Halle Berry, an American actress, former fashion model, and beauty queen, was born on August 14, 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio. Her mother, Judith Ann, who is Caucasian, was a psychiatric nurse. Her father, Jerome Jesse Berry, was an African American hospital attendant in the same psychiatric ward where her mother worked.
In the 1980s, Berry entered several beauty contests, winning Miss Teen All-American in 1985 and Miss Ohio USA in 1986. Berry was the first African-American Miss World entrant in 1986, where she finished sixth and Trinidad and Tobago's Giselle Laronde was crowned Miss World. In the late 1980, Berry went to Illinois to pursue a modeling career as well as acting. Berry has starred in many films such as Living Dolls (1989), Amen (1991), Knots Landing (1991), Jungle Fever (1991), Bulworth (1998), X-Men (2000), Monster's Ball (2001), Die Another Day (2002), and Gothika (2003).
Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was also nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball. In October 2008, Berry was named Esquire Magazine's "Sexiest Woman Alive. Berry is one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, earning $10 million per film. She is also the spokeswoman for Revlon.
Berry has been married twice. Her first marriage was to former baseball player David Justice and her second marriage was to musician Eric Benét. In November 2005, Berry began dating French-Canadian supermodel Gabriel Aubry, but in April 2010 they had separated. Berry and Aubry have a daugher together, Nahla Ariela Aubry, who was born on March 16, 2008.
