Halle Berry was one of the most famous and highest paid movie stars of the 2000s, and more recently, she’s been focusing on smaller, more intimate projects – sometimes serving as a producer. She was the first and, so far, only African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, which is a pretty shameful fact, and she’s also won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Over the years, Berry’s filmography has accumulated a number of iconic characters that her performances have brought to life on-screen. So, here are Halle Berry’s 10 greatest roles, ranked.
Jordan Turner in The Call
The life of a 911 operator is a fascinating one, and one that isn’t often explored on film. Screenwriter Richard D’Ovidio explained, “That’s a world we’ve never seen before in a film. You never get to see the other side of it.” Receiving those calls all day and having to speak calmly to people in distress must take quite a psychological toll, and Halle Berry plays that toll well in a movie that relies entirely on her performance and her chemistry with Abigail Breslin to succeed. The Call is pretty much a by-the-numbers thriller, but Berry elevates it to a gripping moviegoing experience.
Angela Lewis in Boomerang
Boomerang is one of the greatest romantic comedies ever made, because it’s about real human relationships and its characters have real emotions. Halle Berry features in a large ensemble cast that includes Eddie Murphy, Eartha Kitt, Grace Jones, and Martin Lawrence as a key part of the lead character’s love triangle.
At first, Angela is set up with Marcus’ best friend and ends up sleeping with Marcus himself and even moving in with him – Berry’s performance sells all of these plot developments in a believable way. Berry is currently producing a TV adaptation of the movie with Lena Waithe for BET.
Jinx in Die Another Day
Bond girls get a bad rap, because they’re the women that James Bond treats like objects and are highly sexualized in their portrayal. Halle Berry’s character Jinx in Die Another Day is no different. Her first appearance in the film recreates the shot of Ursula Andress emerging from the ocean in a bikini from Dr. No.
But Jinx has the distinction of being a spy herself, who gets in on just as much of the action as Bond himself. In fact, the 007 producers were even considering giving Jinx her own spin-off franchise at one point, but MGM pulled the plug.
Vivian in Jungle Fever
Halle Berry’s role as the crack addict Vivian in Jungle Fever was her big break in the film industry. Spike Lee wanted her to play the wife role, but she felt more drawn to the drug addict role and ended up nailing it. Berry herself has explained in recent years that when she left modeling to become an actor, she was disregarded by Hollywood executives and delegated to roles that focused more on her looks than her acting talent. When Lee took a chance on her with the role of the “crack hoe” Vivian in his examination of racism and addiction, her career was born.
Jocasta Ayrs/Luisa Rey/Ovid/Meronym/Native Woman/Indian Party Guest in Cloud Atlas
Cloud Atlas had long been considered an unfilmable novel before the Wachowskis dug their teeth into it and delivered a movie that the world wasn’t ready for. It will likely go on to be regarded as an underrated masterpiece that took a while to resonate with the right audience. Halle Berry is one of the few actors in the cast to play a character in all six storylines. Berry relished the opportunities allowed by playing multiple roles in the same movie: “This is so poignant for an actor and someone like me, to be able to shed my skin...to do something that I would have never been able to do. If it were not for this kind of project, I still wouldn’t have done that.”
Sofia in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
John Wick seems to have an endless supply of “old friends” who always seem to owe him a favor and help him get out of a jam. In the recently released third chapter of the franchise, Halle Berry joined him as every assassin in the world was after him and he’d lost the support of the Continental.
Her character Sofia was just as fierce and skilled as Wick himself, with the added bonus of weaponized dogs who take out the attackers she can’t see for her while she dispatches the rest. Berry made a terrific addition to an already-terrific franchise.
Frankie/Alice in Frankie & Alice
Frankie & Alice is one of those classic cases where a movie’s lead performance far exceeds its script. Halle Berry stars as both Frankie and Alice, two personas embodied by a 1970s stripper with dissociative identity disorder. Frankie is a talented dancer who attracts wealthy businessmen and Alice is a psychopathic murderer who kills those businessmen. This could’ve been a really great movie if it had more ambition or coherence in its plot. Unfortunately, it’s doomed to be a mediocre movie with a fantastic lead performance it doesn’t deserve.
Nina in Bulworth
Bulworth is a shockingly incisive political satire in which a left-wing politician becomes fed up and takes out a contract on his own head. He starts drinking and ranting at debates on his reelection campaign trail and along the way, he befriends a young activist named Nina.
A pre-fame Berry provides the perfect foil for Warren Beatty’s embattled political figure, since they have very little in common – Beatty has given up, while Berry still has the drive to incite social change. When Berry’s character shows up and takes Beatty to stay with her family in South Central, the movie becomes as much a meditation on racial issues as it is on U.S. politics.
Storm in X-Men
Ororo Munroe had been an iconic comic book character for decades before Halle Berry brought her to the silver screen. But X-Men was the first major superhero blockbuster. Until then, comic book movies were thought to be a risk. There was no rulebook on playing superheroes in movies.
Berry was going in blind – and it’s tough to act when most of the movie you’re in is computer-generated. X-Men had a huge ensemble cast, so only a select few managed to stand out and leave a lasting impression on the audience. Thanks to a great performance, Berry was one of them.
Leticia Musgrove in Monster’s Ball
Leticia Musgrove is the role that won Halle Berry her Oscar, and it’s easy to see why. She plays a struggling working-class single mother who loses her son and then begins a romantic relationship with a man who turns out to be the corrections officer that executed her husband.
Those are some pretty difficult emotions to juggle, especially in a film, where the shoot might take you all over the plot depending on the availability of locations, but Berry nails every single scene. Billy Bob Thornton is technically the star of Monster’s Ball, but it’s Berry who steals the show.