Halle Berry is opening up about being the first — and only — Black woman to have won the Oscar for best actress in the nearly 100-year history of the Academy Awards.
In the Apple TV+ documentary Number One on the Call Sheet, Berry reflects on what has happened since she won the Oscar in 2002, for her role in Monster’s Ball. In that time, no other Black actress has taken home the award.
“It’s forced me to ask myself, did it matter?” Berry asks. “Did it really change anything for women of color? For my sisters? For our journey?”
The documentary shows a montage of Black actresses losing out to white women at the Oscars. Overall, 15 Black actresses have been nominated for the honor, including, most recently, Cynthia Erivo, who’s been nominated twice. This year, Erivo was nominated for her role in Wicked but lost to Anora star Mikey Madison.
Berry says in the documentary that she thought a Black actress had a good chance of winning in 2021.
“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 Hoilday and Davis for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom], and I felt 100 percent 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.”
However, Frances McDormand went on to collect 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 adds. “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 documentary, Taraji P. Henson and Whoopi Goldberg also express incredulity over the lack of Black best actress Oscar winners.
“Wait a minute, none of us were good enough?” Goldberg asks. “Nobody? In all of these people, nobody?’ … What are we missing here? This is a conversation people have every year.”
Goldberg is one of 10 Black women who have won the Oscar for best supporting actress. Henson has a theory about why there are more supporting actress wins for Black women.
“I don’t think the industry really sees us as leads, you know?” she says in the documentary. “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?”
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