Halle Berry Once Shared the 1 Criticism About Her Oscar Win She Found Degrading
Halle Berry made history when she won the Oscar for Monster’s Ball, a prize she thought would go to another actor. However, there were some critics who felt other films Berry did were more deserving of the award.
Halle Berry resented this criticism about her ‘Monster’s Ball’ performance
Berry couldn’t have been prouder of the performance she delivered in Monster’s Ball. But a few of her fans felt movies like Dorothy Dandridge and Queen deserved Oscar recognition more. Dorothy Dandridge saw Berry play the late actor and singer in 1999, a role she was so scared to do it made her sick. Meanwhile, Queen was another biopic about a young African American woman passing herself off as white during the civil war. Some made the argument that Berry played classier characters in these movies, compared to Monster’s Ball where she went nude in. But Berry didn’t take too kindly to that kind of feedback.
“I am used to criticism. I accept all of it and I respect another person’s opinion. However, that type of criticism doesn’t stick to me. I am not one thinks from that narrow mindset. I know I didn’t get an academy award because I took my clothes off. I won’t accept it. I won’t allow anybody to stick that to me,” she once told Who?Mag.
She also reminded critics that Dorothy Dandridge and Queen weren’t even eligible for Academy Award nominations.
“The reason I didn’t get an Academy Award for Dorothy Dandridge or Queen was because they were television projects. Academy Awards are given to movies. It’s unfortunate that an accomplishment as big as that, it’s much bigger than me,” she said. “It was for everybody. I was mindful of including everybody. I feel it was a little unfortunate that it was degrading in that way, that we wouldn’t see the good in it. That we would try to find something negative about it. At the end of the day it’s a positive thing. That moment happened and it started a steamrolling effect.”
She clarified, however, by asserting she had no problem with her nude scenes in the film.
“It’s not about nudity. I’m totally comfortable with my nudity. I find it hard that in this country, we are ok with killing and shooting, but we are not ok with a simple naked body. It’s a contradiction. I just don’t let that criticism stick. I respect the opinion of somebody. Right on,” she said.
Halle Berry felt like she won the Oscar for Dorothy Dandridge
Berry considered it an honor to play the late Dandridge in her biopic. Like Berry, Dorothy also made history back in her day. She was the first Black woman to be nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award in 1954. Berry credited Dandridge and her historic achievements for paving the way for other African American female stars years later.
“I don’t think Dorothy Dandridge ever knew how significant her life and career would be, but it’s because she walked through the back door, that I can walk through the front door. If all these Black women can work in this way today, Angela Bassett, Whoopi Goldberg, Leila Rochon, Holly Robinson and myself, it’s only because she did what she did,” Berry once said according to the Golden Globes.
So although Berry didn’t win the Oscar for the movie based on Dandridge, she did feel she won for Dandridge herself.
“I am filled with pride because I am the first African American woman to win this Academy Award. As I said before, I came full circle to win this award for Dorothy. I was like ‘I think I do it for her.’ We, together, had this mission, and I finished the loop,” Berry said in a 2021 interview with Vogue.
Berry hoped her Oscar win would provide the same opportunities for women of color that Dandridge did. However, she admitted to being heartbroken that no other Black female actor achieved the same milestone she did.
