Hollywood’s ongoing diversity issues have really hit Halle Berry hard, because she thought her Oscar win 15 years ago would open doors for African-American stars.
The actress gave an emotional acceptance speech about the importance of her Best Actress win for Monster’s Ball when she became the first black woman to win the award, and admits she felt sure her victory was a big win for all actors and actresses of color.
“Honestly, that win almost 15 years ago was iconic, it was important to me, but I had the knowing in the moment that it was bigger than me,” the X-Men star said during a panel at the 2016 Makers Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California on Tuesday.
“I believed that in that moment, that when I said, ‘The door tonight has been opened…,’ I believed that with every bone in my body that this was going to incite change because this door, this barrier, had been broken. And to sit here almost 15 years later, and knowing that another woman of color has not walked through that door, is heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking, because I thought that moment was bigger than me. It’s heartbreaking to start to think maybe it wasn’t bigger than me. Maybe it wasn’t. And I so desperately felt like it was.”
“As filmmakers and as actors, we have a responsibility to tell the truth,” she added, “and the films, I think, that are coming out of Hollywood aren’t truthful. And the reason they’re not truthful, these days, is that they’re not really depicting the importance and the involvement and the participation of people of color in our American culture.”
The diversity issue has become a hot button issue in recent weeks after Academy Awards voters failed to nominate a single African-American or minority actor, filmmaker or project for this year’s Oscars.
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