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Halle Berry has said she is “saddened” by the fact she still remains the only Black woman to ever win an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Berry, 58, made history when she won the accolade for her role as Leticia Musgrove in 2002 movie, Monster’s Ball. She was the first Black woman in the Awards history to do so, since they were first set up in 1929.
In its 96-year history, only 14 women have been nominated in the category, with Berry being the only one to ever win. Five Black men have won in the Best Actor category, while a handful of Black women have won in the Supporting Actress category, including Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls (2006) and Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years A Slave in 2013.
“I’m still eternally miffed that no Black woman has come behind me for that best actress Oscar, I’m continually saddened by that year after year,” Berry told Marie Claire.
“And it’s certainly not because there has been nobody deserving.”
She referred to Andra Day’s role as singer Billie Holiday in The United States vs Billie Holiday. She also referred to Viola Davis’s portrayal of an influential Blues singer in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Over 3,000 statuettes have been given out across all categories since 1929 according to the Academy website. Sixty-three have been awarded to African-Americans, with 69 winners in total, due to some individuals winning multiple times.
In 2020, the actor expressed her dismay at the lack of Black female winners, as she told Variety of the landmark moment: “I wanted to believe it was so much bigger than me. It felt so much bigger than me, mainly because I knew others should have been there before me and they weren’t.”
She said, “I thought Cynthia [Erivo] was going to do it last year. I thought Ruth [Negga] had a really good shoot at it too.”
“I thought there were women that rightfully, arguably, could have, should have. I hoped they would have, but why it hasn’t gone that way. I don’t have the answer,” she said.
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Berry said she could relate to the attacks US presidential candidate Kamala Harris has received on account of her race and gender, and addressed how it felt to be called an “angry Black woman”.
“And you know what? Sometimes I am because we sit at the bottom of society,” she said. “That’s anger-making, when deep down you know it’s unjust and unfair. Yeah, that makes you mad.”
