Halle Berry delivered a passionate speech calling for representation in Hollywood at the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday.
The 55-year-old star was honored with the prestigious SeeHer Award and used her time on stage at Los Angeles’ Fairmont Century Plaza to praise women “telling [their] own stories,” even when they make others feel “uncomfortable.”
After accepting the honor from Issa Rae, Berry told the story of how she came to also star in her directorial debut “Bruised.”
She said: “The first time I read the script for ‘Bruised’ … I realized the role wasn’t written for someone who looked like me. So I went to the producers, and I asked, ‘Why not me? Why can’t it be a Black woman?’ They said, ‘Why not?’ Later on, they told me, ‘Go find a director.’ And finally, I summoned the courage to say, ‘Why not me?’ They said, ‘Why not?’
“Finally, when the film came out, I asked someone what he thought of the movie. He said, ‘I have a hard time watching a woman getting battered and beaten. It made me feel uncomfortable.’
“And in that moment, I knew exactly why I had to tell the story. I knew exactly the power of the story. Because I said, ‘If you had a hard time, if it made you uncomfortable watching that story, imagine being that woman, living that story.’
“[Storytelling] can raise our consciousness and help us think outside of ourselves and our individual circumstances.
“I realized that we truly need to see each other’s reality — no matter how uncomfortable it makes us — so that we can stop judging and stop pointing fingers, but rather find compassion and empathy for the others.”
She continued: “I’ve been in the business for 30 years and I used to think if I could play the part of a White man, I was winning.
Do you want to know why that didn’t work? Because if you didn’t know, I am not a White man.
“So for those roles to work, they would have to be substantially changed. It would have to be written with the reality of my journey, in all its beauty and all of its pain. This is why I am so grateful to be standing and living in this moment where women are standing up and we are telling our own stories.
“Because you know why? We will write, we will produce, we will direct, and if we are brave enough, we will start in it, all at the same time!”
“We will tell stories that capture us fully in all of our multitudes and contradictions. We are confident and we’re scared. We are vulnerable and we’re strong. We are beautiful and we’re bruised. We’re everything and all of it — and all at the same time!
“Because if we deny our complexity, then we deny our humanity. We won’t always be pretty and we will never be perfect. But what we will be is always honest and true, no matter how uncomfortable that makes you.”
The Monster’s Ball star ended her rousing speech by dedicating the honor to “every little girl who feels unseen and unheard.”
She added: “This is our way of saying, to you, we love you and we see you! And you deserve every good thing in this world!”
