Halle Berry wins historic best actress Oscar

5.15pm

LOS ANGELES - Halle Berry won the best actress Oscar on Sunday at the 74th Annual Academy Awards for her role as a down-and-out waitress in racial drama "Monster's Ball," becoming the first African-American woman ever to earn that honour.

Berry, 33, took her place in the Oscar history books after emerging as a late favourite two weeks ago when she won the Screen Actors Guild award for her performance.

Berry's screen portrait of a woman overtaken by grief and rage -- together with a much talked-about sex scene -- was considered her best performance since her big screen breakthrough in Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever" in 1991.

The Academy Awards are the US film industry's top honors and are given out each year by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in a ceremony televised live around the globe.

- REUTERS


Oscar nominees and winners (full list)

nzherald.co.nz/oscars