The Real Reason Halle Berry Isn't Acting Much Anymore

There was a time when Halle Berry was breaking Hollywood records and making film history. After all, in 2001 she became the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for her work in "Monster's Ball," according to Biography. This also made her one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood. 

The Ohio-born biracial actress – born to a white mother and Black father – got her show business start in the pageant world. She was Miss Teen Ohio and Miss Teen America. In 1985, she became the first runner up in the Miss USA pageant and eventually made the moves to Chicago and New York, respectively, to start a modeling career.

Her first big film break came in the Eddie Murphy comedy, "Boomerang." She went on to appear in countless hit flicks, including "The Flintstones," "Losing Isaiah," "X-Men," and "Catwoman," according to IMDb. However, there's a good reason you don't see her at the frequency you once did.

Halle Berry both directed and stars in "Bruised," a drama about the world of MMA Fighting, which makes its Netflix debut later in 2021. The film also made its rounds at the Toronto Film Festival in 2020, according to Variety.

Berry told Variety she was disappointed and disillusioned when her historic Oscar win didn't lead to the kind of diversity change she wanted to see in Hollywood, nor did it lead to the all the types of roles she hoped to play. "Just because I won an award doesn't mean that, magically, the next day, there was a place for me," she explained. "I was just continuing to forge a way out of no way."

Still, that doesn't mean she isn't excited to still be working in Hollywood and making a "comeback" of sorts with "Bruised" as an actress, and especially as a director.

"I'm more encouraged that as women, we are feeling confident enough to tell our stories," she mused. "And there is a place for us to tell our stories. For so long, our experiences have been told narratively through the guise of men."