HALLE BERRY - 5 BEST PERFORMANCES
1. Monster's Ball (2001) (2001)
Awards Actress: Academy Award. Actress: Screen Actors Guild Award. Actress: National Board of Review.
Nomination Actress: Golden Globe, Drama.
Berry is down on her luck waitress, who's husband (P Diddy) is executed. She's left with an obese son and no money, until a mysterious drifter (Billy Bob Thornton) comes into her ice cream shop and really likes the flavor she gives him. The two form a bond after the death of her son in a senseless accident. 2001 was a strong year for Best Actress at the Oscars. Berry was up against Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge!, Judi Dench in Iris, Sissy Spacek in In the Bedroom, and Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones' Diary. Of all her competition, New York Film Critics and Golden Globe (Drama) winner Spacek was her biggest threat. But she had won before in 1980 for Coal Miner's Daughter. Kidman was popular due to her divorce from Tom Cruise, and also had the $100 million hit The Others released in the summer.
In the end Berry became the first African-American to win Best Actress. She divorced cheating husband Eric Benet later that year. Her performance is raw, strong and rich. She is subtle but powerful.
2. Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999)
If this had been released in theaters in 1999, Berry would have been an Oscar contender. But it wasn't, but she still won the Golden Globe, SAG and Emmy Award and rightfully so. Berry captures a vulnerability and sexiness to Dandridge other actors would fail to do. She also gets Emmy award winning costumes to look ravishing in.
The only false note in the movie is the fact that Dorothy was convinced she would win the Oscar for Best Actress at the 1954 ceremony. The smart money had been on Judy Garland to win for A Star Is Born, but because producer Jack Warner had botched the movie so badly during editing, it had flopped at the box-office. Grace Kelly won instead, one of the worst decisions in Oscar history.
3. Boomerang (1992)
Berry plays a plain Jane at Eddie Murphy's firm. When Robin Givens proves she's just as much a player as Murphy, he falls in love with Berry instead. It's a sharp comedy that's darker then most Murphy movies, and Berry is luscious as ever.
4. Losing Isaiah (1995)
Playing a crackhead mother who abandons her baby in the trash, Berry morphs into a powerful woman once she thinks Jessica Lange has stolen her child. The back and forth chemistry between the two women is not as powerful as Berry's strength with Cuba Gooding Jr or Samuel L. Jackson
5. Jungle Fever (1991)
Brief but powerful - Berry smokes hits with Samuel L. Jackson in Spike Lee's look into interracial dating.
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