Halle Berry on her barrier-breaking Oscar win: ‘Maybe it wasn’t bigger than me’

Having only white actors nominated in the top categories at the Academy Awards for the last two years has Halle Berry — the only woman of color who’s won a lead Oscar — questioning the significance of the moment in 2002 when she broke that racial barrier.

“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,” she said in a sit-down Thursday with one of her agents, Creative Artists Agency honcho Kevin Huvane.

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“I believed that in that moment, 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,” the 49-year-old “Extant” star said.

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Halle Berry donned a form-fitting, metallic Jenny Packham dress for the premiere of her latest project, the CBS series “Extant,” on June 17, 2014.  (Frederick M. Brown / AFP/Getty Images)

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Berry chose a black Elie Saab gown for the 2014 Huading Awards in Los Angeles.  (Joe Scarnici and Mark Davis / AFP/Getty Images)

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The “X-Men: Days of Future Past” star sparkled in a silver and black Versace gown at the 85th Annual Academy Awards in 2013.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Berry wore this embellished Marchesa gown with a ruffled train to the Academy Awards in 2011.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Berry wowed in this black Nina Ricci stunner at the Golden Globe Awards in 2011.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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The actress looked elegant in a silver Atellier Versace gown with an asymmetrical sash at the Academy Awards in 2005.  (Mark Boster and Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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It reportedly took two hours to sew Berry into this pale blue Reem Acra gown for the 2003 Golden Globe Awards.  (Kevin P. Casey / Los Angeles Times)

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Berry wore a partially sheer burgundy Elie Saab gown at the Academy Awards in 2002. Her red carpet appearance in the dress also brought the designer into the limelight.   (Gary Friedman and Kevin Casey / Los Angeles Times)

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Berry is seen here with former husband Eric Benet at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards, where she wore a beaded crop top and miniskirt.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Berry showed off her Emmy win for “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge” in 2000 in a black strapless Valentino gown with a tulle skirt.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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In 1996, the actress chose a velvet and silk lavender Valentino gown for the Academy Awards.  (Anacleto Rapping / Los Angeles Times)

The best actress for “Monster’s Ball” was talking with Huvane (who also represents the likes of Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, among many others) at the female-focused 2016 Makers Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, where their 20-minute chat was more about women in Hollywood than racial diversity.

Still, Berry said, “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. And 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.”

You can watch the whole session here, on the Makers site.

Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs.

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