Halle Berry reveals the worst advice she's ever received

She's an Oscar-winning actress, a new director, and an executive producer, but even Halle Berry has been on the receiving end of bad advice — and ignoring that advice was key to achieving her dreams.

"The worst piece of advice [I've been given was], 'Have a backup plan,' because if you have a backup plan, chances are you'll fall to your backup plan," Berry says in an interview with EW for our new Bold School video series celebrating Hollywood power players (behind and in front of the camera).

For this living legend, success followed the direction of her focus.

"And if you really have a dream, I think you have to have blinders on, and you have to have only one goal, and you have to be relentless in your pursuit of that goal," she continues. "So, when I got told, 'Have a backup plan,' I said, 'Screw that! Not going to have a backup plan.'"

Fortunately, the X-Men alum — who is a first-time director with Netflix's upcoming film Bruised, about an MMA fighter and single mom trying to find redemption in the cage — was also offered some words of wisdom along the way that encouraged her to be true to oneself.

"I would say it's been, 'March to the beat of my own drum. Run my own race,'" Berry shares. "I think those have been really important in life because one can get really sidetracked watching what the others are doing.

"And I was also told, 'Never compare yourself,'" she says. "These are things that I think, over the past 30 years, have been really fundamental in my ability to not only find success, but find peace while I'm on that journey."

Bruised hits Netflix on Nov. 24.

For more with Berry, watch EW's full Bold School interview.

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• See Halle Berry as Bruised MMA fighter in first look at her directorial debut