NAACP Image Awards Backstage: Halle Berry, Regina King, LL Cool J, Terrence Howard

LOS ANGELES – Detectives are still looking for the person who stole the For Colored Girls Academy Award nominations … or so goes the sentiments of its many stars and the whole Tyler Perry fan base. Anika Noni Rose, not surprisingly, spat out “Academy Awards” as if the words tasted badly backstage at the NAACP Image Awards.

She wasn’t the only one. Halle Berry also mentioned the slight backstage while the likes of Idris Elba and Anthony Mackie harpooned the awards establishment for their loud dismissal of quality black flicks in 2010. Other than that, it was a good night at the annual gala.

Here’s what else was said when the network television cameras weren’t rolling:

Halle Berry: I wasn’t happy that there were no faces there [at the Academy Awards]. Well, there was one. But that was disappointing. For me, it gets me to work harder. I look at the glass as half full instead of half empty. That’s the only way we get to where we want to go. So, I try to inspire.

Regina King: I want to be remembered as a great actress who made people feel an array of emotions, a philanthropist who did a lot of work with young girls and watched those girls become successful women, and the mother of a young man who made the world better.

Terrence Howard: I used to knock on his [fellow nominee] door and he would go over his lines with me. So, to be in the same category with these people, it was déjà vu for me. It was when my mom was here and when families meant this. I’m so honored to have this [award]. The NAACP says that I’m a good piston in their engine.

LL Cool J: For people to support my transition as an actor is just an amazing feeling. I’m very, very grateful. Very grateful. This one is different, where people supported the transition … I have an online music distribution network where a kid from Orange County, N.J. will be able to go online with a kid from Miami, and they’re going to be able to make a song at the same time in real time. We’re going to launch it and I think it’s going to revolutionize music.

Vanessa Williams: I have four kids and they know nothing but mom working and they know that it’s mom’s passion and that I’m great at it. They know they can do what they want to do and they know they have to work hard to be absolutely successful in what they love.