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Halle Berry - Biography |
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Halle Berry was born on August 14,
1966, 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. |
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Halle Berry - Personal Quotes |
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On Dorothy Dandridge: "...You
have to find a way to be sad on every day, in every scene, in every
moment. And always try to hide the sadness. And (then) you'll get
the essence of who she was."
"This moment is so much bigger than me, This moment is for Dorothy
Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll... It's for the women that
stand beside me, Jada Pinkett Smith, Angela Bassett, Vivica A.
Fox... and it's for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now
has a chance, because the door tonight has been opened." - During
her Oscar acceptance speech.
On choosing both serious and popcorn-movie roles: "There's art and
there's commerce. You have to find a way to mesh the two. It's
important to do the little movies just for the love of the art. But
it's those big movies that take you around the world and make you
globally famous."
"I'll never get married again, and I always hate to say never to
anything, but I will never marry again."
"I was black growing up in an all-white neighborhood, so I felt like
I just didn't fit in. Like I wasn't as good as everybody else, or as
smart, or whatever."
"Blackness is a state of mind and I identify with the black
community. Mainly, because I realized, early on, when I walk into a
room, people see a black woman, they don't see a white women. So out
of that reason alone, I identify more with the black community."
"I spent a lot of time with a crown on my head."
"The worst thing a man can ever do is kiss me on the first date."
"I don't see a white woman. I see a black woman, even though my
mother is white [her father Jerome is black]. Knowing that has made
my life easier, I think."
I want to be the next Spike Lee. I want to help other black folks to
get into Hollywood and be successful in Hollywood.
"What is my real purpose here? I've looked at what I do. I make
believe and make movies. I entertain people and get paid for it.
Sometimes it seems like such a shallow existence. How insignificant
in the scheme of life."
"When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you could not be a good
loser, then there's no way you could be a good winner. And I hope to
God I never see these people again." - on accepting her Razzie Award
for Worst Actress
"I never wanted to be a model. My modeling career was nothing but a
stepping stone to my acting career and that's all I ever saw it as.
A pointless rock in the river that has to be stepped on in order to
get to the meaningful oasis of acting."
"I guess you could say I have bad taste in men. But I no longer feel
the need to be someone's wife." |
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Halle Berry - Filmography |
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Who Is Doris Payne? (2008)
.... Doris Payne
Tulia (2008)
Class Act (2008) .... Tierney Cahill
Things We Lost in the Fire (2007) .... Audrey Burke
Perfect Stranger (2007) .... Rowena
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) .... Ororo Munroe/Storm
... aka X-Men 3 (Singapore: English title) (USA: working title)
... aka X3 (International: English title: informal short title)
(USA: promotional abbreviation)
Robots (2005) (voice) .... Cappy
... aka Robots: The IMAX Experience (USA: IMAX version)
Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005) (TV) .... Janie Starks
... aka Oprah Winfrey Presents Their Eyes Were Watching God
(Australia: DVD box title)
Catwoman (2004) .... Patience Phillips/Catwoman
Gothika (2003) .... Miranda Grey
"Saturday Night Live" .... Host (1 episode, 2003)
... aka NBC's Saturday Night (USA: first season title)
... aka SNL (USA: informal title)
... aka SNL 25 (USA: alternative title)
... aka Saturday Night (USA: second season title)
... aka Saturday Night Live '80 (USA: sixth season title)
- Episode #29.3 (2003) TV Episode .... Host
X2 (2003) .... Storm/Ororo Munroe
... aka X-Men 2 (Singapore: English title) (USA: working title)
... aka X-2 (USA: poster title)
... aka X-Men 2: X-Men United (USA: promotional title)
... aka X2: X-Men United (USA: promotional title)
Die Another Day (2002) .... Jinx
... aka D.A.D. (USA: promotional abbreviation)
Monster's Ball (2001) .... Leticia Musgrove
... aka Bal du monstre, Le (Canada: French title)
Swordfish (2001) .... Ginger Knowles
X-Men (2000) .... Ororo Munroe/Storm
... aka X-Men 1.5 (USA: DVD box title)
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) (TV) .... Dorothy Dandridge
... aka Face of an Angel (UK: DVD title)
Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998) .... Zola Taylor
Bulworth (1998) .... Nina
"Frasier" .... Betsy (1 episode, 1998)
- Room Service (1998) TV Episode (voice) .... Betsy
The Wedding (1998) (TV) .... Shelby Coles
... aka Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding
"Mad TV" .... Host (1 episode, 1998)
- Episode #3.12 (1998) TV Episode .... Host
B*A*P*S (1997) .... Nisi
... aka B.A.P.S.
The Rich Man's Wife (1996) .... Josie Potenza
Race the Sun (1996) .... Miss Sandra Beecher
Executive Decision (1996) .... Jean, Flight Attendant
Losing Isaiah (1995) .... Khaila Richards
Solomon & Sheba (1995) (TV) .... Nikhaule/Queen Sheba
The Flintstones (1994) .... Rosetta Stone
The Program (1993) .... Autumn Haley
Father Hood (1993) .... Kathleen Mercer
... aka Desperado
... aka Honor Among Thieves
... aka Mike Hardy
"Queen" (1993) (mini) TV Series .... Queen
... aka Alex Haley's Queen
Boomerang (1992) .... Angela Lewis
"Knots Landing" (1979) TV Series .... Debbie Porter (unknown
episodes, 1991)
The Last Boy Scout (1991) .... Cory
Strictly Business (1991) .... Natalie
Jungle Fever (1991) .... Vivian
"They Came from Outer Space" .... Rene (1 episode, 1991)
- Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow (1991) TV Episode .... Rene
"A Different World" .... Jaclyn (1 episode, 1991)
- Love, Hillman-Style (1991) TV Episode .... Jaclyn
"Amen" .... Claire (1 episode, 1991)
- Unforgettable (1991) TV Episode .... Claire
"Living Dolls" (1989) TV Series .... Emily Franklin (unknown
episodes, 1989) |
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Halle Berry - Related Links |
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Wikipedia: Halle Berry
YouTube: Halle Berry
Halle Berry at Celebs, Inc.
Halle Berry at Babemania.com
Top Celebrities Sites:
The Celebrity
Cafe |
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