Halle Berry Made Oscars History 22 Years Ago & She's Still The Only Winner

Halle Berry is one of the most accomplished actors of her generation, having appeared in some incredible movies throughout her extensive career. She famously won the Academy Award for Best Lead Actress in 2002, which helped boost her career to even higher heights and land her even more iconic roles in the decades to come. Halle Berry's best movies span a wide range of genres and styles, with her most noteworthy projects including Monster's Ball, Cloud Atlas, and Bulworth.

Berry's 2001 thriller Monster's Ball is the movie for which she ultimately won the Best Actress Oscar, with the story centering around a prison guard who falls in love with the wife of a prisoner who's recently been executed. It's a fascinating narrative of guilt, culpability, and responsibility that explores the many flaws of the American justice system through the eyes of those who are most directly affected by it, with Berry delivering one of her most moving performances. Halle Berry's Oscar win was a historic moment for several reasons, but it hasn't inspired the change that many expected.

Halle Berry Became The First Black Person To Win The Best Actress Oscar In 2002

Berry Won For Her Oustanding Performance In Monster's Ball

The most noteworthy detail about Halle Berry's 2002 Oscar win is that she was (and remains) the only Black person to win the Best Lead Actress category. This was a major aspect of her campaign at the time, with the industry seemingly agreeing that it was time for the Academy to reward a Black actress for their contributions to cinema. For a long time, Hollywood had been almost exclusively controlled and influenced by the white community, and Berry's victory at the Oscars represented a dissolution of that toxic history.

Related Halle Berry's 10 Most Underrated Movies Halle Berry is mostly known for her blockbusters, but her filmography is full of underappreciated gems that showcase her full acting ability.

Furthermore, Berry's performance in Monster's Ball was more than deserving of the Academy Award, regardless of the backstage politics that came with her victory. The way that she navigates such an authentic, complex character who consistently feels real and lived-in is something that not everybody can do — and she makes it look easy. Although Halle Berry was famously warned against starring in Monster's Ball, she immediately proved that she was a perfect fit for the role, and this decision paid off in the end.

Halle Berry Is Still The Only Black Best Actress Oscar Winner Despite Many Other Nominees

Nobody Else Has Reached The Same Achievement As Berry

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Shockingly, Berry remains the only Black person to win the Best Actress Oscar today, two decades after her historic win. There have been many more nominees in recent years, but they've all been unable to gather the votes needed to win the award. The most noteworthy of these nominees is Viola Davis, whose name has been included in the category twice, for The Help and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. She was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Doubt and later won that award for Fences.

Other important examples include Cynthia Erivo for Harriet, Andra Day for The United States vs Billie Holliday, and Ruth Negga for Loving — but white actresses outvoted all.

Other important examples include Cynthia Erivo for Harriet, Andra Day for The United States vs Billie Holliday, and Ruth Negga for Loving — but white actresses outvoted all. Any of these nominees would have been deserving winners, and the fact that Berry's record still remains untouched is a shocking and disturbing reminder of the continuing difficulties for Black actors and actresses in today's film industry. Hattie McDaniel made history as the first Black person to win an Oscar in 1940, and it's been an uphill battle ever since then.

What Halle Berry Has Said About Being The Only Black Best Actress Oscar Winner

Berry Hasn't Held Back About The Oscars' Discrimination

Berry is just as troubled and unsettled by this fact as everyone else in the industry. Speaking with Variety, the actress has confessed her "heartbreak" about the lack of recognition for Black actors at the Academy Awards, particularly in the Best Actress category. She mentioned both Erivo and Negga as examples of actresses whom she thought "had a really good shot" at matching her accomplishment, claiming that they "could have [and] should have" received the award.

"Was that an important moment," she asked, "or was it just an important moment for me?" The relevance of Berry's win cannot be understated, but there's no denying that it felt much more impactful and groundbreaking in 2002 than it does today. It doesn't seem to have had the effect that many people had hoped, which Berry admits to be troubling. "It felt so much bigger than me," she told Variety. There's still plenty of work to be done to ensure Black actors are given the right opportunities to help them follow in Halle Berry's footsteps.