Halle Berry Won an Oscar and Says ‘I Was Still Black the Next Morning’ With Directors Refusing to Cast Her; She Later Advised Cynthia Erivo That Oscar Wins ‘Cannot Be Validation’

Halle Berry recently sat down with The Cut for a profile ahead of the release of her new thriller “Crime 101” and revealed that she once advised Cynthia Erivo not to place any real weight on winning an Oscar. Erivo has been nominated twice for best actress (“Harriet” and “Wicked”), while Berry made history as the first Black woman to win the Oscar for best actress with her performance in “Monster’s Ball.” She remains the only Black winner in the category to this day.

“That Oscar didn’t necessarily change the course of my career,” Berry told the publication. “After I won it, I thought there was going to be, like, a script truck showing up outside my front door. While I was wildly proud of it, I was still Black that next morning. Directors were still saying, ‘If we put a Black woman in this role, what does this mean for the whole story?…