Halle Berry Says She’s Heartbroken No Other Black Woman Has Won Academy Award For Best Actress

Halle Berry

Halle Berry Says She’s Heartbroken No Other Black Woman Has Won Academy Award For Best Actress

Bruised actress and director Halle Berry is opening up about some of the high moments about her stellar career as a multi-award winning actress. She also addressed the fact that 20 years after her historic Oscar win, she remains the only black woman to take home the award for best actress.

Halle Berry

Halle Berry has previously been open and honest when discussing the surprise she felt post her historic Oscar win. In an earlier interview she stated:

“It was surprising. Because I thought they were going to just back up the truck and drop [the job offers] off at my house, right? When you have a historic win like that, you think, ‘Oh, this is going to fundamentally change.’ It did fundamentally change me, but it didn’t change my place in the business overnight. I still had to go back to work. I still had to try to fight to make a way out of no way.”

In a recent promotional of ABC’s Soul of a Nation, a special centering around the history and rise of notable Black actresses, the 55-year old actress touches on the topic of still being the only Black woman to win the award 20 years later.

After being asked if her hopes for the success of future Black actresses has come to fruition, which she mentions during her iconic 2002 acceptance speech, Halle Berry had this to say:

“I’ve been asked this question so many times as if I should have the answer, but I don’t. But I will say this, I do feel completely heartbroken that there’s no other woman standing next to me in 20 years”

Halle Berry

She continued:

“I thought, like everybody else, that night meant a lot of things would change. That there would be other women. I thought I would have the script truck back up to my front door and I’d have an opportunity to play any role I wanted. That didn’t happen. No other woman is standing there.”

Though there has yet to be a breakthrough of other Black women winning the award, the actress says she does believe the win inspired more Black creatives to dream big.

“When I look around and I see my brothers and sisters working and thriving and telling their own stories from their point of view, I’m proud of that. And I see the movement forward. And I think that night inspired so many of those people to dream those dreams.” 

The Academy has been under fire many times for their lack of representation in film and media, and most recently received backlash after releasing an appreciation tweet towards Hattie McDaniel, the first African American to win an Oscar.

Do you think we’ll see another Black woman win the award anytime soon? Tell us what you think in the comments!

[VIA]