Berry Becomes a Movie Actress 31

Berry had never associated with anyone who was an addict, so she needed to learn what the life of an addict was like. With the help of costar Samuel L. Jackson, who plays her husband, “Gator,” in the movie, Berry met some addicts. Berry also tried to live the part while she filmed the movie: “I didn’t shower, I didn’t shave [my legs]. I went to a real crack den with an undercover police officer. These are things that today I doubt I would ever do, because it’s too dangerous and it really doesn’t make a lot of sense. But at that time, I was young and I was like, ‘I don’t know anything about crack. I’ve got to go see.’”33

In addition to not knowing anything about addiction, Berry also did not know much about acting. Her only acting experience had been in a Bedford High School drama class when she per-formed scenes from the play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. Mary Ann Costa, Berry’s high school drama teacher, claims that Berry had surprised her with the acting talent she showed: “She went into this other world. When you have the ability to create a character that well, you have to tap into some-thing, somehow. Who knows where that came from.”34

Director Spike Lee and Berry on the set of Jungle Fever. Berry had to convince Lee that she could accurately portray a drug addict, and ultimately Lee granted her the role.

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32 Halle Berry

An apparently innate ability to act helped Berry hold her own in a cast that included stars like Jackson, Wesley Snipes, Queen Latifah, Ossie Davis, and Ruby Dee. The movie was a hit and so was Berry. Film historian Mia Mask writes, “In the movie, she delivered a compelling performance.”35 The movie proved Berry could act and that she was not just another beauty queen seeking a career in movies.

A Crack Addict

Halle Berry’s role as Vivian in the 1991 film Jungle Fever proved she could act. The beautiful, elegant Berry

transformed herself into a mean-looking, foul-mouthed addict, who became a prostitute to make money to buy crack cocaine. In her 2009 book, Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film, film historian Mia Mask explains how important the role was in establishing Berry as an actress:

The portrayal of Vivian remains one of Halle Berry’s strongest performances because of the intensity she brought to the character. It marks a moment in her career when the performance was so strong that spectators could suspend belief, seeing only Vivian rather than Halle Berry playing a character. When [Vivian] first appears, she is seen at [her boyfriend] Gator’s side on an outdoor basketball court late at night. Her eyes are wide, as if she’s permanently startled; her movements are quick and jerky, as if she expects attackers to leap out from the shadows. Vivian and Gator launch into an obscenity-laced, drug-fueled argument that proceeds quickly and inaudibly. The indecipherability of their words suggests that they are a pair of doomed souls.

Mia Mask. Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009, p. 206

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