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Halle Berry Says Her Best Actress Oscar Didn’t Change Her Career

She argues entrenched industry assumptions kept limiting roles despite the milestone.

Overview

  • In a new profile with The Cut, Berry says her 2002 win for Monster’s Ball “didn’t necessarily change the course” of her career and recalls expecting a flood of offers that never came.
  • She describes directors questioning whether casting a Black woman would force a film to be labeled a “Black movie” and claims they worried such films would not sell overseas.
  • Berry says she advised two-time Best Actress nominee Cynthia Erivo not to count on an Oscar to change her life and not to treat it as validation for her work.
  • She remains the only Black woman to have won Best Actress, and outlets note similar post-Oscar frustrations voiced by Lupita Nyong’o about limited, typecast offers.
  • Berry is promoting Crime 101, due February 13, 2026, co-starring Chris Hemsworth, and coverage also notes her recent clash with California Gov. Gavin Newsom over a vetoed menopause bill tied to her company Respin.