SJM_Berry_1024_Dept 10 / 22 / 24 1 : 51 PM Page 1 EVEN AFTER 30 - PLUS YEARS IN SHOW BUSINESS , OSCAR - WINNING ACTRESS halle berry CONTINUES TO TAKE ON CHALLENGING ROLES THAT SHOWCASE HER VARIOUS TALENTS . BY EVAN JAMESON MORE THAN THREE DECADES INTO HER FILM CAREER , and with her 60th birthday approaching in a few years , Halle Berry could easily choose to slow down and let her past accomplishments speak for themselves . After all , she has achieved so much since first gaining notice in the early 1990s by playing a drug addict in Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever and Eddie Murphy’s love interest in Boomerang , capped off by her historic Oscar win for 2001 ’ s Monster’s Ball . She remains the only Black woman to be honored as Best Actress by the Academy . In addition , Berry has enjoyed success as Storm in the X - Men movies and as a bikini - clad Bond girl , and made interesting choices like the multiple roles she played in Cloud Atlas and by portraying an astronaut in Extant . Not just that , in recent years she has spent time on the other side of the camera as a producer and director . Yet as much as we admire the star’s ability to combine the creative detail and delivery of acting with a more regimented and restricted eye on the craft of film , ultimately the cinema - going public has missed the sumptuous spark for which she became known all those years ago . Now , it appears she has it back . Not only did she shine in one of Netflix’s biggest summer hits — the action - comedy The Union with Mark Wahlberg — but her latest part in the horror film Never Let Go is sure to leave an impact on audiences as well . South Jersey Magazine spoke to Berry about the new movie , her professional pur - suits outside of acting and her most important role as the mother to two children . testing her