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 All
of her life, Halle Berry has been valued for her beauty. She was
an adorable child, grew up to be a beauty contest winner and is
currently Revlon’s ravishing spokeswoman. But Halle Berry’s greatest
achievement has been proving time and time again, that she has the
talent and the brains to be more than just a beautiful face! She
was born August 14, 1968, in Cleveland, Ohio. Her mother, Judith
was (*and still is) a nurse in a psychiatric ward, but her father
has been absent from most of Halle’s life. He left the family when
she was four, returning when she was eight. The second time around,
he beat Halle’s sister, mother, and even the family dog. Halle
has no contact with her father to this day due to his inexcusable
behavior.
Halle’s mixed-race heritage was immediately an
issue in the Midwest. She had to deal with the taunts of other children,
black and white; and also thanks to her beauty, she received a lot
of resentment. In high school, she was chosen queen of the prom
but was accused of stuffing the ballot box. *The uproar was handled
with a frustrating transparent solution: Halle was forced to share
the title-with a W.A.S.P (white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant) blonde.
Despite such a humilitaing and unfair attack, Halle began competing
in formal beauty contests, and winning many. Her first win was as
Miss Teen All-American, and she went on to win the coveted title
of Miss Ohio! She may have not been good enough for high school,
but she was officially the most beautiful woman in the state! As
Miss Ohio, Halle won the chance to compete in the 1986 Miss USA
Pageant. She dazzled the judges with her poise and her stunning
evening gown and swimsuit, so it came as no surprise that she made
it all the way to the finals. She was chosen as first runner-up,
which in the Miss USA is even more important than in other national
pageants because, while the winner goes on to compete for the title
of Miss Universe, the first runner up competes for Miss World. Halle
didn’t win Miss World, but she did walk away from the pageant years
with enough money to pull herself through community college (majoring
in broadcast journalism) and a lot of invaluable experience on-camera
and in high pressure situations. Halle was about to embark on an
acting career that would eventually make her one of the most famous
former title-holders of all time, ranking right up there with Vanessa
L. Williams.
Halle started by knocking down a high-profile
leading role on a glamorous TV sitcom. Not bad for a first-timer!
The show, Living Dolls, was about four, young struggling models.
Halle played "Emily Franklin" in this unsuccessful spin-off
from Tonya Danza’s Whose the Boss? She enjoyed playing the most
serious of the four women, a girl who longed to be a doctor instead
of dreaming only of the fame on the catwalk. Unfortunately, nobody
watched, and the plug was pulled on Living Dolls after only three
months. Halle next appeared in the memorable role as "Debbie
Porter" on Knots Landing in 1991, one of the televisions most-watched
nighttime soaps. TV was good to Halle, and she would return to it
later, after conquering more challenging roles roles in film. Halle
Berry’s first movie almost never happened. She was hired to star
in the comedy Strictly Business (1991), but was almost immediately
fired by the director. The reason? She wasn’t "black enough!"
Halle was outraged, but was relieved when the director himself was
axed and she was rehired by his replacement. Black audiences warmed
up to Halle Berry, and producers kept her phone ringing off the
hook. She scored a solid part in The Last Boy Scout (1991) and would
star in a series of mostly light-hearted popcorn films, like Boomerang
(1992), The Program (1993) and Fatherhood (1993). But Halle also
proved she was interested in stretching as an actress. She didn’t
want to be seen as just window dressing. Her portrayal of a crack
addict in Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever (1992) won her critical acclaim,
and she proved herself an effective dramatic lead opposite Jessica
Lange in the heat-lugging drama Losing Isaiah (1993). Both films
dealt with the kinds of racial insults Halle has dealt with her
whole life.
Halle’s personal life was blooming along with
her career. She had been through many abusive relationships, including
one in which a man beat her so merciless that she lost [80%] in
her left ear, in 1993 she met and fell in love with Atlanta Braves
outfielder David Justice. Despite her fear that she would never
learn how to have a stale relationship, Halle proposed to Justice
six months after they met. The couple had a fair tale wedding and
were regularly featured in magazines as one of the most beautiful
celebrity couples. Sadly their marriage faultered in less than three
years ending bitterly. The couple announced on February 22, 1996,
that their union was over. The story behind their breakup was tragic,
and it left Halle very vulnerable. She’d thought she was saying
"I do" forever, but was depressed to find that her husband
was less than worthy of such a vow. She threw herself into charity
work, including a treacherous trip to Sarajevo to support our troops,
and many hours of participation in the National Breast Cancer Coalition.
Her humanitarian efforts would result in a prestigious award from
the Harvard foundation for intercultural and Race relations, an
honor that moved Halle to tears when she received it.
After Halle’s nasty divorce, she had the full
support of the media, and she bounced back, resuming her hectic
film career and revisiting television. She is an inspiration to
everyone who’s ever survived an acrimonious divorce. Halle’s recent
films have been escapist fare like Executive Decision (1996) and
the hilarious comedy B.A.P.S. (1997), with the exception of her
appearance in this year’s scratching political satire Bulworth
with Warren Beatty. She takes on an ever juicer three-dimensional
role in the movie, Why Do Fools Fall in Love? , costarring Vivica
Fox and Lela Rochan. Halle’s most exciting new product fulfills
a lifelong dream of hers-in conjunction with HBO, she will produce
and star in The Dorothy Dandridge Story, a biography about the star
of the classic 1954 musical Carmen Jones who died tragically at
41 in the 60s. Just as several top Black actresses quarreled for
the rights to play Josephine Baker, Halle is rushing her project
out ahead of any potential studio releases, including a proposed
Dandridge film starring Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston.
Halle’s booming popularity also led to her multi-million
dollar contract with Revlon, which has splashed her pretty face
[world-wide] in a series of eye-catching print ads. But no matter
how good she looks, Halle’s fans know that her beauty is just a
reflection of the kind of inner beauty that fuels icons.
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