Halle Berry (born August 14, 1966) is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming the first and, as of 2011, only woman of African American descent to have won the award for Best Actress. She is one of the most highly paid actresses in Hollywood and also a Revlon spokeswoman. She has been involved in the production side of several of the films in which she performed.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. She made her film debut with a small role in 1991's Jungle Fever. This led to starring roles in The Flintstones (1994), Bulworth (1998), X-Men (2000) and its sequels, and as Bond Girl Jinx in Die Another Day (2002). She also won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress in 2005 for Catwoman and accepted the award in person—one of the few performers to do so.
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 of European descent, 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.Berry has said in published reports that she has been estranged from her father since her childhood, noting in 1992, "I haven't heard from him since [he left]. Maybe he's not alive."
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.
Biography | |
| Born | Maria Halle Berry August 14, 1966 Cleveland, Ohio, United States |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Spouse | David Justice (m. 1992–1997) Eric Benét (m. 2001–2005) |
| Partner | Gabriel Aubry (2005–10) Olivier Martinez (2010–present) |
| Children | Nahla Ariela Aubry |
Awards | ||
| Year | Award | Category |
| 1995 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Actress in a TV Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special |
| 2000 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or Movie |
| 2000 | Golden Globe Award | Best Actress – Miniseries or TV Movie |
| 2000 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Best Actress – Miniseries or TV Movie |
| 2000 | Black Reel Awards | Best Actress in a TV Movie/Mini-Series |
| 2000 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Actress in a TV Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special |
| 2001 | Academy Award | Best Actress |
| 2001 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Best Actress – Motion Picture |
| 2001 | NBR | Best Actress |
| 2002 | Black Reel Awards | Best Actress |
| 2002 | NAACP Image Award | NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture |
| 2002 | BET Awards | Best Actress |
| 2003 | NAACP Image Award | Outstanding Supporting Actress |
| 2004 | BET Awards | Best Actress |
| 2004 | Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst Actress |
| 2007 | People's Choice Awards | Favorite Female Action Hero |
| 2008 | BET Awards | Best Actress |
| 2009 | Spike Guys' Choice Awards | Decade of Hotness Award |
| 2011 | NAACP Image Awards | NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture |