Halle Maria Berry (born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress. She began her career as a model and beauty contestant becoming Miss Ohio USA in 1986, first runner-up in Miss USA 1986 and placing sixth in Miss World 1986. Her early film roles include Boomerang (1992), The Flintstones (1994) and Bulworth (1998). She later produced and starred in the television film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
For her performance of a struggling widow in the romantic drama Monster's Ball (2001), she also won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Later roles include Storm in the X-Men film series (2000–2014), a villain in Swordfish (2001), Bond girl Jinx in Die Another Day (2002), a psychiatrist in Gothika (2003), and the title role in the much-derided Catwoman (2004).
A varying critical and commercial reception followed in subsequent years, with Perfect Stranger (2007), Cloud Atlas (2012) and The Call (2013) being among her notable film releases in that period. She appeared in the action films Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) and made her directorial debut with the Netflix drama Bruised (2020).
Berry also produced the television film Lackawanna Blues (2005). She has since produced several projects in which she also performed, including Frankie & Alice (2010) and the CBS science fiction series Extant (2014–2015). In 2014, Berry launched the production company 606 Films. She has been a Revlon spokesmodel since 1996. She was formerly married to baseball player David Justice, singer-songwriter Eric Benét, and actor Olivier Martinez. Berry has two children. She shares her first child with her former partner Gabriel Aubry, a model, and she shares her second child with Martinez.
In 2025, Berry launched Respin Health, an online company focused on menopause that offers a social media support group, information about menopause, health coaching including nutritionists, trainers, and telemedicine (including for hormone replacement therapy), and sales of dietary supplements and sexual aids.[1]
Early life
Berry was born Maria Halle Berry in Cleveland, Ohio,[2] on August 14, 1966,[3] to Judith Ann (née Hawkins), a first generation American whose mother, Nellie Hawkins (née Dicken), came from Liverpool,[4] and Jerome Jesse Berry, an African-American man.[2] Her name was legally changed to Halle Maria Berry at the age of five.[5] Her parents selected her middle name from Halle's Department Store, then a local landmark in Cleveland.[2] Berry's mother worked as a psychiatric nurse, and her father worked in the same hospital as an attendant in the psychiatric ward. He later became a bus driver.[2]
Career
Early work and breakthrough (1989–1999)
In 1989, Berry moved to New York City to pursue her acting ambitions.[15] During her early time there, she ran out of money and briefly lived in a homeless shelter and a YMCA.[16] Berry's film debut was in a small role for Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991), in which she played Vivian, a drug addict.[2] That same year, Berry had her first co-starring role in Strictly Business. In 1992, Berry portrayed a career woman who falls for the lead character played by Eddie Murphy in the romantic comedy Boomerang. The following year, she played a headstrong biracial slave in the TV adaptation of Queen: The Story of an American Family, based on the book by Alex Haley. Berry was also in the live-action Flintstones film as Sharon Stone, a sultry secretary who attempts to seduce Fred Flintstone.
Media image
Berry was ranked No. 1 on People "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" list in 2003 after making the top ten seven times and appeared No. 1 on FHM "100 Sexiest Women in the World" the same year.[88][89] She was named Esquire magazine's "Sexiest Woman Alive" in October 2008, about which she stated: "I don't know exactly what it means, but being 42 and having just had a baby, I think I'll take it."[90][91] Men's Health ranked her at No. 35 on their "100 Hottest Women of All-Time" list.[92] In 2009, she was voted #23 on Empire's 100 Sexiest Film Stars.[93] The same year, rapper Hurricane Chris released a song titled "
Personal life
Berry dated Chicago dentist John Ronan from March 1989 to October 1991.[99] In November 1993, Ronan sued Berry for $80,000 in what he claimed were unpaid loans to help launch her career.[100] Berry contended that the money was a gift, and a judge dismissed the case because Ronan did not list Berry as a debtor when he filed for bankruptcy in 1992.[101]
According to Berry, a beating from a former abusive boyfriend during the filming of The Last Boy Scout in 1991 punctured her eardrum and caused her to lose 80% of her hearing in her left ear.[101] She has never named the abuser, but she said that he was someone "well known in Hollywood". In 2004, her former boyfriend Christopher Williams accused Wesley Snipes of being responsible for the incident, saying, "I'm so tired of people thinking I'm the guy [who did it]. Wesley Snipes busted her eardrum, not me."[102]
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Music videos
Awards and nominations
See also
- List of African American firsts
- List of female film and television directors
- List of LGBT-related films directed by women
General bibliography
- Banting, Erinn. Halle Berry, Weigl Publishers, 2005. ISBN 1-59036-333-7.
- Gogerly, Liz. Halle Berry, Raintree, 2005. ISBN 1-4109-1085-7.
- Naden, Corinne J. Halle Berry, Sagebrush Education Resources, 2001. ISBN 0-613-86157-4.
- O'Brien, Daniel. Halle Berry, Reynolds & Hearn, 2003. ISBN 1-903111-38-2.
- Sanello, Frank. Halle Berry: A Stormy Life, Virgin Books, 2003. ISBN 1-85227-092-6.
- Schuman, Michael A. Halle Berry: Beauty Is Not Just Physical, Enslow, 2006. ISBN 0-7660-2467-9.
External links
References
- Alice Park. Halle Berry Says It’s Time to Talk About Menopause Time Magazine, February 20, 2025, retrieved 16 February 2026^
- "Halle Berry". Inside the Actors Studio. Bravo, October 29, 2007.^
- Although Britannica Kids gives a 1968 birthdate, (from the original on August 17, 2012), she stated in interviews prior to August 2006 that she would turn40 then. See: FemaleFirst,