Halle Berry found it “surprising” that she wasn’t overloaded with work offers after winning an Oscar.
The 54-year-old actress made history as the first Black woman to take the Best Actress Academy Award in 2002 for her role in ‘Monster’s Ball’ and she she admitted the “fundamental change” she anticipated in her working life didn’t happen.
She told Entertainment Weekly: “It was surprising. Because I thought they were going to just back up the truck and drop them off at my house, right?
“When you have a historic win like that, you think, ‘Oh, this is going to fundamentally change.’ It did fundamentally change me, but it didn’t change my place in the business overnight.
“I still had to go back to work. I still had to try to fight to make a way out of no way.”
The ‘Bruised’ star – who has children Nahla, 13, and Maceo, seven, from previous relationships – admitted she’s sometimes had to take on a film role just because it pays the bills as the dream roles she’s looking for don’t always come along.
She said: “It’s like, okay, that’s a film I can’t say I’m totally in love with, but this isn’t a hobby. It’s how I take care of my children. But I try to keep that sense of wonder and stay curious. Because being a Black woman, I haven’t always had parts that I absolutely love.”
And Halle illustrated her point by mentioning ‘Catwoman’, the superhero story which was widely panned and earned her a Razzie award.
She said of the blockbuster: “For me it was one of the biggest paydays of my whole life, which, there’s nothing wrong with that…. I don’t want to feel like ‘Oh, I can only do award-worthy stuff.’ What is an award-worthy performance?”
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