l had to learn who I was and not to look to other people to validate me. I couldn’t allow [what] the press was saying about me to color how I felt about myself. . . . I’m more in control of who I am. I know who I am—and that’s what’s important.
—HALLE BFRRY

When Russell Crowe mounced Halle Berry as the winner of the Best Actress Oscar for her role in Monster’s Ball in March 2002, the actress was stunned. Tears of joy flowed down her face as she walked to the stage. She knew this was a historic moment. Until that night, no black actress in Academy Awards history had ever won the Best Actress Oscar.
The biracial daughter of Jerome and Judith Barry, Halle decided early on that she would not waste time figuring out whether she should be black or white. She considered herself black. Born on August 14, 1968, Halle lived with her parents and older sister, Heidi, in Cleveland, Ohio. When Halle was four, her father left them, and Halle’s mother moved her children to the white suburb of Bedford. Halle tried to fit in but was often treated differently because of her skin color. She sought acceptance by excelling at schoolwork and participating in extracurricular activities. In high school she was the newspaper editor, class president, cheerleader captain, a member of the honor society, and the first black student in that school’s history to be prom queen.
Halle attended Cuyahoga Community College for broadcast journalism. She entered several beauty pageants and, in 1985, was named Miss Teen All-Arnerican and was first runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant. In 1986 she became the first African American to represent the United States at the Miss World Pageant.
Halle left college and retired from pageant competition to pursue modeling and to study acting in Chicago, Illinois. In a 2002 interview with Movie/me she said, “[Modeling] was very shallow in many ways, because it perpetuated my physical self a lot more chan I ever wanted to; but … I gained a lot of confidence.” In 1989 Halle moved to New York City, where she landed her first acting job on the TV series Living Dolls. She followed with a season-long role in the TV show Knotts Landing. In 1991 director Spike Lee asked her to audition for his feature film Jungle Fever. Halle gained a reputation of “living her role” as Samuel L. Jackson’s crack-addicted girlfriend when she showed up for filming without having bathed for days.
Positive reviews for Halle’s performance in Jungle Fever led to more film opportunities. She got a supporting role in The Last Boy Scout, starring Bruce Willis, and portrayed Eddie Murphy’s love interest in Boomerang. More substantial roles followed for Halle, including Losing Isaiah, in which she played a former drug addict trying to regain custody of her son.
Berry’s first starring role was in the 1996 airplane hijack thriller Executive Decision. In the 1998 film Why Do Fools Fall in Love? Halle played one of three women claiming to be the wife of a deceased rock star. Her next role was as the strcct-sawy woman who takes up with Warren Beatty in his political comedy Buluiorth,
Halle next fulfilled a personal and professional dream not only of producing a film but also of taking on a role she had longed for—that of Dorothy Dandridge, the first black woman ever to earn a Best Actress Academy Award nomination. Dandridge knew that Hollywood roles for black women were almost nonexistent in the 1950s.

“If I were white,” she once said, “I could capture the world.”

Critics applauded Berry’s absorbing portrayal of Dandridge’s struggle to succeed in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. Berry received a number of awards, including a Golden Cilobc and an Emmy.
Berry’s personal life was difficult during this period. She was involved with a man—whom she has never identified—who struck her in the head during an argument. She lost 80 percent of her hearing in one ear from the blow. In February 2000 Berry had another problem. At about 2:00 A.M., she slammed her Chevy Blazer into another car at an intersection not far from her home. Dazed, cut, and bleeding from a gash on her forehead, Berry left the scene.
The gash required twenty stitches, and today Halle remembers nothing about the accident. She later pleaded “no contest” to a hit-and-run misdemeanor charge. She was fined $13,000. placed on three years’ probation, and ordered to serve 200 hours of community service.
Of course the publicity surrounding the accident was damaging. Berry thought her career was ruined and that she was losing everything she had worked so hard to achieve. But none of that happened. She began going to psychotherapy sessions. She met singer-musician Eric Benet. On January 19, 2001, Halle and Eric married.
Having found personal happiness, Berry had the confidence to take professional risks. As John Travolta’s sexy cohort in Swordfish, she faced her first nude scene.

halle berry swordfish

Berry said, “She’s so much like me in many ways. I’ve been to the brink. . . . Luckily, [although] in my life I’ve suffered great pain, [I've been in] a lot of more tragic . . . situations that I’ve been able to rise above and grow through.”

Hqlle Berry Hwlle Berry Hale Berry Halle Berry Hallle Berry Hakle Berry Haole Berry Haple Berry Halel Berry Halke Berry Haloe Berry Halpe Berry Hall Berry Hall eBerry Hallee Berry Hallw Berry Hallr Berry Halls Berry Halld Berry Hall3 Berry Hall4 Berry HalleBerry HalleB erry Halle Berry Halle erry Halle eBrry Halle BBerry Halle Verry Halle Nerry Halle Gerry Halle Herry Halle Brry Halle Brery Halle Beerry Halle Bwrry Halle Brrry Halle Bsrry Halle Bdrry Halle B3rry Halle B4rry Halle Bery Halle Berrry Halle Beery Halle Betry Halle Be4ry Halle Be5ry Halle Bedry Halle Befry Halle Beryr Halle Berey Halle Berty Halle Ber4y Halle Ber5y Halle Berdy Halle Berfy Halle Berr Halle Berryy Halle Berrt Halle Berru Halle Berr6 Halle Berr7 Halle Berrg Halle Berrh ill Smith iWll Smith WWill Smith Qill