Halle Berry on Miss USA, Catwoman, and Her Michael B. Jordan Crush | Screen Tests | W Magazine

In this Screen Tests interview, Halle Berry (Extant, X-Men: Days of Future Past) talks about her crush on Jodie Foster in The Accused and Michael B. Jordan in Creed, the movies that make her cry (like Meryl Streep in Bridges of Madison County), her first audition (for a TV series called Living Dolls), playing a crack honamed Vivian in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, the challenges that come with being a beauty pageant contestant who's trying to break into acting and land acting jobs, being a finalist in Miss Teen Ohio and the runner-up in Miss USA, reading for Lee Daniels to be Leticia Musgrove in Monster's Ball, and playing Catwoman even though she hated cats! In 2001, she became the first African American woman to win the Oscar for best actress, thanks to her part in Monster's Ball. But these roles didn't come easily to her -- Berry had to beg to be taken seriously by Hollywood. "I came from the world of beauty pageants and modeling and right away when people heard that I got discounted as an actor," she said. Why did you go into beauty pageants? Actually, my boyfriend at the time wanted a beauty pageant girlfriend. So he entered me and I got this letter in the mail saying, "You are a finalist in the Miss Team Ohio," and I thought "Uh, what is this?" And then he told me, "Oh, by the way, I sent your prom picture in and now you have to go." So I took my prom dress--It was quite taffeta, hoop skirt, off the shoulders, almost like I was getting married--and I went to this con