Halle Berry biography

Actress, model. Born August 14, 1968, in Cleveland, Ohio. The youngest daughter born to Jerome and Judith Berry, an interracial couple. Halle, and her older sister Heidi, spent the first few years of their childhood living in an inner-city neighborhood. In the early 1970s, Jerome Berry abandoned his wife and children, after which Judith moved her family to the predominantly white Cleveland suburb of Bedford. Berry attended a nearly all-white public school, and as a result was subjected to discrimination at an early age. Her early bouts with racism greatly influenced her desire to excel. Throughout high school, the determined teen participated in a dizzying array of extracurricular activities, holding positions of newspaper editor, class president, and head cheerleader. A natural performer, Berry earned a handful of beauty pageant titles during the early 1980s, including Miss Teen Ohio and Miss Teen America. She was eventually awarded first runner-up in the 1985 Miss U.S.A. competition. For a short time she attended Cleveland’s Cuyahoga Community College, where she studied broadcast journalism. However, Berry abandoned her idea of a career in news reporting before receiving her degree. Choosing to wholeheartedly devote her time to a career in entertainment, Berry moved to Chicago then New York City, where she found work as a catalog model. As the ‘80s turned into the ‘90s, the aspiring actress began a career in television with a role on the short-lived sitcom Living Dolls (1989), followed by a year-long run on the CBS prime-time drama Knot’s Landing, in 1991. Berry’s first big-screen break came later that year when she was cast as Samuel L. Jackson’s drug-addicted girlfriend in Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever. More substantial supporting roles followed, including that of a stripper in the action-thriller The Last Boy Scout (1991), starring Bruce Willis; and as the woman who finally wins Eddie Murphy’s heart in the romantic comedy Boomerang (1992). With a few films under her belt, Berry accepted more offbeat roles, making cameos in the rockumentary CB4 (1993), which traced the rise and fall of the titled rap group. 1994’s live-action version of The Flintstones featured Berry as a Stone Age seductress. Berry offered a no-holds-barred performance as a rehabilitated crack addict seeking to regain custody of her son in Losing Isaiah (1995).

In the midst of a bitter custody battle with adoptive parents played by Jessica Lange and David Strathairn, Berry was noted for her believable portrayal in the unglamorous role. Later that year, Berry overcame Hollywood’s racial barriers when she was cast as the first African-American to play the Queen of Sheeba in Showtime’s movie Solomon & Sheeba.

Berry’s other credits included two 1996 crime thrillers — The Rich Man’s Wife, and Executive Decision, which marked her first leading role in a feature. She took a turn as one of three wives laying claim to Frankie Lyman’s estate in the 1998 biographical drama Why Do Fools Fall in Love, and played a liberal urban youth in the political satire Bulworth (1998), opposite Hollywood veteran Warren Beatty. In 1999, Berry released her most passionate project to date, coproducing and starring in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, an HBO biopic. Berry was noted for her striking resemblance to the late Dandridge, and for her engaging depiction of the actress’ struggle to succeed in the racially biased industry of 1950s Hollywood. Berry earned both a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Television Movie for her role. Berry was featured in X-Men (2000), the big-budget screen adaptation of the long-running Marvel Comic. In the highly anticipated summer release Berry’s character, Storm, teamed with fellow mutant heroes played by Anna Paquin and Patrick Stewart. In the summer of 2001, she costarred with John Travolta in the disappointing action movie Swordfish, the publicity for which largely focused around Berry's topless scene.

Berry garnered the most positive critical notice of her film career in late 2001, for her performance as the wife of a death row prisoner (Sean "Puffy" Combs) who becomes romantically involved with a racist prison guard (Billy Bob Thornton) in the dark drama Monster's Ball. The role earned Berry a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Drama and serious Oscar buzz. For a short time, Berry was involved in a stormy relationship with Jungle Fever costar Wesley Snipes before she married Atlanta Braves outfielder David Justice, in 1993. Three years later, Berry filed for a divorce, which was finalized in 1997. In February of 2000, Berry was involved in a hit-and-run accident that erupted into a tabloid scandal. After enduring a minor head injury, she claimed that she did not remember leaving the scene. As a result of her actions, she was put on probation and fined $13,500. The driver of the other vehicle recently filed a civil suit against Berry, and both are currently awaiting a court hearing.

After her difficult divorce from Justice, Berry became secretly engaged to Eric Benét, a jazz musician, in August of 1999. The engagement was announced in December of that year. The couple handled news of their marriage the same way: Berry first introduced Benét as her "husband" at the public unveiling of her official Web site, Hallewood, in February 2001, while the couple actually wed two weeks before, at an undisclosed tropical location.