While sitting down with Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Elaine Welteroth at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Halle Berry talked openly and honestly about everything from growing up biracial and raising biracial children to her thoughts on activism and Black Lives Matter. But one topic from the conversation that stood out was hearing Berry’s thoughts on the progress Hollywood has or hasn’t made in terms of diversity since she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2002.
More than 15 years since her win, Berry remains the only Black woman to take home that award, and when she thinks about that, along with the recent #OscarsSoWhite drama from 2015, 2016, Berry gets sad. And a little pissed off.
“It’s troubling to say the least,” she said to Welteroth. “And a few years ago, when we had the Oscars and there was a complete blackout for us, it was one of my lowest professional moments.”
According to the 50-year-old star, when she gave her moving speech after her history-making win for Monster’s Ball, it wasn’t something she had prepared. The desire for more inclusion when it comes to the roles being offered was on her mind when she said her win was “for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.” There have indeed been more chances, as just this year alone, Viola Davis won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Fences, Ruth Negga was nominated for Best Actress for Loving and Octavia Spencer and Naomie Harris were given Best Supporting Actress nominations as well for Hidden Figures and Moonlight. Not to mention that quite a few men of color, including Mahershala Ali, director Barry Jenkins and Denzel Washington, either won or were nominated for an Academy Award in 2017. But for Berry, there could be and should be more chances every year.
“I sat there and I remember that speech and I remember how I don’t even know where that speech came from because I didn’t have a speech,” she said. “I was pretty sure Sissy Spacek was going to win. That just was what was ruminating in my spirit. So two Oscars ago when we had that blackout, I sat there and I thought, ‘Wow, that moment really meant nothing. That meant nothing! I thought it meant something but I think that meant nothing.’ I was profoundly hurt by that and saddened by that.”
But she’s not just going to sit around and kick up a fuss about it. The actress said she’s now motivated and has also started to make the opportunities that she wants to see — for herself and others.
“It inspired me to try to get involved in other ways, which is why I want to start directing. I want to start producing more. I want to start being a part of making more opportunities for people of color,” Berry said. “I have conversation more deeply with Academy members in trying to figure out how to help and add more diversity into the Academy, this group which chooses who wins every year. These kinds of groups have to start changing and we have to start becoming more conscious and more inclusive. And I think Black people, people of color, only have a chance to win based on how much product we’re allowed to put out. That says to me we need more people of color writing, directing, producing — not just starring. We have to start telling stories that include us, and if stories don’t include us, we have to start asking ‘Why can’t that be a person of color? Why can’t that White male character be a Black woman?’ We have to start pushing the envelope and ask these questions.”
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