Halle Maria Berry was born August 14, 1966, is an Academy Award-winning actress and model.


Halle Berry was named after Halle's Department Store, a local landmark in her birthplace of Cleveland, Ohio. Helle Berry is the daughter of Judith Ann Hawkins, a caucasian of English ancestry, and Jerome J. Berry, who is African-American. Halle Berry's maternal grandmother, Nellie Dicken, was born in Sawley, Derbyshire, England, while her maternal grandfather, Earl Ellsworth Hawkins, was born in Ohio. Halle Berry's parents divorced when she was 4 years old and she subsequently was raised by her mother, a psychiatric-ward nurse. She also has an older sister, Heidi.


Halle Berry was a popular student at Bedford High School and was a cheerleader, honor society member, editor of the school newspaper, class president and prom queen. Halle Berry worked in the children's department at Higbee's Department Store. Her personality, as described by a co-worker, was expressed in these terms...

"I can hardly believe how sweet and nice she had been to everyone. People who weren't half as beautiful as she did not display the kind of inner beauty she exhibited."

She subsequently attended Cuyahoga Community College.


Before becoming an actress, Halle Berry entered several beauty contests, including Miss Ohio USA, Miss Teen All American, Miss USA (first runner-up in 1986) and Miss World.

Follow up:

Hollywood career

In the late 1980s, Halle Berry went to Chicago 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."


Halle Berry auditioned for a role in an updated Charlie's Angels television series by producer Aaron Spelling. At the time, Spelling wanted one of the "Angels" to be an African American woman. She did not get the role (because the project never materialized) but she impressed Spelling with her skills, who encouraged her to continue perfecting her craft.


In 1989, Helle Berry landed the role of brainy Emily Franklin in the short-lived ABC television series Living Dolls (which was a spin-off of Who's the Boss?). Her breakthrough feature film role was in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever where she played a drug addict named Vivian. Halle Berry's first co-starring role was in the film Strictly Business. Another one of her early roles was in a supporting capacity in the Flintstones movie where she played "Sharon Stone" (a part rumored to have been intended for Sharon Stone). Halle Berry would co-star alongside Stone in Catwoman. The year before, Halle Berry really caught the public's attention with her portrayal as a female slave in the TV adaption of Queen: The Story of an American Family.


Halle Berry is also known by most comic book fans for her portrayal of Storm in the movie adaptation of the successful comic book X-Men (2000) and its successful sequel X2: X-Men United (2003). Halle Berry will reprise her role again in the third installment X-Men 3 scheduled for a May 2006 release. In late 2003 Halle Berry starred in the thriller Gothika, which was the first film that she "carried," i.e., her role was the most important one in the film.


Known for her beauty, Halle Berry as served many years as the face of Revlon cosmetics and was recently named the new face of Versace.