The One Role That Changed The Course Of Halle Berry's Career Forever

The whiplash of standing on top of the world, only to find that little change had actually been spurred in the industry, prompted Berry to describe her Oscar win as "one of my biggest heartbreaks" to Variety. "The morning after, I thought, 'Wow, I was chosen to open a door,'" the actress confessed. "And then, to have no one ... I question, 'Was that an important moment, or was it just an important moment for me?' I wanted to believe it was so much bigger than me. It felt so much bigger than me, mainly because I knew others should have been there before me and they weren't."

To be sure, the Oscar win crowned Berry as one of the leading actors of her generation, and made sure her name would always be mentioned in the annals of film history. But, much like Dorothy Dandridge, who became the first Black Best Actress nominee in 1955 with "Carmen Jones" only to get left by the wayside again in Hollywood, Berry learned that, "Just because I won an award doesn't mean that, magically, the next day, there was a place for me." 

In the years that followed, in fact, Berry found herself "just continuing to forge a way out of no way."