Halle Berry remains the first and only black performer to ever win the Academy Award for best actress. She won the golden statuette for her ferocious performance in 2001’s “Monster’s Ball”.
Looking back on her win, Berry is telling Marie Claire being “eternally miffed that no Black woman has come behind me for that best actress Oscar, I’m continually saddened by that year after year […] And it’s certainly not because there has been nobody deserving.”
Berry then gives examples of Oscar-nominated performances by Andra Day in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” and Viola Davis in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” as two black actresses that deserved an Oscar. A few years ago, Berry told Variety that Cynthia Erivo in “Harriet” and Ruth Negga in “Loving” were also Oscar-worthy performances.
“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 at the time.
Of the examples Berry mentions, maybe only Viola Davis had a shot at winning for ‘Ma Rainey.’ Of course, black actresses have won in the Supporting acting category since then, including Jennifer Hudson (“Dreamgirls”), Monique (“Precious”), Octavia Spencer (“The Help”), Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years A Slave”), and Regina King (“If Beale Street Could Talk”).
Sadly, the performances that Berry namechecks were not worthy of winning. If anything, what she should be complaining about is the lack of baity roles for black women in the industry. That’s the real problem.
As far as black actors are concerned, Denzel Washington’s historic win for 2001’s “Training Day” led to a bit more progress. Jamie Foxx won for “Ray” in 2005, and Forest Whitaker (“The Last King of Scotland”) followed suit a few years after that. Then, Will Smith (“King Richard”) won in 2022, right after slapping Chris Rock. The late Chadwick Boseman was the frontunner in 2021 for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” but lost out to Anthony Hopkins (The Father).