Calgary Halle Berry Made History At The 2002 Oscars, Then Nothing Changed | HuffPost Life - Action.News ABC Action News WestNet-HD Weather Traffic

The screen behind Russell Crowe shows a mosaic of their faces: Sissy Spacek, Renee Zellweger, Judy Dench, Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry. Its 2002 and theyre all at the 74th Academy Awards in Hollywood, and probably nobody realizes that history is about to be made . And when it is made, when Crowe opens the envelope and announces that Halle Berry has just won the Oscar for Best Actress, when she begins to register the gravity of the situation, her face opens out, her eyes well up, and all she can say is, Oh, my god.

Oh, my god. She says it at least eight or nine times, repeats it to herself, then to the others around her. Oh, my god, she says, and its clear that she really cant believe what is happening, because what is happening is that Halle Berry has just become the first Black woman like, ever to win the Oscar for Best Actress. This moment is so much bigger than me, she says when she finally reaches the stage, fighting back tears and apologizing and whispering oh, my god a few more times.

This moment is for Dorothy Dandrige, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. Its for the women that stand beside me: Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox. And its for every faceless woman of colour that now has a chance because this door, tonight, has been opened.

it still doesnt make sense that Halle Berry is the ONLY black actress to win an Oscar for best actress in a leading role. No Angela Bassett. No Viola Davis. No Lupita Nyongo. No Octavia Spencer. No Regina King... https://t.co/1whiYuJuwE

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it still doesnt make sense that Halle Berry is the ONLY black actress to win an Oscar for best actress in a leading role. No Angela Bassett. No Viola Davis. No Lupita Nyongo. No Octavia Spencer. No Regina King... https://t.co/1whiYuJuwE
c (@chuuzus) September 10, 2020

Who would have known that she would be wrong? Who would have known that, in the 18 years since that moment, it has never again happened? Certainly not Berry. She was hopeful. And as the actress, who is now 54 years old, prepares to premiere her directorial debut, Bruised , at TIFF 2020 , she is feeling a pang of nostalgia looking back on that moment, which she now considers to be one of [her] biggest heartbreaks.

The morning after, I thought, Wow, I was chosen to open a door, she told Variety . And then, to have no one I question, Was that an important moment, or was it just an important moment for me? 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 werent.

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