Halle Berry interrogates her legacy as the only Black woman to win Best Actress more than 20 years later.
Another awards season is winding down, and Halle Berry, who famously became the first Black woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her role in “Monster’s Ball,” has remained the only Black woman to win the coveted award.
Reflecting on her historic win in Apple TV’s new documentary “Number One on the Call Sheet,” the 58-year-old actress continues to question this legacy.
“It’s forced me to ask myself, did it matter?” she reflected. “Did it really change anything for women of color? For my sisters? For our journey?”
Leading up to the 97th Oscars, which took place on March 2, Berry opened up on a podcast about how she was “tired” of being the only one. This year, Cynthia Erivo was nominated for the second time for Best Actress for her portrayal of Elphaba in “Wicked.” However, Mikey Madison took home the award for her role in “Anora.”
In the documentary, Berry notes that in 2021, she also thought the odds of the list finally growing were good.
“A few years ago, I was at the table with Andra Day, and I was across the room from Viola Davis, and they were both nominated for stellar performances [Day for “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” and Davis for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”], and I felt 100% sure that this was the year one of them was gonna walk away with this award,” she says, adding: “For equally different and beautiful reasons, they both deserved it, and I thought for sure.”
In the end, Frances McDormand went on to win her third Oscar for “Nomadland.”
“The system is not really designed for us, and so we have to stop coveting that which is not for us,” Berry explained. “Because at the end of the day, it’s ‘How do we touch the lives of people?’ and that fundamentally is what art is for.”
In the film, fellow Black actresses Taraji P. Henson and Whoopi Goldberg also weigh in on the lack of Black “Best Actress” Oscar winners.
“I don’t think the industry really sees us as leads, you know?” said Henson, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2009 for “Benjamin Button.” She added, “They give us supporting [actress awards] like they give out candy canes. That just — I don’t know what to do with that. Because what are you saying to me?”
Goldberg, who is also one of 10 Black women to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, questions the message behind the lack of Black winners.
“Wait a minute, none of us were good enough?” she asked. “Nobody? In all of these people, nobody?… What are we missing here? This is a conversation people have every year.”
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