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Halle Berry Biography |
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, Ohio, United States
, 2001 Early life and career Berry's parents selected her first name from that of Halle Brother Co., which was then a local landmark in her birthplace of Cleveland, Ohio. She is the daughter of Judith Ann Hawkins, a Liverpool,http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_4990000/newsid_4996500/nb_rm_4996532.stm and Jerome J. Berry, who was Black. Berry's maternal grandmother, Nellie Dicken, was born in Sawley, Derbyshire, England, while her maternal grandfather, Earl Ellsworth Hawkins, was born in Ohio.http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/halleb/index.html Berry's parents divorced when she was 4 years old and she subsequently was raised by her mother, a psychiatric nurse. Her father was an orderly in the same psychiatric ward where her mother worked. Berry has an older sister, Heidi who was born seven years before her.http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/halleb/index.html In 1989, Berry was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type 2.Berry's fitness work not just about beauty April 2000 Berry was a popular student at Bedford, Ohio High School and was a Cheerleading, honor society member, editor of the school newspaper, class president and prom. She worked in the children's department at Higbee's Department store. She subsequently attended Cuyahoga Community College. Before becoming an actress, she entered and won several beauty contests, including Miss Ohio USA, Miss Teen All-American, Miss USA (was first runner-up in 1986 to Christy Fichtner of Texas), and Miss World 1986 (as "Miss United States World", she placed sixth in a contest won by Trinidad & 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 or newspaper. Her interview was awarded the highest score by the judges.Miss USA 1986 interview competition video (accessed 2006-09-12) Hollywood career In the late 1980s, she went to Chicago, to pursue a model (person) career as well as acting. One of her first acting projects was a television series for local cable television by Gordon Lake Productions called "Chicago Force." Berry auditioned for a role in an updated Charlie's Angels television series by producer Aaron Spelling. At the time, Spelling wanted one of the "Angels" to be a Black woman. She did not get the role (because the project never materialized) but she impressed Spelling with her skills, who encouraged her to continue perfecting her craft. In 1989, Berry landed the role of brainy Emily Franklin in the short-lived ABC television series Living Dolls (a spin-off of Who's the Boss?). Her breakthrough feature film role was in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever in which she played a drug addict named Vivian. Her first co-starring role was in the film Strictly Business. Another early role Berry played was the villain/friend in the The Flintstones (movie) movie as "Sharon Stone", in a part rumored to have been intended for Sharon Stone (Berry would later co-star alongside Stone in Catwoman). In 1996, she played the role of Sandra Beecher in Race the Sun, which was based on a true story. The year before, Berry really caught the public's attention with her portrayal as a female biracial slave in the TV adaption of Queen: The Story of an American Family, by Alex Haley. Berry is also known by many comic book fans for her portrayal of the regal mutant Storm (comics) in the movie adaptation of the popular comic book series X-Men (film) (2000) and its successful sequels X2 (film) (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). In late 2001, Berry appeared as Leticia Musgrove, the wife of an executed murderer, in the film Monster's Ball. The role earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. As Bond Girl Giacinta 'Jinx' Johnson in 2002's Die Another Day she famously re-created the scene from Dr. No (film), bursting from the surf - scantily clad - to be greeted by James Bond, as Ursula Andress did 40 years earlier. In late 2003, Berry starred in the psychological thriller Gothika opposite Charles S. Dutton, which was the first film that she "carried," i.e., her role was the most important one in the film. Her next lead role was in the film Catwoman (movie), for which she was awarded a "worst actress" Golden Raspberry Awards in 2005, which she actually accepted in person with a sense of humour and recognition that "to be at the top, you must experience the rock bottom". She has recently wrapped (2006) filming the thriller Perfect Stranger with Bruce Willis and is next set to star in Things We Lost in the Fire with Benicio Del Toro. Berry is also making a transition to behind the scenes work in 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.http://www.angelanissel.com/images/press/Variety.jpg Berry has served many years as the face of Revlon cosmetics and was recently named the new face of Versace. She is featured in Maxim magazine s Girls of Maxim gallery. She is also one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood, commanding $14 million each for Gothika and Catwoman . Personal life Berry has been marriage twice. Her first marriage in 1992 to pro baseball player David Justice ended in a 1996 divorce due to alleged adultery and incompatibility. Her second marriage in 2001 to musician Eric Benét has resulted in a 2004 legal separation (and 2005 divorce) allegedly due to Benét's infidelity. In 2004, after their separation, Berry stated "I want love, and I will find it, hopefully".http://www.usmagazine.com/blog/category/halle-berry/ She also briefly dated actor Rey-Phillip Santos. She also dated actor Michael Ealy. As of 2006, she is currently dating Canada supermodel Gabriel Aubry, who is nine 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".http://www.more.com/more/story.jsp?storyid=/templatedata/more/story/data/1150914871130.xml&catref=cat5360022 Berry recently revealed to Extra (TV series) that she plans to adoption 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". It has since been speculated that Aubry, who lived in five foster families between the ages of 3 and 18, possibly inspired Berry's interest in adoption.http://www.usmagazine.com/blog/category/halle-berry/ When speaking on the likelihood of future marriage, Berry stated "I want a relationship because I am a relationship oriented person. I just no longer need to do it the traditional way...That paper isn't as important as it used to be".http://www.usmagazine.com/blog/category/halle-berry/ 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."http://www.halleberryweb.com/news/2006/may/220506Halle_Berry_Il_%20Never_Marry_Again.html When speaking on the subject of having her own biological child, Berry has recently indicated that she has given thought to Aubry being the father, but that it is too early for that level of commitment involving a biological child between them. She stated that they both share the same feelings against the need to be married, and she indicated this to be one of she and Aubry's many strong bonds with one another. She stated that both feel the need to commit to one person emotionally and physically, but neither feels the obligation to marry in order to make that commitment official.http://www.halleberryweb.com/news/2006/may/220506Halle_Berry_Il_%20Never_Marry_Again.html Film Awards Self-Identification as African-American Although she is typically considered to be African-American, Berry is actually biracial (her mother is Caucasian and her father is African-American).http://movies.go.com/halle-berry/b723589 Berry has stated that her self-identification is a result of the ignorance of her peers and her mother's influence. She is quoted as saying, "I was raised by my white mother and every day of my life I have always been aware of the fact that I am bi-racial. However, growing up I was aware that even though my mother was white, I did not look or "feel" very white myself...Many times my classmates did not believe me when I said my mother was white. I soon grew tired of trying to prove that I was half-black and half-white and learned not to concern myself with what others thought. I began to relate to the other "all black kids" at my school more because quite simply...I looked more like them...After having many talks with my mother about the issue, she reinforced what she had always taught me. She said that even though you are half black and half white, you will be discriminated against in this country as a black person...why should it matter what color anyone is or what heritage they identify with? If people would just learn to look at everyone equally and stop trying to label one another the issue of what we are all made of would be null and void...We are all members of the same race, the HUMAN RACE!"http://racerelations.about.com/od/celebritiesandrace/a/hollywoodtoday.htm Controversy Trivia Filmography TV work 
Courtesy of: http://www.wikipedia.org/ |
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