| Alt | Head and shoulders shot of a smiling Berry with dark hair pulled back, wearing a lace shirt and turquoise necklace. |
|---|
| Caption | Berry visiting with sailors and Marines during the opening day of Fleet Week New York 2006 |
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| Birth date | August 14, 1966 |
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| Birth place | Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
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| Birth name | Maria Halle Berry |
|---|
| Occupation | Actress |
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| Years active | 1990–present |
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| Spouse | |
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| Partner | Gabriel Aubry (2005- 2010) Olivier Martinez- present |
|---|
Halle Berry (; born August 14, 1966) is an American actress, former
fashion model, and
beauty queen. Berry received an
Emmy,
Golden Globe,
SAG, and an
NAACP Image Award for
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge She has also been involved in the production side of several of her films.
Before becoming an actress, Berry entered several beauty contests, finishing as the 1st runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant (1986), and coming in 6th place in the Miss World Pageant in 1986. was born on March 16, 2008.
Early life
Berry was born
Maria Halle Berry, though her name was legally changed to Halle Maria Berry in 1971. Berry's parents selected her middle name from
Halle's Department Store, which was then a local landmark in her birthplace of
Cleveland, Ohio. Her mother, Judith Ann (
née Hawkins), who is
Caucasian, was a psychiatric nurse. Her father, Jerome Jesse Berry, was an
African American hospital attendant in the same psychiatric ward where her mother worked; he later became a bus driver. 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 four years old; she and her older sister Heidi were raised exclusively by her mother. noting in 1992, "I haven't heard from him since [he left]. Maybe he's not alive." She was the 1986
Miss USA first runner-up to
Christy Fichtner of
Texas. In the Miss USA 1986 pageant interview competition, she said she hoped to become an entertainer or to have something to do with the media. Her interview was awarded the highest score by the judges. She was the first African-American
Miss World entrant in 1986, where she finished sixth and
Trinidad and Tobago's Giselle Laronde was crowned Miss World.
Acting career: 1989–2002
In the late 1980s, Berry went to
Illinois 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. In 1989, Berry landed the role of Emily Franklin in the short-lived ABC television series
Living Dolls (a spin-off of
Who's the Boss?), during the taping of which she lapsed into a coma and was diagnosed with
diabetes. She went on to have a recurring role on the long-running primetime serial
Knots Landing. In 1992, Berry was cast as the love interest in the video for
R. Kelly's seminal single, "
Honey Love".
Her breakthrough feature film role was in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, in which she played a drug addict named Vivian.
Playing a former drug addict struggling to regain custody of her son in Losing Isaiah (1995), Berry tackled a more serious role, starring opposite Jessica Lange. She portrayed Sandra Beecher in Race the Sun (1996), which was based on a true story, and co-starred alongside Kurt Russell in Executive Decision. Beginning in 1996, she was a Revlon spokeswoman for seven years and renewed her contract in 2004.
In 1998, Berry received praise for her role in Bulworth as an intelligent woman raised by activists who gives a politician (Warren Beatty) a new lease on life. The same year, she played the singer Zola Taylor, one of the three wives of pop singer Frankie Lymon, in the biopic Why Do Fools Fall in Love. In the 1999 HBO biopic Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, she portrayed the first black woman to be nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award.
Berry portrayed the mutant superhero Storm in the film adaptation of the comic book series X-Men (2000) and its sequels, X2: X-Men United (2003) and (2006). In 2001, Berry appeared in the film Swordfish, which featured her first nude scene. At first, she refused to be filmed topless in a sunbathing scene, but she changed her mind when Warner Brothers raised her fee substantially. The brief flash of her breasts added $500,000 to her fee. Berry considered these stories to be rumors and was quick to deny them.
In 2001, Berry appeared as Leticia Musgrove, the wife of an executed murderer, in the film Monster's Ball. Her performance was awarded the National Board of Review and the Screen Actors Guild best-actress prizes; in an interesting coincidence she became the first African-American to receive a Best Leading Actress Academy Award (earlier in her career she portrayed Dorothy Dandridge, the first African-American to be nominated for Best Actress). The NAACP issued the statement: "Congratulations to Halle Berry and Denzel Washington for giving us hope and making us proud. If this is a sign that Hollywood is finally ready to give opportunity and judge performance based on skill and not on skin color then it is a good thing." Her role also generated controversy. Berry's graphic nude love scene with a racist character played by co-star Billy Bob Thornton was the subject of much media chatter and discussion among African-Americans. Many in the African-American community were critical of Berry for taking the part. Her win at the Academy Awards led to two famous "Oscar moments." In accepting her award, she gave an acceptance speech honoring previous black actresses who had never had the opportunity. She said, "This moment is so much bigger than me. This is for every nameless, faceless woman of colour who now has a chance tonight because this door has been opened." One year later, as she presented the Best Actor award, winner Adrien Brody ran on stage and, instead of giving her the standard peck on the cheek, planted a long kiss on Berry.
International success
As Bond girl Giacinta 'Jinx' Johnson in the 2002 blockbuster Die Another Day, Berry recreated a scene from Dr. No, emerging from the surf to be greeted by James Bond as Ursula Andress had 40 years earlier. Lindy Hemming, costume designer on "Die Another Day", had insisted that Berry wear a bikini and knife as an homage. Berry has said of the scene: "It's splashy", "exciting", "sexy", "provocative" and "it will keep me still out there after winning an Oscar." According to a ITV news poll, Jinx was voted the fourth toughest girl on screen of all time. Berry was hurt during filming when debris from a smoke grenade flew into her eye. It was removed in a 30-minute operation.
After Berry won the Academy Award, rewrites were commissioned to give her more screentime for X2. Berry stated during interviews for X2 that she would not return as Storm unless the character had a significant presence comparable to the comic-book version.
In November 2003, she starred in the psychological thriller Gothika opposite Robert Downey Jr., during which she broke her arm. Downey was supposed to grab her arm and twist but twisted too hard. Production was halted for eight weeks. It was a moderate hit at the United States box office, taking in $60 million; it earned another $80 million abroad. In 2004, Berry was voted fourth of Empire magazine's 100 sexiest film stars of all time poll.
Berry received $12.5 million for the title role in the film Catwoman, a $100 million movie; it grossed $17 million on its first weekend. She was awarded a "worst actress" Razzie award in 2005 for this role. She appeared at the ceremony to accept the award in person (making her the third person, and second actor, to ever do so) with a sense of humor, considering it an experience of the "rock bottom" in order to be "at the top". Holding the Academy Award in one hand and the Razzie in the other she said, "I never in my life thought that I would be here, winning a Razzie. It's not like I ever aspired to be here, but thank you. When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there's no way you could be a good winner."
Berry next appeared in the Oprah Winfrey-produced ABC TV movie Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005), an adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's novel, in which Berry portrayed Janie Crawford, a free-spirited woman whose unconventional sexual mores upset her 1920s contemporaries in a small community. She was nominated for an Emmy for this TV film. Meanwhile, she voiced the character of Cappy, one of the many mechanical beings in the animated feature Robots (2005).
]]
In 2006, Berry, Pierce Brosnan, Cindy Crawford, Jane Seymour, Dick Van Dyke, Tea Leoni, and Daryl Hannah successfully fought the Cabrillo Port Liquefied Natural Gas facility that was proposed off the coast of Malibu. Berry said "I care about the air we breathe, I care about the marine life and the ecosystem of the ocean." In May 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the facility. Hasty Pudding Theatricals gave her its 2006 Woman of The Year award.
Berry is involved in production of films and television. She served as executive producer on Introducing Dorothy Dandridge in 1999, and Lackawanna Blues in 2005. Berry both produced and starred in the thriller Perfect Stranger with Bruce Willis and in Things We Lost in the Fire with Benicio del Toro. Berry then starred in the film Frankie and Alice in which she plays Frankie Murdoch who is a young multiracial American women with dissociative identity disorder struggling to retain her true self and not give into her racial alter personality. She was awarded the African-American Film Critics Association for best actress and also was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama.
Berry is one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, earning $10 million per film.
Berry has served for many years as the face of Revlon cosmetics and also as the face of Versace. The Coty Inc. fragrance company signed Berry to market her debut fragrance in March 2008. Berry was delighted, saying that she had created her own fragrances at home by mixing scents.
Personal life
in San Diego, CA]]
Berry has been married twice. Her first marriage was to former baseball player David Justice, shortly after midnight on January 1, 1993. The couple separated in 1996 and their divorce was finalized in 1997. Justice played with the Atlanta Braves and experienced a measure of fame as the team rose to prominence in the early 1990s. The couple found it difficult to maintain their relationship while he was playing baseball and she was filming elsewhere. Berry has stated publicly that she was so depressed after her breakup with Justice that she considered taking her own life, but she could not bear the thought of her mother finding her body.
Berry's second marriage was to musician Eric Benét. They met in 1997 and married in early 2001 on a beach in Santa Barbara. Berry credited Benét with support after she was involved in a February 2000 traffic collision, in which she suffered a concussion and left the scene of the accident before the police arrived. Some in the media complained that her misdemeanor hit and run charge was preferential treatment; she had also been the driver in an alleged hit and run incident three years earlier in which no charges were filed. The incident became fodder for comedians. A civil lawsuit was settled out of court.
The couple separated in 2003. While married to Benét, Berry adopted his daughter, India.
Berry has been a victim of domestic violence, and now works to help other victims. In 2005, she said, "Domestic violence is something I've known about since I was a child. My mother was a victim of it. Early on in my life I made choices, and I chose men that were abusive because that was what I knew growing up...First time it happened, I knew enough to keep moving."
In November 2005, Berry began dating French-Canadian supermodel Gabriel Aubry, nine years her junior. The couple met at a Versace photoshoot. After six months with Aubry, she stated in an interview, "I'm really happy in my personal life, which is a novelty to me. You know, I'm not the girl that has the best relationships."
At one point, Berry had indicated that she planned to adopt children, After initially denying rumors, she confirmed in September 2007 that she was three months pregnant. Berry gave birth to a girl named Nahla Ariela Aubry on March 16, 2008, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Berry hired security guards after receiving racist threats to her unborn baby from a stalker, who said her child will be "cut into hundreds of pieces".
At one time, Berry indicated that she did not intend to marry again, insisting the couple's life was already complete without the need for a marriage. She stated that she hoped to have a second child right away. Aubry told In Touch magazine, "I'd like Nahla to have a sibling in 2009."
On April 30, 2010, it was reported that Berry and Aubry had separated. Berry's representative confirmed their relationship had ended a few days later by saying, "They have been split for some time, but remain friends and committed parents to their daughter." They worked out a financial and 50/50 custody deal with a family lawyer, but TMZ reported that it is not final. The source said, "As much as it can be it's been an amicable split. They both traveled a lot for work anyway, so they were used to spending time apart for long periods, but I think Halle has taken it pretty badly; she truly loved Gabriel and thought she had found the one."
In the media
Parade, Cambridge, MA in February 2006]]
Berry has stated that the manner in which people have reacted to her because of her ethnicity is often the result of ignorance. Her own self-identification has been influenced by her mother. She is quoted as saying
After having many talks with my mother about the issue, she reinforced what she had always taught me. She said that even though you are half black and half white, you will be discriminated against in this country as a black person. People will not know when they see you that you have a white mother unless you wear a sign on your forehead. And, even if they did, so many people believe that if you have an ounce of black blood in you then you are black. So, therefore, I decided to let folks categorize me however they needed to.
While taping the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on October 19, 2007, Berry displayed a distorted image of her face, remarking: "Here's where I look like my Jewish cousin!" During the editing of the program, the comment was obscured by a laugh track. Berry later stated "What happened was I was backstage before the show and I have three girls who are Jewish who work for me. We were going through pictures to see which ones looked silly, and one of my Jewish friends said [of the big-nose picture], 'That could be your Jewish cousin!' And I guess it was fresh in my mind, and it just came out of my mouth. But I didn't mean to offend anybody. I didn't. I didn't mean any harm. – and after the show I realized it could be seen as offensive, so I asked Jay to take it out, and he did.'"
Berry took part in a nearly 2000-house party cell-phone bank campaign for Barack Obama in February 2008, and said that she will "collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear."
In October 2008, Berry was named Esquire Magazine's "Sexiest Woman Alive", about which she stated "I don't know exactly what it means, but being 42 and having just had a baby, I think I'll take it."
Filmography
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1989
|
Living Dolls
| Emily Franklin
| TV (canceled after 13 episodes)
|-
| 1991
|
Amen
| Claire
| TV series, episode: "Unforgettable"
|-
| 1991
|
| Jaclyn
| TV series, episode: "Love, Hillman-Style"
|-
| 1991
|
They Came from Outer Space
| Rene
| TV series, episode: "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow"
|-
| 1991
|
Knots Landing
| Debbie Porter
| TV (cast member in 1991)
|-
| 1991
|
Jungle Fever
| Vivian
| Nominated—
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated—
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actress
|-
| 1991
|
Strictly Business
| Natalie
|
|-
| 1991
|
| Cory
|
|-
| 1992
|
Boomerang
| Angela Lewis
|
|-
| 1993
|
Alex Haley's Queen
| Queen
|
NAACP Image Award
|-
| 1993
|
CB4
| Herself
| Cameo
|-
| 1993
|
Father Hood
| Kathleen Mercer
|
|-
| 1993
|
| Autumn Haley
|
|-
| 1994
|
| Sharon Stone
|-
| 2005
|
Their Eyes Were Watching God
| Janie Starks
| Nominated—
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
|-
| 2005
|
Robots
|
Cappy
| (Voice)
|-
| 2006
|
| Ororo Munroe/Storm
|
|-
| 2007
|
Perfect Stranger
| Rowena Price
|
|-
| 2007
|
Things We Lost in the Fire
| Audrey Burke
|
|-
| 2010
|
Frankie and Alice
| Frankie/Alice
|
African-American Film Critics AssociationNominated—
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
|-
| 2011
|
Dark Tide
| Kate Mathieson
| Post-Production
|}
Awards
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Award
! Category
! Film
! Result
|-
| 1995
|
NAACP Image Awards
|
Outstanding Actress in a TV Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
|
Alex Haley's Queen
|
|-
| 2000
|
Primetime Emmy Award
|
Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or Movie
|
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
|
|-
| 2000
|
Golden Globe Award
|
Best Actress – Miniseries or TV Movie
|
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
|
|-
| 2000
|
Screen Actors Guild Awards
|
Best Actress – Miniseries or TV Movie
|
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
|
|-
| 2000
|
Black Reel Awards
| Best Actress in a TV Movie/Mini-Series
|
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
|
|-
| 2000
| NAACP Image Awards
| Outstanding Actress in a TV Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
|
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
|
|-
| 2001
|
Academy Award
|
Best Actress
|
Monster's Ball
|
|-
| 2001
| Screen Actors Guild Awards
|
Best Actress – Motion Picture
|
Monster's Ball
|
|-
| 2001
|
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
| Best Lead Actress
|
Monster's Ball
|
|-
| 2001
| Golden Globe Award
| Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
|
Monster's Ball
|
|-
| 2001
|
NBR
|
Best Actress
|
Monster's Ball
|
|-
| 2002
| Black Reel Awards
| Best Actress
|
Monster's Ball
|
|-
| 2002
| NAACP Image Award
| Outstanding Actress
|
Swordfish
|
|-
| 2002
|
BET Awards
| Best Actress
|
|
|-
| 2003
| BET Awards
| Best Actress
|
|
|-
| 2003
| NAACP Image Award
| Outstanding Supporting Actress
|
Die Another Day
|
|-
| 2003
|
FHM 100 Sexiest Women
| Sexiest Woman of the World
|
|
|-
| 2004
| NAACP Image Award
| Outstanding Actress
|
Gothika
|
|-
| 2004
| BET Awards
| Best Actress
|
|
|-
| 2004
|
Golden Raspberry Awards
| Worst Actress
|
Catwoman
|
|-
| 2005
| BET Awards
| Best Actress
|
|
|-
| 2005
| Primetime Emmy Award
|
Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
|
Their Eyes Were Watching God
|
|-
| 2006
| NAACP Image Award
| Outstanding Supporting Actress – TV series
|
Their Eyes Were Watching God
|
|-
| 2007
|
People's Choice Awards
| Favorite Female Action Hero
|
|
|-
| 2008
| BET Awards
| Best Actress
|
|
|-
| 2009
|
Spike Guys' Choice Awards
| Decade of Hotness Award
|
|
|}
References
Further reading
Banting, Erinn. Halle Berry, Weigl Publishers, 2005 – ISBN 1-59036-333-7
Gogerly, Liz. Halle Berry, Raintree, 2005 – ISBN 1-4109-1085-7
Naden, Corinne J. Halle Berry, Sagebrush Education Resources, 2001 – ISBN 0-613-86157-4
O'Brien, Daniel. Halle Berry, Reynolds & Hearn, 2003 – ISBN 1-903111-38-2
Sanello, Frank. Halle Berry: A Stormy Life, Virgin Books, 2003 – ISBN 1-85227-092-6
Schuman, Michael A. Halle Berry: Beauty Is Not Just Physical, Enslow, 2006 – ISBN 0-7660-2467-9
External links
Halle Berry Fragrances
Category:1966 births
Category:Living people
Category:Actors from Ohio
Category:African American film actors
Category:African American television actors
Category:American female models
Category:American film actors
Category:American people of English descent
Category:American television actors
Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners
Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actress Golden Globe winners
Category:Emmy Award winners
Category:Miss World 1986 delegates
Category:Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Screen Actors Guild Award winners
Category:People from Cleveland, Ohio
Category:Miss USA 1986 delegates
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