Halle Berry facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Halle Berry
|
|
|---|---|
Berry at the Cannes Film Festival in 2025
|
|
| Born |
Maria Halle Berry
August 14, 1966 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
|
| Education | Cuyahoga Community College |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Spouse(s) |
|
| Partner(s) | Gabriel Aubry (2005–2010) Van Hunt (2020–present) |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Full list |
Halle Maria Berry (born Maria Halle Berry on August 14, 1966) is a famous American actress. She started her career as a model and competed in beauty pageants. In 1986, she was the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant and placed sixth in the Miss World 1986 contest.
Her first big movie role was in the comedy Boomerang with Eddie Murphy. This led to other roles in movies like The Flintstones (1994). She won major awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, for playing the lead role in the TV movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999).
In the 2000s, Berry became one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood. She made history in 2001 by winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for the movie Monster's Ball. She is the only African-American woman to have won this award.
Berry is also known for playing the superhero Storm in the X-Men film series. She also played the Bond girl Jinx in Die Another Day (2002). She later starred in action movies like Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019). In 2020, she directed her first movie, Bruised.
Contents
Early Life and Pageants
Halle Berry was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Her parents, Judith Ann and Jerome Jesse Berry, both worked at the same hospital. Her parents divorced when she was four, and she was raised by her mother. Berry has said she had a difficult childhood.
She grew up in Oakwood, Ohio, and went to Bedford High School. She was very active in school as a cheerleader, honor student, and editor of the school newspaper. She was even voted prom queen. After high school, she studied at Cuyahoga Community College.
In the 1980s, Berry entered several beauty contests. She won Miss Teen All American in 1985 and Miss Ohio USA in 1986. This led her to the Miss USA pageant, where she finished in second place. She later represented the United States at the Miss World 1986 pageant and finished in sixth place.
Acting Career
Starting in Hollywood
In 1989, Berry moved to New York City to become an actress. She later moved to Los Angeles and got her first movie role in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991). Her big break came in 1992 when she starred with Eddie Murphy in the comedy Boomerang.
.jpg)
She then appeared in the live-action movie The Flintstones (1994). She also played a more serious role in Losing Isaiah (1995), as a mother trying to get her son back.
In 1999, Berry starred in the TV movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. She played Dorothy Dandridge, the first African-American woman to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. Berry won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for her performance.
Worldwide Fame
Berry became a global star in the 2000s. She played the superhero Storm in X-Men (2000) and its sequels. As Storm, she could control the weather.
In 2001, she starred in Monster's Ball. For this role, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was the first and, so far, the only African-American woman to win this award. In her emotional acceptance speech, she said, "This moment is so much bigger than me. This is for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance tonight because this door has been opened."
In 2002, she played Jinx Johnson in the James Bond movie Die Another Day. Her character was so popular that she was voted the fourth toughest girl on screen of all time in a poll.
In 2004, she starred in the movie Catwoman. The movie was not a success with critics. Berry even won a Razzie Award for Worst Actress. She showed her sense of humor by accepting the award in person. She held her Oscar in one hand and the Razzie in the other, saying you have to be a "good loser" to be a "good winner."
Recent Work
Berry continued to act in many different kinds of movies. She starred in the thriller The Call (2013), where she played a 9-1-1 operator. She also returned to her role as Storm in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).
From 2014 to 2015, she starred in the science fiction TV series Extant. She played an astronaut who returns to Earth after a long mission in space.
She appeared in action movies like Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019). In 2020, she directed and starred in the movie Bruised, playing a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter.
Personal Life
Halle Berry has been married three times. Her husbands were baseball player David Justice, singer-songwriter Eric Benét, and actor Olivier Martinez. She has two children. Her daughter's father is model Gabriel Aubry, and her son's father is Olivier Martinez. Since 2020, she has been in a relationship with musician Van Hunt.
During the filming of a movie in 1991, an ex-boyfriend hit her so hard that it damaged her eardrum. This caused her to lose most of the hearing in her left ear.
Activism and Charity Work
Berry is involved in causes she cares about. In 2006, she helped stop a natural gas facility from being built off the coast of Malibu, California. She said, "I care about the air we breathe, I care about the marine life and the ecosystem of the ocean."
In 2013, she supported a bill in California to protect the children of celebrities from being harassed by photographers. The bill passed and became a law.
Berry has also spoken out about women's health. She has worked to raise awareness and get more funding for research on menopause, a natural stage in a woman's life.
Filmography
Halle Berry has starred in many movies and television shows. Here are some of her most well-known roles.
Selected Films
- Boomerang (1992)
- The Flintstones (1994)
- Bulworth (1998)
- X-Men (2000) as Storm
- Monster's Ball (2001)
- Die Another Day (2002) as Jinx
- X2 (2003) as Storm
- Catwoman (2004) as Catwoman
- X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) as Storm
- The Call (2013)
- X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) as Storm
- Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
- John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019)
- Bruised (2020) - also director
Selected Television
- Alex Haley's Queen (1993)
- Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999)
- Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005)
- Extant (2014–2015)
Images for kids
-
Berry at New York Fleet Week in 2006
-
Berry at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con
See also
In Spanish: Halle Berry para niños
- List of African American firsts
- List of female film and television directors
- List of LGBT-related films directed by women
