Actor Coronji Calhoun Sr., who starred alongside Halle Berry in the Oscar-winning film “Monster’s Ball,” has died. He was 30.
The former child actor passed away from congestive heart failure Oct. 13, BBC reported.
Calhoun portrayed Berry’s son Tyrell in the 2001 drama that earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Berry, 55, and producer Lee Daniels contributed $3,394 each to his family on their GoFundMe page.
“We are blown away by the outpouring of love the community and Coronji’s adopted family has shown during our process of grief,” his mother, Theresa C. Bailey, wrote on the donation page. “As we close this chapter, we ask that in your remembrance of him, you remember to love your neighbor as yourself, because that is what Coronji did for his entire community.”
Calhoun was 10 when he played Berry’s character’s abused and overweight son. “Monster’s Ball” was his only acting credit.
Sean “Diddy” Combs also starred in the heart-wrenching film as Calhoun’s father, who’s on death row. Billy Bob Thornton played a prison guard who starts a relationship with Berry following the execution.
Shortly before the “X-Men” actress won her Oscar in 2002, she reflected on filming and how difficult it was to act like an abusive mother to Calhoun.
“It was a lot harder than even the love scene because Coronji was really 10 [years old] and obese,” she told the entertainment publication the Gate at the time, according to People.
Berry continued, “I worried that I would somehow damage him emotionally, not just in doing the scene, but down the road. So I talked to him a lot and hugged and kissed him a lot. He said, ‘You don’t have to worry about what you say; it can’t be as bad as how they treat me at school.’ ”
“But I hear now he’s the most popular kid in his school. So I guess [the movie] helped,” she added.