Halle Berry

Halle Berry

Halle Maria Berry is an Oscar winning Hollywood actress who is known for her stunning good looks, wide array of roles and being the face of Revlon cosmetics. She was born on August 14, 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio to Jerome and Judith Berry and has an older sister named Heidi. Her father was an alcoholic who abused her mother and abandoned the family when Berry was quite young. She moved to Bedford with her mother and sister where she attended a predominantly white public school. As a result, she was subjected to racial discrimination from an early age. However, she was an all rounder in high school and landed the role of head cheerleader, class president and editor of the school newspaper as well as being voted the prom queen.

At the age of 17 she entered the Miss Teen All-American Pageant as the representative from Ohio. She won the title in 1985 as well as the position of first runner up in the Miss U.S.A. Pageant a year later. For a short while she entertained the notion of being a TV News Anchor and went to Community College in Cleveland. She abandoned that idea soon and moved to Chicago and then to New York to work as a model before landing her first TV role in the 1989 TV series “Living Dolls”. Her first major acclaimed performance was the role of a drug addict in the film “Jungle Fever” released in 1991 in which she starred with Samuel L. Jackson. Berry’s commitment to the role was noteworthy – she stayed in character throughout the filming of the movie and even refused to shower for days so she could really feel the desperation and hopelessness that the character required.

During this time she took on a series of other roles including the TV drama “Knot’s Landing” in 1991, “The Last Boy Scout” also in 1991 which was an action thriller starring Bruce Willis, and “Boomerang” in 1992, a romantic comedy in which she starred opposite Eddie Murphy. She consistently took on strong and sometimes unconventional roles such as a rehabilitated drug addict in “Losing Isaiah” and the Queen of Sheeba in “Solomon & Sheeba”. Her first blockbuster movie was the X Men franchise in which she plays the role of Storm, a comic book super hero who can control the weather. She returned to play her role in other movies in the X Men series, that is X Men 2, X Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Days of Future Past. She also had other critically acclaimed roles such as “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge” for which she won a Golden Globe Award as well as an Emmy Award for the category “Best Actress in a Television Movie”.

In 2001, Berry played the lead role in “Monster’s Ball” starring with Billy Bob Thornton. She won an Oscar Award for “Best Actress in a Lead Role” as well as a Golden Globe nomination for this. In 2004, she was given a “Razzie Award” for worst performance as an actress for her role in “Catwoman”. She was one of the few actresses who actually showed up to accept her award and jokingly gave an acceptance speech as well. She was also involved in a car crash controversy where she allegedly fled the scene of the crime. She was fined $13,500 and had to partake in community service.

Berry is one of the most highly paid Hollywood actresses and is also considered to be one of the most beautiful. She has frequently been part of “Most Beautiful People” lists compiled by magazines such as People, Esquire and FHM. In 2007, she was awarded her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard. She has been married thrice and has two children. She is currently 48 years old and lives in Los Angeles, California.


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