ACT YOUR AGE

Back with a new movie, Halle Berry is embracing every opportunity in life and love ahead of her 60th birthday

- SUZANNE WINTROB WITH FILES FROM HILARY MORGAN

Halle Berry has three choice words about turning 60 later this year: “Bring it on!”

“I feel like I am at the best time of my life, as an actor and in everything I do,” the Oscar winner and mom of two declares with a smile. “I have called this period my greatest act, and I really do believe that. Being an actor, an entrepreneur and a woman at this age and getting to do what I am truly passionate about is incredibly fulfilling. So I’m not afraid about getting older – I’m just excited about what comes next!”

That’s precisely why Halle is so thrilled about her latest role in action-packed Crime 101, in which she plays an insurance broker to the rich and famous who teams up with an elusive thief (Chris Hemsworth, whom she describes as “one of those people who makes everything seem so easy”) for one last heist. It’s “a really sexy” movie, she adds, and she felt extremely connected to her character given their similar age and stage.

“She has spent her career doing her job, waiting for her moment to get what she feels she deserves, only for it to be denied because of her age,” says Halle. “I really jumped at the idea of ageism and what that means for a woman and how it can be so hard to fight against that. This feels so relevant to where I am in my life and some issues that I have been dealing with. I felt instantly like I knew who this woman was.”

From her splash as Die Another Day’s gun-toting Bond girl to her reign as the first – and only – Black woman to snag a Best Actress Oscar for her 2001 film Monster’s Ball (“My great-grandchildren will be able to say, ‘Hey, my great-grandmother won an Oscar!’” she says, laughing), Halle is thankful for her many Hollywood successes over the past three decades.