(credit: netglimse.com)
Born August 14, 1968, in Cleveland, Ohio, Halle is the youngest
daughter born to 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. Her abusive father,
Jerome Berry, abandoned his wife and children, and left the family
when Halle was four years old. Halle was raised almost totally by her
mother, Judith, a psychiatric nurse. Judith then moved her family to
the predominantly white Cleveland suburb of Bedford. This rough start
to her life did not deter her from excelling in whatever she did.
Halle attended a nearly all-white public school, and as a result, she
was subjected to discrimination at an early age. Throughout high
school, Halle participated in a variety of extracurricular activities,
holding positions of newspaper editor, class president, member of the
honor society, varsity cheerleader, and prom queen.
Halle won Miss Ohio, Miss Teen All-American, and in 1986, was first
runner-up in the Miss USA pageant. She was the first African American
to represent the U.S. in the Miss World competition in London. Halle
attended Cleveland's Cuyahoga Community College, where she studied
broadcast journalism. Halle abandoned her idea of a career in news
reporting however, choosing to wholeheartedly devote her time to a
career in entertainment. She first moved to Chicago, then New York
City, where she found work as a catalog model.
Halle's acting career began in television with a role on the
short-lived sitcom "Living Dolls". This was followed by a year-long
run on the CBS prime time drama "Knot's Landing". Halle's first big
screen break came later that year when she 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", starring Bruce Willis. This
success lead to Halle as the woman who finally wins Eddie Murphy's
heart in the romantic comedy "Boomerang".
Halle, now with a few films under her belt, accepted more offbeat
roles, making cameos in the rockumentary "CB4" which traced the rise
and fall of the titled rap group. She then starred in the live action
version of "The Flintstones", featuring Halle as a Stone Age
seductress, a very sexy and successful performance. Halle's next role
was a no-holds-barred performance as a rehabilitated crack addict
seeking to regain custody of her son in "Losing Isaiah". The story was
set in the midst of a bitter custody battle with adoptive parents,
played by Jessica Lange and David Strathairn. Later that year, Halle
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 has been introduced as the new Bond Girl,
and we are sure to see her in a very sexy role in the near future.