Halle Berry
*Halle Berry was born on this date in 1966. She is a Black actress and model.
From Cleveland, Ohio, Berry was named after the department store Halle Brothers. She and her older sister Heidi were raised by their mother Judith Berry Hawkins a (now) retired psychiatric nurse who is white. Her abusive father left the family when Halle was four. His name is Jerome Berry, former hospital attendant and Black.
While in high school she was a cheerleader, editor of the school newspaper, member of the honor society and a prom queen. She also achieved the status of Miss Ohio, Miss Teen All-American, and in 1986, was first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant, and the first Black to represent America in the Miss World competition in London.
Berry has stated that her biracial background was "painful and confusing" when she was a young woman, and she made the decision early on to identify as a black woman because she knew that was how she would be perceived.
In her home town Berry studied broadcast journalism at the Cuyahoga Community College. After this she modeled in Chicago, this led to her first weekly TV series, 1989's Living Dolls. An actress of phyisical beauty and elegance, she rapidly gained a reputation for on-set tenacity, preferring to "live" her roles and remaining in character even when the cameras stopped. This technique continued when she reportedly refused to bathe for several days before starting work on her role as a crack addict in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991).
However, such research/style paid off. The following year, Berry was cast in Boomerang. She was the secretary Sharon Stone in The Flintstones (1994). She also co-stared in the adoption drama Losing Isaiah (1995). Three years later she played a street smart young woman in Bulworth. In 1989 she won acclaim as tragic screen icon Dorothy Dandridge in the made-for-cable Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.
David Justice (professional baseball player) and Berry were married in 1993 and divorced in 1997. Berry married her second husband, singer-songwriter Eric Benét in 2001, following a two-year courtship. By early October 2003 they had separated, with the divorce finalized in 2005. In November 2005, Berry began dating French Canadian model Gabriel Aubry, Berry gave birth to their daughter in March 2008. On April 30, 2010, Berry and Aubry announced their relationship had ended some months earlier. She and Oliver Martinez were married in France on July 13, 2013. In October 2013, Berry gave birth to their son. In 2015, the couples divorce became final in December 2016.
She has won many awards for acting including: 1999, Golden Globe: Best Actress (Miniseries, TV Movie) for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. 1999, Screen Actors Guild: Female Actor (Television Movie or Miniseries), Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. 2002, Screen Actors Guild: Best Actress, Monster's Ball, and 2002, Oscar: Best Actress, Monster's Ball.
In August 2013, Berry testified alongside before the California State Assembly's Judiciary Committee in support of a bill that would protect celebrities' children from harassment by photographers. The bill passed in September.
Berry competed against James Corden in the first rap battle on the first episode of Drop the Mic, originally aired on October 24, 2017. As of February 2019, she was executive producer of the television series Boomerang, based on the film in which she starred. Berry made her directorial debut with the feature Bruised in which she plays a disgraced MMA fighter named Jackie Justice, who reconnects with her estranged son. The film's world premiere was held at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2020.
