(2005 Academy Awards acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Ray (2004/I)) I guess we got to do it again. "Oh, ah!" Yeah, you`re ready. That`s for Ray Charles. Give it up for Ray Charles and his beautiful legacy. And thank you, Ray Charles, for living. I got so many people to thank tonight. First I want to start it out with Taylor Hackford. Taylor, you took a chance, man. I mean that love for Ray Charles was deep, down in the earth. It`s cracked open. And it`s spilling. And everybody`s drowning in this love. I thank you for taking a chance on this film. And thank you for waiting 15 years to get me to do it. I want to thank you. I want to thank Crusader. I want to thank my agents. I want to thank Rick Kurtzman. I want to thank Kim Hodges. I want to thank `Steve Smooke`. I want to thank my managers, Jaime King (Jaime Rucker King) and Marcus King. Let`s live this African-American dream. It`s beautiful. I`m glad I`m with you. I ain`t never leaving you. I`m glad I`m with you. I got a chance to meet a whole lot of people, experiencing this. And other people I want to thank, I want to thank my sister. Four feet, eleven inches of nothing but pure love. I want to thank my daughter for telling me just before I got up here, "If you don`t win, dad, you`re still good. I`m just ... I see Oprah (Oprah Winfrey) and I see Halle (Halle Berry). I just want to say your names. I want to talk to you later. Both of you. Because Oprah got -- allowed me to meet somebody by the name of Sidney Poitier. And, yes, Sidney Poitier said, "I saw you once. And I looked in your eyes and there was a connection." And he says, "I give to you responsibility." So, I`m taking that responsibility tonight. And, thank you, Sidney. This is probably going to be the toughest part of this speech. My daughter shares my grandmother`s name, "Marie." My grandmother`s name is Estelle Marie Talley. She`s not here tonight. And this is going to be the toughest part. But she was my first acting teacher. She told me to stand up straight. Put your shoulders back. Act like you got some sense. We would go places. And I would wild out. And she would say, "Act like you`ve been somewhere." And then when I would act the fool, she would beat me. She would whup me. And she could get an Oscar for the way she whupped me because she was great at it. And after she whipped me, she would talk to me and tell me why she whipped me. She said I want you to be a southern gentleman. She still talks to me now. Only now, she talks to me, in my dreams. And I can`t wait to go to sleep tonight because we got a lot to talk about. I love you.
- Jamie FoxxHere is my theory in debunking photographs in magazines. You know, the paparazzi photographs. I want to spend every single night for three months going out with a different famous actress. You know, Halle Berry one night, Salma Hayek the next, and then walk on the beach holding hands with Leonardo DiCaprio. People would still buy the magazines, they`d still buy the pictures, but they would always go, `I don`t know if these guys are putting us on or not.`
- George Clooney"Isn`t Halle Berry the most beautiful woman? I have a film I`d like to be in her with. I mean, I`d like to be with her in." - At the 2002 Golden Globe Awards commenting to Melissa Rivers on Halle Berry, who just walked by.
- Ewan McGregorAs of right now, I`m still waiting to meet Halle Berry. And she is single.
- Brian Austin GreenI have never made a decision based on race and never will. I am admiring of my fellow peers, black film-makers and black actors and actresses. When Halle and Denzel won Oscars, I felt pride because I was black, but never did I analyse their win based on colour.
- Cuba Gooding Jr.It would have been great to light up and smoke cigarettes, for instance. It would have been great to have the killing a little bit more real and not wussed down. It`s all rather bland. I remember doing a sex scene with Halle (Halle Berry) - I mean frolicking in the bed - and there was director Lee Tamahori right under the sheets with us. But the way we ended up doing it was almost like the old days in Hollywood - kissing the girl but still having your feet on the floor.
- Pierce BrosnanAfter Halle Berry does her films and Latifah does her films, it`s left to all the black, Latino and Asian actresses to fight over a couple of roles. I opted for some TV. There just not a ton of work in film.
- Gabrielle UnionI have the Samuel Jackson mentality, of working as much as possible. I think about Halle (Berry) and (Queen) Latifah, and they are the only two black actresses that work consistently. It scares me.
- Gabrielle UnionHalle`s success has come more from blockbusters. But, yes, she is a source of inspiration. When she makes money, black actors make money.- On Halle Berry`s success
- Gabrielle UnionI`ve know Halle a long time, I knew Halle when she first started and I`ve watched her grow, and she`s turned into a real pro now.
- Charles S. DuttonI know it`s popular to say this because she`s the woman of the moment, but Halle Berry. Not only does she have obvious audience appeal and star quality, but she`s a damn good actress too.
- Paul Kane