Halle Berry, the only black woman to win the Oscar for best actress, says the historic win in 2002 "didn't necessarily change the course of my career."
Speaking to The Cut to promote new drama Crime 101, Berry revealed that she had expected the win for Lee Daniels' Monster's Ball to bring "a truckload of scripts outside my door."
However, the number of projects she was offered remained steady, due to the industry's ongoing uncertainty about how to tell the stories of people of color, the actress said.
“While I was incredibly proud of the win, I was still black that morning. Directors were still asking, ‘If we put a black woman in this role, what does that mean for the whole story? Should I also cast a black man? Then it becomes a black movie. Black movies don’t sell abroad.’”
A similar sentiment was expressed last year by Lupita Nyong'o, winner of the Oscar for supporting actress in 2014 for her performance in Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave.
Speaking to CNN, Nyong'o said the range of roles she was offered was limited. "After I won that Academy Award, we were like, 'Oh, I'm going to have leading roles here and there,'" she said.
Instead, conversations often began with: “‘Oh, Lupita, I’d love for you to be in another movie where you’re a slave, but this time on a slave ship.’ These were the offers I was offered in the months after winning the Oscar.”
More than 30 black actors – including Michael B Jordan from Sinners – have been nominated for the Oscar for best actor, and five of them have won. Meanwhile, 16 black female actors have been nominated for the award for best actress.
There are 25 black male actors nominated for supporting actor — with seven wins, including Delroy Lindo for Sinners. His co-star, Wunmi Mosaku, is one of 32 black female actors nominated for supporting actress, with 10 wins. This year's frontrunners are Teyana Taylor for One Battle After Another. /GazetaExpress/
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