HOT & SEXY CELEBRITY PICTURE: Halle Berry

Biography

Halle Maria Berry was born on the 14th August 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio (U.S.A.).
As a youth Halle attended the Bedford High School. Despite experiencing problems because of her race, Halle proved to be a bit of a model student. She was a cheerleader, editor of the school newspaper, was an honor society member and a class president. Despite her color she was even crowned prom queen one year. While at school Halle entered various beauty pageants and won. Naturally Halle considered college upon graduation. She chose to study Broadcast Journalism at the Cuyahoga Community College.
Halle did not remain at the Cuyahoga Community College to pursue a career in journalism. Instead Halle decided to pursue a career as an actress and began studying acting in Chicago. Halle managed to get small roles in various TV series such as "A Different World", "They Came From Outer Space" and "Amen." However, positions were few and far-between so Halle decided to model to subsidize her career pursuits.

Early life

Berry's parents selected her first name from Halle's Department Store, which was then a local landmark in her birthplace of Cleveland, Ohio. She is the daughter of Englishwoman Judith Ann (née Hawkins) and African-American Jerome Jesse Berry. Berry's maternal grandmother, Nellie Dicken, was born in Sawley, Derbyshire, England, while her maternal grandfather, Earl Ellsworth Hawkins (an American), was born in Ohio. Berry's parents divorced when she was 4 years old and she was subsequently raised by her mother, a psychiatric nurse. Her father was an orderly in the same psychiatric ward where her mother worked and later became a bus driver. Berry said in published reports that she was estranged from her father since her childhood.

Berry studied at Bedford High School She worked in the children's department at Higbee's Department store. She subsequently attended the Cuyahoga Community College. In the 1980s, she entered several beauty contests, winning Miss Teen All-American in 1985 and Miss Ohio USA in 1986. Other entries included Miss USA (first runner-up in 1986 to Christy Fichtner of Texas, the second of the Texas Aces), and sixth place in Miss World 1986 (the winner being Trinidad and Tobago's Giselle Laronde). In the Miss USA 1986 pageant interview competition, she said she hoped to become an entertainer or to have something to do with the media. Her interview was awarded the highest score by the judges.

In 1989, during the taping of the short-lived television series Living Dolls, Berry lapsed into a coma and was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type 1.

First Big Break

Halle's acting career took off in 1989 when she got a role playing "Emily Franklin" in the TV series "Living Dolls". Ironically, it was just as Halle began carving out a career as an actress that she was diagnosed with diabetes. She was diagnosed with the illness after collapsing into a diabetic coma while taping an episode of the show. Despite this, she continued to pursue with her dream. Shortly after getting her first role in a series, Halle scored her first big screen role as "Vivian" in Spike Lee's controversial movie "Jungle Fever". However, this did not lead to bigger and better things straight away and Halle had to return to the small screen to play "Debbie Porter" in the series "Knots Landing".

Halle continued trying to build on her movie experience and soon landed small roles in the movies "Strictly Business" and "The Last Boy Scout". From this, Halle went on to get larger roles in other movies (such as "Boomerang" and "The Flintstones"). Over the next few years Halle would prove her versatility, playing a mixture of roles that varied in their depth of intensity. She went from playing the fun-loving "Sharon Stones" in the hit movie "Flintstones" to playing the somber role as "Khaila" ("Losing Isaiah") in her next project. As in the movie "Flintstones" most of Halle's roles, prior to "Losing Isaiah", had been fairly light-hearted. Initially the movie director of "Losing Isaiah" did not think she would be able to carry off the role as Khaila. She was invited for an audition out of politeness. Speaking of his hesitancy to audition Halle, Gyllenhaal stated "I saw nothing in her work that suggested she could do this ... I was wrong!".
Despite playing some strong roles Halle has tended to lack getting any major recognition for her acting. Her first taste of recognition came in the year 2000 when Halle won an Emmy following her portrayal of "Dorothy Dandridge" in the movie "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge". Dorothy Dandridge was the first black woman to be nominated for an Oscar in the category of best leading actress ("Carmen Jones"). The actress had been more-or-less forgotten by the mainstream. Halle wanted to make a movie about the actress as a way of preserving Dorothy Dandridge's legacy. In the movie "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" Halle got has first taste of producing a movie. Speaking of her role in the movie, Halle said "Dorothy gave me the greatest gift. She gave the opportunity, after 10 years of struggling in this business, to be a leading lady." In another interview she went on to say: "My acting life did change after doing Dorothy ... I previously felt like I had a lot to prove. Now I think I get a different kind of respect."
Halle then went on to play "Storm" in the block-buster movie "X-Men". More recently Halle played the controversial role of "Ginger" in the movie "Swordfish", for which she earned $2,500,000.00 (rumored to be her highest earner to date). Although her topless scene caused a stir amongst the media, Halle enjoyed playing "Ginger". Speaking of the fact that the role of "Ginger" could have been played by a woman of any race Halle stated: "That's what made me really excited and that's what made me get over the nudity really quickly. I saw this as an opportunity to take a black woman to another place where we haven't gone before. Because that has been my struggle: To just be a woman in a movie and not let the fact that I'm black hinder me from getting parts that my white counterparts are able to play. So this was a big step in that direction."

International success

As Bond girl Jinx in the 2002 blockbuster Die Another Day, she famously recreated the scene from Dr. No, bursting from the surf to be greeted by James Bond, as Ursula Andress had 40 years earlier. In late 2003, she starred in the psychological thriller Gothika opposite Robert Downey Jr. The same year, she was named #1 in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in the World poll. Her next lead role was in the film Catwoman, for which she was awarded a "worst actress" Razzie award in 2005. She accepted the award in person with a sense of humor, considering it an experience of the "rock bottom" in order to be "at the top". Holding the Academy Award in one hand and the Razzie in the other she said, "I never in my life thought that I would be here, winning a Razzie. It's not like I ever aspired to be here, but thank you. 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".

Berry next appeared in the Oprah Winfrey-produced ABC telepic Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005), an adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's novel, in which Berry portrayed Janie Crawford, an iconoclastic, free-spirited woman whose unconventional mores regarding relationships upset her 1920s contemporaries in her small community. Meanwhile, she voiced the character of Cappy, one of the many mechanical beings in the animated feature Robots (2005). In 2006, Hasty Pudding Theatricals gave her the Woman of The Year award. She starred in the thriller Perfect Stranger with Bruce Willis and wrapped shooting on Things We Lost in the Fire with Benicio del Toro. She is set to star in Class Act, based on the real life story of a teacher whose students helped her run for political office, and "Tulia", which will reunite her with Monster's Ball costar Billy Bob Thornton.

Berry is making the transition to working on the production side of film and television. She is working with author Angela Nissel to executive-produce a comedy series based on Nissel's two memoirs, The Broke Diaries and Mixed: My Life in Black and White. Berry has served many years as the face of Revlon cosmetics and also served as the face of Versace. She is featured in Maxim magazine's Girls of Maxim gallery.

Berry is one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, earning $14 million each for Gothika and Catwoman. In July 2007, she topped In Touch magazine's list of the world's most fabulous 40-something celebrities. On April 3, 2007, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of the Kodak Theatre at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions to the film industry.

Other Projects

Between film projects Halle helps the charities that are closest to her heart including the Juvenile Diabetes Association and the National Breast Cancer Coalition. She also enjoys a multi-million dollar package as a spokeswoman for cosmetics giant Revlon.

Personal life

Berry has been married twice. Her first marriage, in 1992 to former baseball player David Justice, ended in divorce in 1996. Justice played with the Atlanta Braves and experienced a measure of fame as the team rose to prominence in the early 1990s. The couple found it difficult to maintain their relationship while he was playing baseball and she was filming elsewhere. Berry has stated publicly that she was so disappointed after her breakup with Justice that she considered taking her own life.

Berry's second marriage was to musician Eric Benét. They had met in 1997, and married in 2001. Berry credited Benét with support after she was involved in a February 2000 car accident. She had suffered a concussion but had left the scene before the police arrived, resulting in a misdemeanor charge. The incident became fodder for comedians. Berry stated she felt "really good about the resolution"; she pled no contest, paid a fine and was placed on three years' probation.

The couple separated in 2003. After the separation, Berry stated, "I want love, and I will find it, hopefully". While married to Benét, Berry had made plans to adopt Eric's daughter, India, but this never occurred. The divorce was finalized in January 2005.

In November 2005, she began dating French-Canadian supermodel Gabriel Aubry, who is ten years her junior. The couple met at a Versace photoshoot. After six months with Aubry, she stated in an interview, "I'm really happy in my personal life, which is a novelty to me. You know, I'm not the girl that has the best relationships".

Berry revealed on Extra that she plans to adopt children. "I will adopt if it doesn't happen for me naturally", she said. "I will definitely adopt. And I probably will adopt even if it does happen naturally". Later she stated, "I never want to be married again. I guess you could say I have bad taste in men. But I no longer feel the need to be someone's wife. I don't feel like I need to be validated by being in a marriage".

After initially denying rumors that she was pregnant, Berry confirmed in September 2007 that she was three months pregnant with Aubry's child. She stated has hopes to have a second child right away.