"What people may not realize about Halle Berry is that she's been very strategic about parlaying her star power into producing projects behind the scenes," says Renata. Beyond starring in high-budget, well-recognized films like "X-Men" and "Monster's Ball," Berry has taken a step back in the past several years to produce films that she feels are culturally significant.

Examples include 2005's soulful HBO flick "Lackawanna Blues" and the 2010 indie film "Frankie & Alice," based on the true story of a go-go dancer with dissociative identity disorder (in which Berry also starred).

"'Frankie & Alice' got a very limited release, but it deals with mental illness in the African American community, which is an [important] topic," says Renata. "Everybody knows Halle Berry is beautiful and talented, but she's a smart cookie, and people really underestimate her. She's a beast... but a quiet beast."

"The best way to incite diversity in Hollywood is to get behind the scenes." These are the words of Robert Redford, spoken at a seminar at the Sundance Film Festival and recalled by Carla Renata. "You have to produce the projects, write the projects... be one of the power players behind the scenes to inspire change. That's why having people like Oprah Winfrey is amazing."

Of course, the world already reveres Oprah for her decades of philanthropy and pioneering work in the media; but today, she continues to use her influence and resources to push for change. In 2014, she did so by executive producing Ava Duvernay's film "Selma" -- a project that brought to light the little-known story of 1965's Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches, and importantly, added some much-needed diversity to this season's all-white, all-male lineup of film award nominees. It is conscious investments like these that make Oprah a consistent paragon of change in Hollywood.

"Oprah Winfrey, hands down, is one of the most prolific, inspirational, powerful women of our time," Renata continues. "I don't think in my lifetime, we will see another woman accomplish what she has -- black, white or otherwise."