roles that show off their talent. The male actors though, like Denzel get noticed due to the roles they get. Where is the outrage when Daniel day lewis (lincoln) beat Denzeil washington (flight)?
What ALL actors need is better roles, better movies, and better performances.
And while the race topic needs to be discussed, lets do it honestly here. Denzel Washington has been nominated a few times (won). Forest Whitaker won. Morgan freeman a few times. etc. Many actresses/actors of color got nominated for supporting actress/actors. Whoopie (won). Angie Basset, Rosie perez, queen latifah, jen hudson (won), Pen Cruz (won), those are the few i know off the top of my head.
Now the Oscars, you have to admit, have an agenda that has nothing to do with race. No way did Berry have an oscar worthy performance for Monsters ball. She was atricious in that movie, acting wise. Yes she took a ‘risk’ going naked and crying all the time, but it was so contrived and painful to watch. Same can be true about Jennifer Lawerence too. Hollywood is pushing her hard to be the next Julia Roberts of this generation, and gave her that oscar to promote her.
And though I was no where near to being born at the time, how the hell did Clark Gable not win for GWTW? .
I thought Halle was just ok in Monster’s Ball, nothing special. Obviously the Academy voters did not agree.
She is absolute perfection in that gorgeous gown. Probably my favorite Oscar look on anyone ever.
They mostly give Oscars to black people when they subjugate themselves playing maids, drug addicts, and slaves. Halle’s role in that film was appalling.
Her role was appalling. I felt ill after watching it and I felt that she had degraded herself on film.
Heartbreaking? Oh come on. As a woc myself, there are much WORSE things that could happen.
It’s sad that only three women of color have been nominated in those 15 years. I think Viola Davis should have won for The Help.
One thing I’ve learned on this earth.
Whatever version of the glass ceiling you encounter, it does not shatter with a single act. A door that is opened can easily be shut and you can find yourself in a prison with everything you love and respect still locked out.
Every year those on the other side of that ceiling reinforce that glass again and again in fear of the day it grows weak.
This is not to say progress can’t come. But that it never comes neatly packaged and with applause and fanfare. It’s a series of profound conflicts ultimately dismantling the structures that made that ceiling – whichever version of it you encounter – disintegrate.
That’s why I like this Oscars backlash as well as the police protests. Because neither are about a single moment placatingly given with a pat on the head, but about dismantling the whole structure till change is the only option left.
Am i the only one who didnt like that movie? And just thought she seemed like she did in other movie??? Although what she said was true, i didnt think she should have won the Oscar for best actress that year for that movie
Whoopi Goldberg was the first WOC to win an oscar for the color purple I thought?? Hallee knows this. I’m not sure why people fail to mention her performance as Celie.
Because she didn’t win. Hattie McDaniel was the first and she won for Gone With the Wind, where she played a slave. The last winner was Lupita, who played a slave.
Whoopi has a supporting actress Oscar for Ghost, Rita Moreno has a supporting actress Oscar as well Halle is the first WOC to win for LEADING actress. Whoopi was nominated for Color Purple and did not win , in fact Color Purple probably holds the record for the most noms and the least wins despite having Spielberg as a director it was hard for people not to think race wasnt a factor
Whoopi won best supporting actress for Ghost.
Well here comes cynical me. I agree with what she said, but don’t believe she is 100% truthful. She is a very self-absorbed, off balanced woman and loves attention. I think she likes her place in history, but now that she is getting older probably is sincere this time.
Me too. And you phrased it so diplomatically, using the words “off balance.” Ever since the drama of her personal life overtook her public image, I have trouble taking her at face value. It’s ungenerous of me to paint her with a broad brush like that, I know.
Didn’t Lupita win an Oscar?
yes. supporting, i believe.
Sorry! Total set promotion here! “Look at me! I won the Oscar “yes 15 years ago! w
Way to take a situation and make it all about you! Sorry I cannot abide this woman
What’s even sadder is Halle’s career post-Oscar.
It’s sad that her award was a token.
I remember that oscar campaign. The talk wasn’t that she deserved to win because she was a good actress or that anyone had enjoyed the film, it was only about her race and she was going to win for being black and not her art.
As a result her award has always felt tainted to me.
That would have happened anyway. Anyone who goes first gets the “did she really deserve it or is it because of race”. I actually feel sorry for her in a way because she was the first black actress to win lead so of course the focus would be on her race.
I’m so sick of Awards shows , all the boring hype and shilling that goes on beforehand it’s just Hollywood patting itself on the back . The Oscars is basically just opinion and a popularity contest, everyone has their idea of who should win , not just the old waspy men of the academy, in my opinion she shouldn’t have won that year, Judy Dench was way better.