Halle Berry
Biography
Halle
Berry was born on August 14, 1968, in Cleveland, Ohio. The
youngest daughter born to African American father Jerome Berry,
a former hospital attendant, and Caucasian mother Judith Berry,
a retired psychiatric nurse. 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 the Academy
Award for Leading Actress. In her emotional acceptance speech,
Berry acknowledged the honor of becoming the first African
American actress to win the Oscar for her lead role by thanking
all the performers who came before her.
In
2002, Berry starred in the hit Bond adventure Die Another
Day. In 2003, she starred in the thriller Gothika, and in
2004 she appeared as Gotham's favorite sex kitten in Catwoman,
also featuring Sharon Stone and Kim Smith. Berry will be starring
in the TV adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's classic 1937
novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God and lending her voice
for the CGI cartoon project Robots slated for 2005.
Halle Berry Filmography
Guide, The (2005)--Jane
Whitefield
Foxy Brown (2005)--Foxy Brown
Nappily Ever After (2005)--Venus Johnson
Robots (2005) (voice)--Cappy
Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005) (TV)--Janie
Catwoman (2004)--Patience Phillips/Catwoman
Gothika (2003)--Dr. Miranda Grey
X2 (2003)--Storm
Die Another Day (2002)--Jinx
Monster's Ball (2002)--Leticia Musgrove
Swordfish (2001)--Ginger Knowles
X-Men (2000)--Storm
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) (TV)--Dorothy Dandridge
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (1998) (TV)--Herself
Welcome to Hollywood (1998)--Herself
Why Do Fools Fall In Love (1998)--Zola Taylor
Bulworth (1998)--Nina
"The Wedding" (1998) (mini) TV Series--Shelby Coles
B*A*P*S (1997)--Nisi
The Rich Man's Wife (1996)--Josie Potenza
Girl 6 (1996)--Herself
Race the Sun (1996)--Miss Sandra Beecher
Executive Decision (1996)--Jean
Solomon & Sheba (1995) (TV)--Nikhaule/Queen Sheba
Losing Isaiah (1995)--Khaila Richards
The Flintstones (1994)--Sharon Stone
Father Hood (1993)--Kathleen Mercer
The Program (1993)--Autumn Haley
CB4 (1993)--Herself
"Queen" (1993) (mini) TV Series--Queen
Boomerang (1992)--Angela Lewis
Jungle Fever (1991)--Vivian
The Last Boy Scout (1991)--Cory
Strictly Business (1991)--Natalie
"Knots Landing" (1979) TV Series--Debbie Porter
"Living Dolls" (1989) TV Series--Emily Franklin |
