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A former teenage beauty queen, Halle Berry traded a successful modeling career for acting in the late 1980s. After high school, this youngest daughter of a black father and white mother, entered the Miss Teen Ohio Pageant and won, representing the state at the Miss Teen All-American Pageant. An over-achiever since she was a child, Berry attempted to add another crown as Miss Ohio in the Miss USA competition but placed as first runner-up. After finishing in the top five at the Miss World pageant, she moved into modeling, working first in the Chicago area and later in NYC. By 1989, Berry had begun the transition to performing when she was appropriately cast as a teenage model in the short-lived ABC sitcom “Living Dolls”. Guest work in other comedy series followed before she was able to convince Spike Lee she could handle the demanding role of a crack addict in his “Jungle Fever” (1991).

Delivering a harrowing performance in that film, Berry proved she was more than just a beauty. Finding roles that challenged her abilities, however, proved more daunting. She was cast as a femme fatale in “Strictly Business” and Damon Wayans’ stripper girlfriend in “The Last Boy Scout” (both 1991) before portraying a career woman who falls for Eddie Murphy in “Boomerang” (1992) and a headstrong post-Civil War woman in the titular role of “Queen”, a CBS miniseries, based on the book by Alex Haley. Berry then landed the role of a sultry secretary in the live-action “The Flintstones” (1994), winning the part after Sharon Stone rejected it. As a former drug addict struggling to regain custody of her son in “Losing Isaiah” (1995), the actress showed she could handle more serious fare, holding her own opposite powerhouse co-star Jessica Lange. Her hard-as-nails flight attendant was one of the few high points of the otherwise run-of-the-mill “Executive Decision” (1996), and she once again broke racial barriers as the spouse who finds herself framed for murder in “The Rich Man’s Wife” (also 1996). Berry looked lovely but seemed miscast in the lead of the TV miniseries “The Wedding” (ABC, 1998), set in the upper middle class black milieu of Martha’s Vineyard in the 1950s. She fared better as an intelligent woman raised by activists who gives an older politician (Warren Beatty) a new lease on life in “Bulworth” and as the singer Zola Taylor, one of the three wives of pop singer Frankie Lymon, in the unfortunately overlooked biopic “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” (both 1998).

In 1999, Berry was able to realize her life-long dream of portraying the singer-actress who broke racial barriers by becoming the first black woman to nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award in the HBO biopic “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge”. Although both Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston had expressed a desire to play Dandridge in a film biography, Berry got there first, not only delivering a career-enhancing performance that netted her several awards, including an Emmy, but also serving as one of the producers of the project as well. The following year, she took sci-fi fans by “Storm” playing a beautiful mutant in Bryan Singer’s big-screen version of the Marvel comic “X-Men”. Her success was overshadowed a bit when she was involved in a car accident and left the scene to go to the hospital for treatment, leading to stories in the tabloid media. The actress pleaded no contest and settled a civil lawsuit out of court.

In 2001, Berry was reduced to being nothing more than decorative in the unspectacular thriller “Swordfish”, a fact made all the more clear when she appeared topless for the first time in her career. The gratuitous scene did little for the film’s plot, but it generated copy (including unfounded rumors that she got a $500,000 bonus to do the scene) and helped keep her in the spotlight. Later that same year, she delivered a brutally honest and moving performance as a struggling waitress coping with a husband on death row and an overweight child in “Monster’s Ball”. Downplaying her looks and tearing into a rare dramatic role that challenged her, Berry won critical plaudits for her work, which included a three-minute-long love scene with co-star Billy Bob Thornton. Her performance generated buzz, yielded some prizes from groups like the National Board of Review and the Screen Actors Guild. In March, she made history by becoming the first black woman ever to earn a Best Actress Academy Award.

Enjoying her newfound prominence in the industry, Berry accepted the role of Jinx in the 20th James Bond feature, “Die Another Day” (2002) opposite Pierce Brosnan’s Agent 007. As the first A-list, Oscar-winning Bond girl in a generation, Berry was trumpeted in the role from the moment she began filming to the day the movie was released; she even gamely paid homage to the series’ roots by appearing in a tangerine bikini reminiscent of Ursula Andress’ in “Dr. No.” And while Berry’s performance was not necessarily Oscar-bait, she did display a strong chemistry with Brosnan as his equal in both espionage and in bed, and a spunk that inspired MGM to make plans to launch a spin-off film starring her character. After completing that role, she segued to “X2″ (2003), the sequel to “X-Men” in which she reprised her role as Storm, a part which was expanded somewhat to suit her award-winning status. Nevertheless, rumors of friction between her and director Bryan Singer circulated and Berry did not participate in the massive press push for the blockbuster, putting her role in future sequels in question. Later that year she starred in the horror thriller “Gothika” (2003), playing Miranda Gray, a doctor in a mental institute who becomes incarcerated in her own hospital after seemingly becoming possessed and murdering her husband. Berry provided a convincing and relatable presence in the stylish and atmospheric but otherwise clichéd and implausible film.

After weathering yet another public split with a spouse–this time her husband, singer Eric Benet, with the split blamed on his sex addiction and serial infidelity (Berry publicly vowed on “Oprah” to never marry again–the actress took on the role of Batman’s popular comic book villainess/paramour “Catwoman” for the 2004 film that departed from the original Selina Kyle character and cast Berry as Patience Phillips, a shy, repressed woman whose death earns her feline powers from a mystical cat so that she may avenge herself. Although Berry’s spectacular body–showcased in flesh-friendly skintight leather outfits–and her appropriately cat-like attitude at the whip-wielding Catwoman were appreciated, the film was otherwise a dismal loser all around, including Berry’s inauthentic portrayal of meek Patience.

Surprisingly Berry’s next genuinely impressive performance was for television when she appeared in the Oprah Winfrey-produced ABC telepic “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (2005), an adaptation of the popular Zora Neale Hurston novel in which Berry played Janie Crawford, a iconoclastic, free-spirited woman whose unconventional mores regarding relationships upset her 1920s contemporaries in her small community. Meanwhile, she lent her voice to Cappy one of the many mechanical beings to inhabit the animated feature, “Robots” (2005).

• Born:
  on 08/14/66 in Cleveland, Ohio
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Model, Producer

Family

• Father: Jerome Berry. black; abandoned family c. 1970; briefly returned in 1976; suffering with Parkinson’s disease; died on January 24, 2003 in Cleveland, Ohio at the age of 68.
• Half-sister: Renee Berry. younger
• Mother: Judith Berry. white; from Liverpool, England; raised Berry and her sister
• Sister: Heidi Berry. older; married with three children; Halle Berry is estranged from her; the actress told Movieline in December 2001/January 2002: “We fought a lot. We don’t know but part of me feels that we never recovered from the adolescent years. We fought for real. Sometimes drawing blood. I moved away from home at such a young age that the relationship never quite repaired itself.”
• Step-daughter: India Benet. born c. 1991

Significant Others

• Husband: David Justice. married in January 1993; filed for divorce in February 1996; divorced finalized in June 1997
• Husband: Eric Benet. born c. 1967; dating as of 1999; has daughter India (born c. 1991) from previous relationship; married on January 19, 2001 in L.A.
• Companion: John Ronan. dated c. 1989 to c. 1991; sued Berry in November 1993 for $80,000 he claimed he loaned to her during their relationship; suit dismissed by a judge because Ronan did not list any outstanding loans to Berry during a bankrupcy filing in 1992
• Companion: Shemar Moore. reportedly dated briefly following her separation from Justice
• Companion: Spike Lee. dated briefly
• Companion: Wesley Snipes. became romantically involved during filming of “Jungle Fever”; dated in 1991

Education

• Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio, broadcast journalism, 1984
• Bedford High School, Bedford, Ohio, 1984

Milestones

• 1984 Named winner of the Miss Teen All-American Pageant, representing the state of Ohio
• 1986 Became first runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant
• 1986 Won the dress competition in the Miss World pageant
• 1989 TV debut as model Emily Franklin in ABC sitcom “Living Dolls”
• 1991 Played recurring role of Frank’s girlfriend Debbie Porter on “Knots Landing” (CBS)
• 1991 Feature debut as a junkie in “Jungle Fever”, directed by Spike Lee
• 1993 Cast as title character in the CBS miniseries “Queen”, based on Alex Haley’s book
• 1994 Cast as Rosetta Stone in “The Flintstones”; role originally had been offered to Sharon Stone
• 1995 Co-starred opposite Jessica Lange in “Losing Isaiah”; played a former drug addict trying to regain custody of her son
• 1995 Portrayed the Queen of Sheba opposite Jimmy Smits in “Solomon & Sheba” (Showtime)
• 1996 Portrayed the title character in the thriller “The Rich Man’s Wife”
• 1996 Signed by Revlon to model cosmetics in print and TV advertising
• 1998 Appeared opposite Warren Beatty in the political comedy “Bulworth”
• 1998 Co-starred as one of the three wives of singer Frankie Lymon in “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?”
• 1998 Starred in the ABC TV-movie “The Wedding”
• 1999 Realized dream project by co-producing and starring in the HBO biopic “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge”; garnered Emmy Award portraying the titular singer-actress, and the first black woman to be nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award
• 2000 Featured as Storm, a mutant with the power to produce adverse weather conditions, in the big screen version of the Marvel Comic “X-Men”
• 2000 Pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of leaving the scene of a car accident on February 23 in Los Angeles; driver of other car involved filed a civil suit seeking damages; lawsuit was resolved in an out of court settlement in May 2001
• 2001 Cast as the widow of a death row inmate who falls in love with a former prison guard in Marc Forster’s “Monster’s Ball”; won Best Actress Oscar, becoming the first black woman to win in that category; received a 2002 BAFTA nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role
• 2001 Was the female lead in the action feature “Swordfish”
• 2002 Portrayed Jinx in the James Bond film “Die Another Day”, with Pierce Brosnan as 007
• 2003 Earned a People’s Choice nomination for Favorite movie actress
• 2003 Reprised role of Storm in “X2″, the sequel to “The X-Men”
• 2003 Starred in the horror feature “Gothika”
• 2004 Received a People’s Choice nomination for Favorite movie actress
• 2004 Starred as a feline in the blockbuster “Catwoman”
• 2005 Earned an Emmy nomination starring in an adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (ABC)
• 2005 Produced the HBO original movie “Lackawanna Blues” based on Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s play that centers around a boarding house in Lackawanna, New York
• 2005 Voiced Cappy opposite Ewan McGregor the animated feature “Robots”
• Raised in Ohio
• Reteaming with director Marc Forster to play the legendary Egyptian queen Nefertiti in a historical epic (lensed 2005)
• Worked as a model in Chicago