Halle Berry

Halle Berry (born August 14, 1966) followed a long and unlikely path to her current status as one of Hollywood’s top performers. Growing up in Ohio, Halle Berry competed in a number of local beauty pageants before her triumph in the Miss Teen All-American pageant attracted the attention of recruiters, and Berry stepped into the world of modeling. A screen career proved a harder nut to crack for Berry, as she went several years before landing any roles.

The pickings were slim for Halle Berry as an up and coming actress. Her career prospects were likely hampered by a Hollywood that made very few opportunities to African-American actors and actresses. In the early nineties, her work was limited to a few forgettable TV appearances on the likes of “Knots Landing,” despite having proven her ability to sink her teeth into a role. But Berry finally did get to sink her teeth into a role in 1991’s Jungle Fever.

In fact, her ability to land quality roles would be limited throughout the nineties. Expectations were high for the 1995 tear-jerker Losing Isiah. The role Berry played as a former crack addict trying to win back the baby she lost to Jessica Lange offered nearly unlimited dramatic possibilities. The emotionally gripping plot and strong dialogue yielded excellent work—but unfortunately most people thought it was on Jessica Lange’s part. While Berry continued to do good work in minor roles, such as the quirky 1998 political comedy Bulworth, the new millennium would be a new chapter in Berry’s book.

Starting with presence in the blockbuster X-Men, Halle Berry would enjoy a string of roles that only served to demonstrate her star power. Turning on a dime from comic books to high-minded drama, Halle Berry achieved a first—winning a Best Actress Oscarâ as an African-American in 2001’s Monster’s Ball. In 2002 she was a Bond Girl in Pierce Brosnan’s last hurrah effort as the character. She has since then gone through a series of horror movies and comic book roles, though 2007 is the year of Berry’s return to dramatic form with "Perfect Stranger" and "Things We Lost in the Fire".