Halle Berry has spent decades moving between prestige dramas, superhero blockbusters, action franchises, and pulse-pounding thrillers, rarely staying trapped in one Hollywood box. At 60, her filmography feels less like a straight career path and more like a collection of completely different chapters, each revealing another side of the actress. From an Oscar-winning performance that made history to roles that turned her into an action icon, Berry has repeatedly reinvented herself on screen.

Here are five films from five different eras that capture Berry’s remarkable range as the iconic actress turns 60.

Before Halle Berry became a superhero, Bond girl, and action star, she delivered the performance that changed the trajectory of her career forever. Monster’s Ball places Berry in the emotionally devastating role of Leticia Musgrove, a working-class mother whose life is shattered by poverty, racism, and the death of her son. Her character becomes involved with Hank, a bitter death row prison guard played by Billy Bob Thornton, without knowing that he was involved in the execution of her husband. Berry gives Leticia a raw vulnerability that earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress.

That Oscar victory was historic because Berry became the first Black woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, a milestone that remains unmatched in the category. She also won the SAG Award and the National Board of Review Award for her performance, helping turn a modest independent production into a major critical success. Made for roughly $4 million, the film went on to gross more than $45 million worldwide, proving that a small, intensely personal drama could make an enormous cultural impact.

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If Monster’s Ball showed Berry’s dramatic firepower, X-Men revealed that she could command the superhero screen too.

Halle Berry played Ororo Munroe, better known as Storm, one of Professor Charles Xavier’s most powerful students and a key member of the X-Men. With the ability to manipulate weather, summon lightning, and fly, Storm brought a spectacular visual presence to a franchise built around mutants being feared and persecuted by humanity. Berry shared the screen with Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, and James Marsden as the heroes faced Magneto and his radical vision of mutant supremacy.

The film became a landmark for superhero cinema, earning around $296 million worldwide and helping establish the modern era of comic book blockbusters. It also swept major Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film, while the wider X-Men franchise eventually generated billions at the global box office. For Berry, Storm became one of the defining characters of her career and cemented her place among Hollywood’s most recognizable science fiction stars.

However, in 2019, Berry was no longer simply playing action heroines. She was proving she could stand toe-to-toe with one of Hollywood’s biggest action legends.

In John Wick: Chapter 3: Parabellum, Berry played Sofia Al-Azwar, the formidable manager of the Continental Hotel in Casablanca and an assassin with a deeply personal connection to John Wick. Her entrance into the franchise immediately raised the stakes, especially through her partnership with two highly trained Belgian Malinois that attack enemies alongside her. Berry trained extensively for the physically demanding role, turning Sofia into one of the franchise’s most memorable additions.

The film arrived with Keanu Reeves at the height of his John Wick resurgence and became a colossal commercial success, earning more than $327 million worldwide. It also scored an impressive 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, while its action sequences earned recognition from awards bodies, including the Golden Trailer Awards. More importantly, Berry demonstrated that she could enter an established action franchise and instantly become one of its most dangerous players.

Few moments in Berry’s career were as instantly recognizable as her arrival in the James Bond universe.

Halle Berry played Giacinta “Jinx” Johnson, a lethal NSA agent who crosses paths with Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond while pursuing her own mission against a global threat. The film follows Bond after his imprisonment in North Korea as he tracks a rogue agent and a billionaire behind a devastating orbital weapon. Berry’s Jinx brought another layer of danger, glamor, and action to the Bond formula, while her iconic orange bikini entrance became one of the franchise’s most remembered visual moments.

Although Die Another Day received mixed critical reviews, audiences turned it into a major box office success. The film grossed approximately $431 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing James Bond film at that point. Berry also received an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Actress, while Jinx became one of the most recognizable female characters of the Brosnan era.

But Berry’s action career eventually moved somewhere much more claustrophobic, where her biggest weapon was not a gun or superpower, but her voice.

Halle Berry starred as Jordan Turner, a veteran LAPD emergency call center operator who receives a desperate call from a teenage girl abducted by a serial killer. Trapped inside the trunk of a moving car, the girl has almost no way to fight back, leaving Jordan to use her experience, tactical instincts, and voice to guide her toward survival. The film transforms an ordinary emergency call into an escalating psychological thriller, with Berry carrying much of its tension from behind a headset.

Made on a relatively modest $13 million budget, The Call became a sleeper hit, bringing in more than $68 million worldwide and eventually developing a strong following among thriller fans. Berry earned a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress as well as a Teen Choice Award nomination for the performance. It also showcased a different kind of action from her superhero and spy roles, proving that Berry could generate suspense without needing to physically dominate the screen.

From an Oscar-winning widow to Storm, Jinx, Sofia, and Jordan, Berry’s career has never really stayed in one lane. At 60, that may be the most impressive part of her legacy.

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Which Halle Berry movie would you revisit first? Let us know in the comments.