Birth name Halle Maria Berry
Height 5' 7" (1.70 m) Mini biography

Halle first came into the spotlight at 17 years old when she won the Miss Teen All-American Pageant, representing the state of Ohio in 1985 and a year later in 1986 when she was the first runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant. After participating in the pageant, Halle became a model. It eventually led to her first weekly TV series, 1989's "Living Dolls" (1989), where she soon gained a reputation for her on set tenacity, preferring to "live" her roles and remaining in character even when the cameras stopped rolling.

It paid off though when she reportedly refused to bathe for several days before starting work on her role as a crack addict in Spike Lee 's Jungle Fever (1991) because the role provided her big screen breakthrough. The following year, she was cast as Eddie Murphy 's love interest in Boomerang (1992), one of the few times that Murphy was evenly matched on screen. In 1994, Berry gained a youthful following for her performance as sexy secretary Sharon Stone in The Flintstones (1994). She next had a highly publicized costarring role with Jessica Lange in the adoption drama Losing Isaiah (1995). Though the movie received mixed reviews, Berry didn't let that slow her down, and continued down her path to superstardom. In 1998, she received critical success when she starred as a street smart young woman who takes up with a struggling politician in Warren Beatty 's Bulworth (1998).

The following year she won even greater acclaim for her role as actress Dorothy Dandridge in made-for-cable's Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) (TV), for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Movie/Mini-Series. In 2000, she received box office success in X-Men (2000) in which she played Storm, a mutant who has the ability to control the weather.

Golden Globe Award winner Halle Berry starred in and executive produced HBO's acclaimed film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, for which she received the Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award, and three NAACP Image Awards, including Entertainer of the Year. Prior to that, she starred opposite Warren Beatty in Twentieth Century Fox's political comedy Bulworth (1998), and in the Frankie Lymon biopic Why Do Fools Fall In Love? (1998)

Berry's other feature film credits include her film debut opposite Samuel L Jackson in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991); Stephen Gyllenhaal's Losing Isaiah (1995), opposite Jessica Lange; Stuart Baird's Executive Decision (1996), for which she won the Blockbuster Award® for Best Actress in an Action Drama; Brian Levant's international hit live-action version of The Flintstones, and Reginald Hudlin's Boomerang, with Eddie Murphy.

For television, Berry starred in the miniseries Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding; Showtime's original telefilm Solomon and Sheba, opposite Jimmy Smits; and in the title role in Alex Haley's miniseries Queen, which became the highest-rated sequel in television history. Berry's performance earned her the NAACP Image Award for Best Actress, as well as the Best Newcomer Award from the Hollywood Women's Press Club.

In 1998, in honor of her achievements as an actress, the Harvard Foundation at Harvard University honored her as Cultural Artist of the Year.

Berry, who was the first runner-up in the 1986 Miss USA pageant and was recently named one of the People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World, continues her work as an international spokesperson for Revlon.