Halle Berry Biography

Why Is She Famous?

Halle Berry has starred in such movies as Boomerang (1992), Bulworth (1998), the three installments of X-Men, Swordfish (2001), Monster's Ball (2001), the Bond vehicle Die Another Day (2002), Gothika (2003), Catwoman (2004), X-men: The Last Stand (2006), Perfect Stranger (2007), and Things We Lost In The Fire (2007). She has the ability to take on incredibly diverse roles that don't always focus on her beauty, and that is what makes her even hotter than your usual actress.


Date of Birth:

14 August 1966, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Birth Name:

Halle Maria Berry

Height:

5' 7" (1.70 m)

Spouse:

Eric Benét (24 January 2001 - 3 January 2005) (divorced) David Justice (31 December 1992 - 24 June 1997) (divorced)


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Salary:

Perfect Stranger (2007) $10,000,000

Catwoman (2004) $14,000,000

Gothika (2003) $6,000,000

Die Another Day (2002) $4,000,000

Monster's Ball (2001) $600,000

Swordfish (2001) $2,500,000

Executive Decision (1996) $1,000,000

Mailing Adress:

Halle Berry
c/o SFM
1122 S. Robertson Blvd., Suite 15
Los Angeles, CA 90035

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Halle Berry
c/o Broadway Talent Agency
175 W. 2700 South, Suite 230
Salt Lake City, UT 84115


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Awards:

Black Reel
Year : 2002
Category : Theatrical - Best Actress
For : Monster's Ball
Won

Oscar
Year : 2002
Category : Best Actress in a Leading Role
For : Monster's Ball
Won

Screen Actors Guild Awards
Year : 2002
Category : Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
For : Monster's Ball

Bambi Awards
Year : 2002
Category : Film - International
Won

Berlin International Film Festival
Year : 2002
Category : Best Actress
For : Monster's Ball
Won

BET Award
Year : 2002
Category : Best Actress
Won

NBR Award
Year : 2001
Category : Best Actress
For : Monster's Ball

Emmy Awards
Year : 2000
Category : Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
For : Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
Won

Golden Globe
Year : 2000
Category : Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV
For : Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
Won

Screen Actors Guild Awards
Year : 2000
Category : Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
For : Introducing Dorothy Dandridge

Black Reel
Year : 200
Category : Network/Cable - Best Actress
For : Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
Won

Blockbuster Entertainment Award
Year : 1997
Category : Favorite Actress - Adventure/Drama
For : Executive Decision
Won

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Halle Berry Biography:

Born on August 14, 1966, in Cleveland, Ohio, Halle Maria Berry and her older sister, Heidi, were raised by their mother, Judith, a psychiatric ward nurse. Halle Berry's father walked out on the family when she was only 4 years old.

Although living in a single-parent household was somewhat tough, Halle's mom managed to move the family out of the inner-city neighborhood and into the suburbs of Cleveland. But because the neighborhood was predominantly white, Halle and her sister were treated cruelly because of their dark skin.

halle berry in miss usa pageant

Determined not to let the color of her skin get the best of her, Halle Berry made it a point to make friends, and her dream of becoming an actress already began to surface.



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By the time Halle Berry reached high school, she was a cheerleader, an honor society member, editor of the school paper, and class president. Not surprisingly, she was crowned her high school's prom queen. In 1983, when she was only 17 years old, Halle's then-boyfriend entered her name in the Miss Teen Ohio beauty pageant. Once again, it's no surprise that Halle Berry got to wear the crown in that competition.

But it didn't stop there: Halle Berry won many other high-profile competitions, including Miss Teen All-American, Miss USA (first runner-up) and Miss World. Once she was done raking in points by winning pageant after pageant, Halle continued her education at Cleveland's Cuyahoga Community College in 1986, studying broadcast journalism.


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halle berry stars in jungle fever

Unfortunately, Halle Berry didn't complete her degree -- she left the program to pursue a more glamorous career in modeling and started studying acting in Chicago. Although Halle Berry auditioned for Aaron Spelling for a part in Charlie's Angels and didn't get the role, Spelling encouraged Halle to pursue her dreams of being an actress.

Halle Berry moved to Manhattan, where she immediately landed her first TV gig in Living Dolls. Although the show was short-lived, Halle was more determined than ever to become a great actress.


Halle Berry got her first big break in 1991 when Spike Lee cast her as a crack-addicted woman in Jungle Fever, costarring Samuel L. Jackson. Halle was so determined to execute the role perfectly that she actually interviewed real addicts and stopped bathing 10 days before filming the racially charged film.


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halle berry stars in boomerang

Soon after, Halle Berry reverted to television with a recurring role on the popular prime-time soap opera Knots Landing in 1991.

But the big screen was where Halle Berry wanted to be and she soon landed another part, this time playing Damon Wayans' exotic girlfriend in the film The Last Boy Scout (1991), which also starred Bruce Willis.

In 1992, Halle landed a starring role opposite none other than the man of comedy himself, Eddie Murphy, in Boomerang. In 1993, she married Atlanta Braves right fielder David Justice. Unfortunately, the marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 1996.


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halle berry stars as dorothy dandridge

Next, Halle Berry decided to take a lighter acting job and starred in the 1994 movie The Flintstones, but her riveting big-screen role as an illiterate addict who abandons her child in a garbage can in 1995's Losing Isaiah shot her star up high.

Unfortunately for Halle Berry, she missed a great opportunity when she passed up the lead role in the film Speed, which ultimately worked wonders for Sandra Bullock's career.

Other movies that Halle Berry starred in include Executive Decision (1996), Race the Sun (1996), B*A*P*S (1997), Bulworth (1998), and Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), for which she won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV movie.


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halle berry stars as storm in x-men

In 2000, Halle Berry starred as Storm/Ororo Munroe in the live film adaptation of the cartoon strip X-Men -- along with fellow mutants Rebecca Romijn and Famke Janssen.

Halle Berry also returned to modeling as a spokeperson for Revlon. And because Halle Berry was diagnosed with diabetes, she became an avid volunteer for the Juvenile Diabetes Association.

halle berry's hit and run

Unfortunately, Berry made headlines when she was charged with a hit and run in 2000. She pleaded no contest and the judge ordered her to perform 200 hours of community service. She also made news when she was allegedly paid a $500,000 bonus to reveal her breasts in a scene in 2001's hacker film, Swordfish.

In 2001, Halle Berry married soul singer Eric Benet, but the couple divorced in 2003.

Halle wins an oscar for monster's ball

2001 wasn't all bad for Halle Berry, however. She received the 2002 SAG award for Best Actress in Monster's Ball and made history at the Oscars as the first black actress to receive a Best Actress Academy Award. Her Oscar triumph cemented her as an A-list actress.

But that didn't mean Halle Berry was giving up action blockbusters: She appeared as Bond Girl Jinx in the film Die Another Day (2002), as well as in X2 (2003), the second installment of the X-Men franchise.


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halle berry is catwoman

Next, Halle appeared in the psychological thriller Gothika (2003) and in Catwoman (2004), which was panned by critics.

Later that year, Halle Berry made headlines again when her allegedly abusive ex-lover was revealed as Wesley Snipes, although Halle herself never confirmed this.

halle berry in x-men: the last stand

In 2005, Halle Berry appeared in the TV movie Their Eyes Were Watching God and lent her voice to the animated film Robots. Her projects for 2006 included the third X-Men installment, X-Men: The Final Stand, and the thriller Perfect Stranger.

Halle Berry was also named the new face of Versace. During a photoshoot for the designer, Halle Berry met her boyfriend, top model Gabriel Aubry.


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Hella Berry Quotes:

On Dorothy Dandridge: "...You have to find a way to be sad on every day, in every scene, in every moment. And always try to hide the sadness. And (then) you'll get the essence of who she was."

"This moment is so much bigger than me, This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll... It's for the women that stand beside me, Jada Pinkett Smith, Angela Bassett, Vivica A. Fox... and it's for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance, because the door tonight has been opened." - During her Oscar acceptance speech.


On choosing both serious and popcorn-movie roles: "There's art and there's commerce. You have to find a way to mesh the two. It's important to do the little movies just for the love of the art. But it's those big movies that take you around the world and make you globally famous."


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I'll never get married again, and I always hate to say never to anything, but I will never marry again.


I was black growing up in an all-white neighborhood, so I felt like I just didn't fit in. Like I wasn't as good as everybody else, or as smart, or whatever.


Blackness is a state of mind and I identify with the black community. Mainly, because I realized, early on, when I walk into a room, people see a black woman, they don't see a white women. So out of that reason alone, I identify more with the black community.


I spent a lot of time with a crown on my head.


The worst thing a man can ever do is kiss me on the first date.


I don't see a white woman. I see a black woman, even though my mother is white [her father Jerome is black]. Knowing that has made my life easier, I think.


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I want to be the next Spike Lee. I want to help other black folks to get into Hollywood and be successful in Hollywood.

What is my real purpose here? I've looked at what I do. I make believe and make movies. I entertain people and get paid for it. Sometimes it seems like such a shallow existence. How insignificant in the scheme of life.

"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. And I hope to God I never see these people again." - on accepting her Razzie Award for Worst Actress

I never wanted to be a model. My modeling career was nothing but a stepping stone to my acting career and that's all I ever saw it as. A pointless rock in the river that has to be stepped on in order to get to the meaningful oasis of acting.


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I guess you could say I have bad taste in men. But I no longer feel the need to be someone's wife.

(On receiving a film festival award while pregnant) I am three times the girl I used to be. This is the second red carpet where I didn't have to think about sucking in my stomach - because I can't!

---Hella Berry