Halle Berry made Oscar history 21 years ago when she became the first Black woman to win the Best Actress award. Now as a group of legendary actresses made their way onto the list of 2023 Academy Award nominees over two decades later, the actress who took home a trophy for Monster’s Ball in 2002 is congratulating all the badass ladies for their excellent work.
The actress started out her congratulatory Instagram story post, by sending her love to all the nominees, but specifically the ladies:
She then started calling out and congratulating specific actresses, starting with her “deserving” friend Angela Bassett.
Bassett made history with her nomination for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. This is because if you’ve seen the Marvel movies in order, and paid attention to the last decade and change of Academy Awards nominees, you’ll notice no Marvel actors have been nominated for their performance, until this year. The actress behind Queen Ramonda got her second Oscar nomination ever for her performance in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther sequel, and Berry, who is both a Marvel and Oscar alum was quick to congratulate her colleague for one of Bassett’s best movies.
The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever love didn’t end there, as Berry also congratulated Ruth Carter, who picked up a Costume Design nomination. This is Carter’s fourth nomination, she has received recognition for her work on the costumes for 1993s Malcolm X as well as 1998s Amistad, and won the Oscar in 2019 for Black Panther.
I could totally see Carter picking up her second Oscar this year for Wakanda Forever, and Berry seems to agree, as she posted:
Like Berry, Michelle Yeoh is making Oscar history. The actress picked up her first-ever Oscar nomination for Best Lead Actress for her outstanding performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once, making her the first Asian to be nominated in this category.
While Yeoh’s co-stars Stephanie Hsu and Ke Huy Quan (who should be the frontrunner for Best Supporting Actor) both nabbed nominations too, Berry noted Yeoh specifically (as well as Jamie Lee Curtis, but we’ll get to that). This is because if she wins, this EEAAO star will make history, just as her fellow Bond girl did all those years ago. The actress wrote:
Berry also gave a shout-out to Oscar legend Cate Blanchett, who picked up her eighth Oscar nomination for her performance in Tár. Todd Field’s film was welcomed with good reviews, and those critics noted early on that Blanchett was a frontrunner for an Oscar this year. If she wins it would be her third Academy Award.
In her post, Berry simply added some white hearts showing love for the legendary actress:
The X-Men actress was among many to congratulate Jamie Lee Curtis on her first Oscar nod. Following Curtis’ emotional response to the nomination in Best Supporting Actress, Berry chimed in noting just how deserving she is of the recognition.
Much like Berry, many are celebrating Curtis’ nomination for Everything Everywhere All at Once. Many are also keeping the excitement alive for Stephanie Hsu, who was nominated in the same category for the same film, which was one of the biggest surprises of this year’s nominations.
It’s so amazing to see women supporting women, and to see a legend like Halle Berry showing her love for all these phenomenal ladies. And, while there may be some historic wins this year at the Academy Awards, let us not forget what happened in 2002 when Halle Berry made history herself. You can check out her speech here:
Hopefully, as the awards season continues, we’ll see more from these actresses, including Berry, because it’s so empowering to see these amazing women supporting each other and making history.
You can tune in to celebrate these badass ladies and the other nominees on March 12 when the 95th Academy Awards air at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.