Halle Berry Wins Poll of Best Catwoman Actress

Halle Berry is America’s favorite Catwoman actress, according to a poll conducted by The Hollywood Reporter.

In a three-day poll conducted among 2,201 adults — who replied “very favorable” to the question, “Do you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of the following actor’s portrayal of Catwoman?” — Berry won 42% of votes, just topping Batman Returns star Michelle Pfeiffer‘s 41%.

Anne Hathaway, who starred as Selina Kyle in the Christopher Nolan-directed The Dark Knight Rises, won 26% of the vote. (THR notes the poll’s numbers do not add up to 100.)

“I think the only explanation is that this comes down less to the actual films and more to people’s opinions of the actors,” filmmaker and critic Patrick H. Willems told THR.

Berry, who famously won a “Worst Actress” Razzie in 2005 for her role as Patience Phillips in 2004’s Catwoman, thanked studio Warner Bros. for having her star in a “piece of s—t, god-awful movie” when accepting the Razzie.

“I never in my life thought I would be up here winning a Razzie,” Berry said in a speech accompanied by her Best Actress Academy Award. “I mean, it’s not like I ever aspired to be here. But thank you!”

During an April 2018 appearance at the GLAAD Media Awards, Berry joked Catwoman helped pave the way for the success won by Marvel Studios’ $1 billion-plus hit Black Panther, the first Marvel Cinematic Universe entry with a black lead.

“Each story builds on the next,” Berry said. “It’s like that old saying goes: behind every Black Panther is a great black Catwoman!”

Berry then acknowledged she’s “gotten a really bad rap” for her leather-clad Catwoman before adding the character “deserves another g—damn chance.”

At the 2018 Matrix Awards, Berry reported she had no regrets taking the role in the Batman-less spinoff.

“Everybody around me said, ‘Girl, don’t do it. It’s going to be the death of you. It’s going to end your career.’ But guess what I did? I followed my intuition and I did a movie called Catwoman and it bombed miserably,” Berry said (via Glamour). “While it failed to most people, it wasn’t a failure for me because I met so many interesting people that I wouldn’t have met otherwise, I learned two forms of martial arts and I learned [what] not to do.”

Berry added with the role, she scratched up a “sh-t load of money that changed my life.”

“I say that to say, following your intuition doesn’t always mean you’re going to be successful or win the prize, but it means you’re always going to learn the exact lesson or get the exact accolades or the exact check that you’re supposed to get for yourself,” she said. “Never compare that to anyone else.”

Catwoman will next reportedly make her way back to the big screen in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, set to star Robert Pattinson as a just-starting-out caped crusader. That film is dated June 25, 2021.