Early Life
Halle Maria Berry was born August 14, 1966 , in Cleveland, Ohio. The youngest daughter of two, Halle was born to the parents of Jerome and Judith Berry, an interracial couple. Halle, and her older sister Heidi, spent the first few years of their childhood living in an inner-city neighborhood. In the early 1970s, Jerome Berry abandoned his wife and children, after which Judith moved her family to the predominantly white Cleveland suburb of Bedford. Berry attended a nearly all-white public school, and as a result was subjected to discrimination at an early age. Her early bouts with racism greatly influenced her desire to excel. Throughout high school, the determined teen participated in a dizzying array of extracurricular activities, holding positions of newspaper editor, class president, and head cheerleader.

Beauty Queen
A natural performer, Halle Berry earned a handful of beauty pageant titles during the early 1980s, including Miss Teen Ohio and Miss Teen America. She was eventually awarded first runner-up in the 1985 Miss U.S.A. competition. For a short time she attended Cleveland ’s Cuyahoga Community College , where she studied broadcast journalism. However, Berry abandoned her idea of a career in news reporting before receiving her degree. Choosing to wholeheartedly devote her time to a career in entertainment. Halle then decided to make the move from Cleveland to Chicago and then New York City , where she found work as a catalog model.

First Act
As the ‘80s turned into the ‘90s, the aspiring actress began a career in television with a role on the short-lived sitcom "Living Dolls" (1989), followed by a year-long run on the CBS prime-time drama "Knot’s Landing". Halle's first big screen break wasn't far along, in 1991 Halle was cast as Samuel L. Jackson’s drug-addicted girlfriend in Spike Lee’s "Jungle Fever". More substantial supporting roles followed, including that of a stripper in the action-thriller "The Last Boy Scout" (1991), starring Bruce Willis; and as the woman who finally wins Eddie Murphy’s heart in the romantic comedy "Boomerang" (1992).
 

Actress on the Verge
With a few films under her belt, Halle Berry accepted more offbeat roles, making cameos in the rockumentary "CB4" (1993), which traced the rise and fall of the titled rap group. 1994’s live-action version of "The Flintstones" featured Berry as a Stone Age seductress. Halle Berry offered a no-holds-barred performance as a rehabilitated crack addict seeking to regain custody of her son in "Losing Isaiah" (1995). In the midst of a bitter custody battle with adoptive parents played by Jessica Lange and David Strathairn, Berry was noted for her believable portrayal in the unglamorous role. Later that year, Halle Berry overcame Hollywood ’s racial barriers when she was cast as the first African-American to play the Queen of Sheeba in Showtime’s movie "Solomon & Sheeba". Halle’s other credits included two 1996 crime thrillers — "The Rich Man’s Wife", and "Executive Decision", which marked her first leading role in a feature. She took a turn as one of three wives laying claim to Frankie Lyman’s estate in the 1998 biographical drama "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", and played a liberal urban youth in the political satire "Bulworth" (1998), opposite Hollywood veteran Warren Beatty.
 

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
In 1999, Halle Berry released her most passionate project to date, coproducing and starring in "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge", an HBO biopic. This marked the first time Halle Berry produced a project. Dorothy Dandridge was the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award for her work in "Carmen Jones" (1955). Halle was noted for her striking resemblance to the late Dandridge, and for her engaging depiction of the actress’ struggle to succeed in the racially biased industry of 1950s Hollywood . Halle earned both a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Television Movie for her role. Berry was featured in X-Men (2000), the big-budget screen adaptation of the long-running Marvel Comic. In the highly anticipated summer release Berry ’s character, Storm, teamed with fellow mutant heroes played by Anna Paquin and Patrick Stewart. In the summer of 2001, she costarred with John Travolta in the Joel Silver produced action movie "Swordfish". A lot of attention was focused on Halle's first nude scene every. At the MTV Movie Awards Berry played up the joke by having her costars John Travolta and Hugh Jackman take their shirts off.
 

Monsters Ball
After such critical success with "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" the best was only yet to come. Halle would later garner the most positive critical notice of her film career in late 2001, for her performance as Leticia Musgrove the wife of a death row prisoner who becomes romantically involved with a racist prison guard Hank Grotowski in the dark drama "Monster's Ball". The role earned Halle Berry a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Drama and the Academy Award for Leading Actress. Halle would later go on to win the Academy Award. In her emotional acceptance speech, Berry acknowledged the honor of becoming the first African American actress to win the Oscar for her lead role by thanking all the performers who came before her.
 

Life After Oscar
After winning her Oscar Halle later returned to the set of her next project, "Die Another Day". In the blockbuster franchise Berry played Jinx an NSA agent who joins hands with Bond for spying on Zao and looking into his ties with Gustav Graves. The film become the highest grossing James Bond film of all time before being surpassed by "Casino Royale" in 2006. Next up for Halle was the sequel to the much successful "X-Men" film, "X2". Following "X2" Halle appeared as Miranda Grey in the horror-thriller "Gothika" costarring Penelope Cruz and Robert Downey Jr. After the fall release of "Gothika" Halle found herself in a media storm dealing with the separation from her second husband Eric Benet. That summer Halle appeared in her first action starring vehicle "Catwoman". The film was critically panned and didn't fair to well at the box officen. Halle earned one of her highest salaries to date for the film a reported $14 million. In 2005, she took the lead in the TV adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's classic 1937 novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God". She also lent her voice for the CGI cartoon project "Robots". In 2007, she switched gears for the heart-racing thriller, Perfect Stranger, co-starring Bruce Willis.

Gabriel Aubry
Halle and Gabriel Aubry met on the set of a Versace photo shoot In November 2005. Gabriel Aubry is a French-Canadian supermodel recognized for his work with Hugo Boss and Calvin Klein. Aubry is also ten years younger then Halle. On September 5, 2007 Halle confirmed to the world that she was three months pregnant with Gabriel's baby. Halle has publicly stated that she will never marry again, but proclaims her new found and much deserved happiness with Gabriel Aubry. "Gabriel and I are beyond excited, and I've waited a long time for this moment in life. Now the next seven months will be the longest of my life!" Berry wrote in an e-mail to the TV show “Access Hollywood.” Halle appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in September and spoke of how hard she and Gabriel worked to get pregnant. "There was a lot of staying home and doing what you do. Like, all the time, around the clock,"
 

Up Next
Halle Berry is embarking on a new phase of her life both personally and professionally. Halle through all her many failures has reemerged a much stronger, confident woman and an inspiration to many. Halle appeared in the 2007 film "Things We Lost in the Fire" showcasing once again her range and talent as a film actress. Berry promises to appear in more promising features, this after collecting a Razzie Award in 2005 for "Catwoman". With that said after giving birth Halle is expected to start work on "Class Act" a story about a teacher from Reno, Nev. who took a challenge from her sixth-grade students to run for Congress in the 2000 elections on the condition that they would help run her campaign. Other announced future projects include "Tulia", "Nappily Every After" and "Who Is Doris Payne?".

Halle is set to give birth in March.