Halle Berry

Halle Maria Berry became the first Black woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress on March 24, 2002, for her performance in Monster's Ball. Her tearful acceptance speech — "This moment is so much bigger than me" — acknowledged the generations of Black actresses who had been denied the recognition they deserved. Over two decades later, no other Black woman has won the award, a fact that speaks more about Hollywood than about Black talent.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1966, Berry grew up biracial in a predominantly white suburb, navigating questions of identity that would inform her later work. She was a beauty pageant winner (Miss Ohio, first runner-up in Miss USA) before transitioning to acting. Her early career included roles in Jungle Fever, Boomerang, and the X-Men franchise as Storm, one of the most popular characters in superhero cinema.

Berry's Oscar win for Monster's Ball was historic but complicated — the role included explicit scenes that generated debate about what Black women had to do to be recognized by Hollywood. She has spoken candidly about the limited progress since her win: "That moment really meant nothing. It meant nothing." She has continued to work steadily in film and television, directed her first feature (Bruised, 2020), and remains one of the most recognizable actresses in the world.