Academy Award-winning actress Halle Berry, who has been making fewer movies in recent years than earlier, says she is ready for her "second act" and second career as a comms executive at a biotech startup in San Francisco.

Berry quietly took a job earlier this year as chief of communications at Pendulum Therapeutics, a biotech startup focused on probiotic supplements. Berry became a fan of the company's products, and as the SF Business Times reports, she spoke about her new role Thursday at the Bloomberg Technology conference in San Francisco.

"This will very much be my second act," Berry said, per the Business Times. "At 56 years old, I really realized that I'm kind of done being the dancing bear. So, I really want to have a second act that's as meaningful as my first act."

One of Pendulum's products is called Glucose Control, and it contains five strains of probiotics that are meant to help manage sugar levels in those with Type 2 diabetes. Berry, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at a young age, has publicly claimed that she was able to wean herself off of insulin years ago. She says she saw great results after take Pendulum's supplements for a year, and has now trying to spread the word.

Referring perhaps to popular drugs now on the market for Type-2 diabetics, like Wegovy and Ozempic — Pendulum's Glucose Control pills purport to help lower A1C levels in a similar way to these drugs, Berry said, "I'm not gonna say what's right or wrong. Everybody has to make this choice for themselves, but I've always been sort of the natural, holistic route. I do it with diet … and exercise and think that's been really helpful in my life and managing my diabetes. So that's how I go about it."

As the Business Times reports, Pendulum Therapeutics was founded in 2013 and "was valued just shy of $300 million in 2021." The company has raised over $122 million and investors include Sequoia Capital, the Mayo Clinic, and Johnson and Johnson.

The role at Pendulum appears to be a full-time one — unlike the vague spokesman role that actor Matthew McConaughey took at Salesforce last year, as SFGate notes.

And Pendulum is one of a handful of local companies in this same space, exploring new drugs for managing diabetes and improving gut health. As the Business Times notes, other companies doing this work include Biomea Fusion, Carmot Therapeutics, and Structure Therapeutics.

Pendulums other products include the Metabolic Daily supplement for improving metabolism, and Butyricum, for handling "occasional gut discomfort." They refer to the supplements as "medical probiotics," but as the Business Times notes, none have been approved or endorsed by the FDA to treat specific conditions.

In any event, we should be seeing more of Halle Berry around town in the coming months. Unless she's fully remote...

Top image: Pendulum Therapeutics CEO Colleen Cutcliffe with Berry. Courtesy of Pendulum Therapeutics