Life Story

		Biography
		Life and Career
		Awards & Nominations

Halle Maria Berry (born August 14, 1966) is an Academy Award-winning American actress and model. Halle Berry won Best Actress at the Academy Awards in 2002 for Monster's Ball, becoming the first African American woman to win this award.

Early life and career: Halle Berry's parents selected her first name from that of Halle's Department Store, a local landmark in her birthplace of Cleveland, Ohio. She is the daughter of Judith Ann Hawkins, a Caucasian of English ancestry, and Jerome J. Berry, who is African-American. Berry's maternal grandmother, Nellie Dicken, was born in Sawley, Derbyshire, England, while her maternal grandfather, Earl Ellsworth Hawkins, was born in Ohio. Berry's parents divorced when she was 4 years old and she subsequently was raised by her mother, a psychiatric nurse. Her father was an orderly in the same psychiatric ward where her mother worked. Halle has an older sister, Heidi.

Berry was a popular student at Bedford High School and was a cheerleader, honor society member, editor of the school newspaper, class president and prom queen. She worked in the children's department at Higbee's Department store. Her personality, as described by a co-worker, was expressed in these terms..."I can hardly believe how sweet and nice she had been to everyone. People who weren't half as beautiful as she did not display the kind of inner beauty she exhibited. She subsequently attended Cuyahoga Community College.

Before becoming an actress, she entered several beauty contests, including Miss Ohio USA, Miss Teen All-American, Miss USA (first runner-up in 1986), and Miss World. She was a model before becoming an actress.

Hollywood career: In the late 1980s, she went to Chicago to pursue a modeling career as well as acting. One of her first acting projects was a television series for local cable by Gordon Lake Productions called "Chicago Force."

Berry auditioned for a role in an updated Charlie's Angels television series by producer Aaron Spelling. At the time, Spelling wanted one of the "Angels" to be an African American woman. She did not get the role (because the project never materialized) but she impressed Spelling with her skills, who encouraged her to continue perfecting her craft.

In 1989, Berry landed the role of brainy Emily Franklin in the short-lived ABC television series Living Dolls (which was a spin-off of Who's the Boss?). Her breakthrough feature film role was in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever where she played a drug addict named Vivian. Her first co-starring role was in the film Strictly Business. Another one of her early roles was in a beginning villain/friend in the Flintstones movie where she played "Sharon Stone" (a part rumored to have been intended for Sharon Stone). Berry would later co-star alongside Stone in Catwoman. The year before, Berry really caught the public's attention with her portrayal as a female mulatto slave in the TV adaption of Queen: The Story of an American Family by Alex Haley.

Berry is also known by most comic book fans for her portrayal of Storm in the movie adaptation of the successful comic book X-Men (2000) and its successful sequel X2: X-Men United (2003). Berry will reprise her role again in the third installment X-Men 3 scheduled for a May 2006 release. In late 2003 Berry starred in the psychological thriller Gothikaopposite Charles S. Dutton, which was the first film that she "carried," i.e., her role was the most important one in the film.

Berry said her 2002 Academy Award win broke a "glass ceiling" for black women in Hollywood. Republican writer Ann Coulter fired back in her weekly column writing: Large-breasted, slightly cocoa women with idealized Caucasian features finally have a chance in Hollywood! They will, however, still be required to display their large breasts for the camera and to discuss their large breasts at some length with reporters

Known for her beauty, Halle as served many years as the face of Revlon cosmetics and was recently named the new face of Versace.

Personal life: Berry has been married twice. Her first marriage in 1992 to pro baseball player David Justice ended in a 1996 divorce due to alleged infidelity and incompatibility. Her second marriage in 2001 to musician Eric Benét has resulted in a 2004 separation (and 2005 divorce) allegedly due to Benét's infidelity. She has stated that she will never marry again. As of 2006, she is currently dating top model Gabriel Aubry. The couple met at a Versace photoshoot.

Controversy: In February 2000, she was involved in a car accident when she struck another vehicle after running a red light and left the scene before the police arrived. Berry, who had sustained a head injury, later stated she had no recollection of the accident and pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge. She paid a fine, made restitution to the other driver, performed community services, and was placed on three years’ probation. 

Having long refused to do any nude scenes, much was made of her first topless scene in the film Swordfish, a thirty-second scene. This scene was promoted by John Travolta on the Tonight Show. This film appearance gave Berry the confidence she needed to bare all as she followed this film with a more extended nude love scene in Monster's Ball. Her appearance in this film won her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2002. As Bond Girl Jinx in 2002's Die Another Day she famously re-created the scene from Dr. No, bursting from the surf - scantily clad - to be greeted by James Bond, as Ursula Andress did 40 years earlier. 

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