Halle Berry

Some Lesser Known Facts About Halle Berry

• Her mother is a first-generation American, and her grandmother, Nelle Hawkins (née Dicken), was from Liverpool.

• When Halle Berry was four years old, her parents divorced.

  

• When she was five years old, her name was officially changed to Halle Maria Berry.

• Her middle name, ‘Halle,’ was chosen from Halle’s Department Store in Cleveland.

• Halle Berry was born to an African-American father and a white mother. Once, she said in the media that her biracial background was “painful and confusing” when she was young. She chose to identify as a black woman because that’s how people saw her.

• She and her older sister, Heidi Berry-Henderson, were raised only by their mother in Oakwood, Ohio.

  

• Halle Berry has not been in contact with her father since she was a child. In 1992, during a media conversation, she shared that she did not even know if he was alive.

• Her father was abusive toward her mother. According to her, she saw him hit, kick, and throw things at her mother.

• As a child, Halle Berry was bullied, so she learned to defend herself.

• In school, she was a cheerleader, editor of the school newspaper, and prom queen.

• During the same time, Halle Berry worked in the children’s section of Higbee’s department store.

• In the 1980s, she participated in several beauty pageants and won Miss Teen All-American in 1985 and Miss Ohio USA in 1986.

  

• In 1986, she was the first runner-up in the Miss USA beauty pageant, which was won by Christy Fichtner from Texas.

• During the interview round of the Miss USA beauty pageant, Halle Berry said that she wanted to be an entertainer or work in media. Her interview got the highest score from the judges.

• In 1986, she became the first African-American woman to represent the U.S. at the Miss World pageant, where she finished in sixth place.

• In 1989, Halle Berry shifted to New York City to become an actress.

• Initially, she had no money and stayed in a homeless shelter and a YMCA for a short time.

• At the end of that year, Halle Berry earned the role of Emily Franklin in the television show Living Dolls, which aired on ABC TV.

  

• During the filming of the show, she fell into a coma and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

• After Living Dolls was cancelled, Halle Berry moved to Los Angeles.

• In 1991, she made her film debut with the film Jungle Fever, which was directed by Spike Lee. In the film, she played the role of a drug addict named Vivian.

• That same year, she appeared in the film Strictly Business.

• During the filming of the 1992 film The Last Boy Scout, Halle Berry was beaten by her former abusive boyfriend. The attack punctured her eardrum, and she lost 80% of hearing in her left ear.

  

• She never named the abuser but revealed that he was someone well-known in Hollywood.

• In February 1992, she first saw David Justice, a baseball player, on television during a celebrity baseball game show, which aired on MTV.

• When a reporter told Halle Berry that Justice was her fan, she gave her phone number to the reporter to pass on to David Justice, who married Berry on 1 January 1993.

• In 1992, she appeared opposite Eddie Murphy in the comedy film Boomerang.

• Halle Berry then went on to appear in many films such as The Flintstones (1994), Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998), Things We Lost in the Fire (2007), Cloud Atlas (2012), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), and Never Let Go (2024).

• In November 1993, her former boyfriend, Ronan, sued her for $80,000. He claimed that it was unpaid loans to help her career.

• She claimed that the money was a gift, and the case was dismissed because Ronan did not list Berry as a debtor in his 1992 bankruptcy.

• In 1993, Halle Berry appeared in the television show Alex Haley’s Queen, which was based on a book by Alex Haley.

  

• She then went on to appear in many television shows such as Solomon & Sheba (1995), E! True Hollywood Story (2002), Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005), Sesame Street (2012), American Masters (2021), and Celebrity IOU (2022).

• In 1996, Halle Berry was appointed as a spokeswoman for Revlon. She worked for them for seven years and renewed her contract in 2004.

• After her separation from David Justice in February 1996, she said in the media that she was very depressed and had thought about suicide, and their divorce was finalised on 20 June 1997.

• In 1998, Halle Berry received appreciation for her role in the film Bulworth in which she played the role of a woman who was raised by activists, who changed the life of a politician.

• In 1999, she portrayed Dorothy Dandridge in the HBO film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.

• Dandridge was the first African-American woman nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. Halle Berry helped in producing this film and worked for its success.

• In May 2000, she got involved in a car accident. She was given three years’ probation, fined $13,500, and had to do 200 hours of community service.

• In 2001, she appeared in the film Swordfish, which included her first topless scene. Initially, she did not want to do the scene, but later agreed.

• Reportedly, she was paid $500,000 extra for that scene, but during a media interview, Halle Berry denied the same and said that the rumours were funny and helped in promoting the film.

• She revealed that she took the role because her then-husband, Eric Benét, encouraged her to take risks.

  

• After winning the National Board of Review and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 2001 film Monster’s Ball, Halle Berry became the first and only African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.

• Her role attracted controversy due to a visual nude love scene with a racist character, which was played by Billy Bob Thornton. Some African American viewers criticised her for taking that role.

• Later, in a media interview, Halle Berry said that the scene was important for the story, and she would not do something like that again in future unless it was necessary.

• After winning the Oscar, she asked for a higher fee for Revlon ads.

• Ron Perelman, head of Revlon, congratulated her and said he was happy that she represented the brand.

• Halle Berry asked him to pay her more, but Perelman got angry and walked away.

  

• In her Oscar speech, she honoured Black actresses who never got such chances.

• Halle Berry married her second husband, Eric Benét, a singer, on 24 January 2001, after dating for two years. In 2002, Eric Benét went to rehab for sex addiction. In October 2003, they got separated, and their divorce was finalised on 9 January 2005.

• In the 2002 film Die Another Day, she played Bond girl ‘Jinx’ and recreated a famous beach scene from the 1962 film Dr. No.

• Halle Berry wore a bikini and a knife as a tribute to the original scene. A media poll ranked Jinx as the fourth toughest female character in film history.

  

• She was injured during filming when a smoke bomb’s debris hit her eye. It required a 30-minute surgery.

• After her Oscar win, her role in the 2003 film X2 was extended with more screen time.

• In the 2003 film Gothika, Halle Berry acted with Robert Downey Jr. and broke her arm during a scene when he twisted it too hard. The film was paused for two months due to the injury.

  

• The same year, she appeared in the music video of the song Behind Blue Eyes by Limp Bizkit.

• Halle Berry was paid $12.5 million for playing the lead role in the 2004 film Catwoman, which received heavy criticism and was considered one of the worst movies ever made.

• Halle Berry won the Razzie Award for Worst Actress for her role in Catwoman.

• In 2004, her ex-boyfriend Christopher Williams said in the media that Wesley Snipes caused her the ear injury in 1992, and not him.

• In 2005, Halle Berry worked as an executive producer for the film Lackawanna Blues and voiced the character Cappy in the animated film Robots.

• In November 2005, she started dating Gabriel Aubry, a French-Canadian model, whom she met at a Versace photoshoot. In March 2008, Berry and Aubry’s daughter was born. Their relationship ended in April 2010.

• In 2006, Halle Berry joined Pierce Brosnan, Cindy Crawford, Jane Seymour, Dick Van Dyke, Téa Leoni, and Daryl Hannah to oppose the Cabrillo Port Liquefied Natural Gas facility proposed near Malibu.

• During the campaign, she said in the media that she cared about clean air, marine life, and the ocean’s ecosystem.

• In May 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected the plan for the facility.

• In February 2008, Halle Berry participated in a cellphone campaign and called nearly 2,000 houses to support Barack Obama.

• In 2009, a rapper, Hurricane Chris, released a song called ‘Halle Berry (She’s Fine),’ praising her beauty and sex appeal.

  

• By the end of the 2000s, she became one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses, earning about $10 million per film.

• In January 2011, Halle Berry and her ex-husband, Gabriel Aubry, fought a legal battle for their daughter.

• She wanted to move with their daughter from Los Angeles to France, where French actor Olivier Martinez (Berry’s new boyfriend since 2010) lived.

• Aubry disagreed and said that the step would affect their joint custody.

• Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez got engaged in March 2012.

• In November 2012, a judge denied her request to move their daughter to France.

• On 22 November 2012, her ex-boyfriends, Gabriel Aubry and Olivier Martinez, got into a physical fight at Berry’s home, and both were treated at a hospital for injuries.

• Martinez made a citizen’s arrest on Aubry. It was seen as domestic violence, and Martinez got a temporary protective order. The court ordered Aubry to keep at least 100 yards away from Berry, Martinez, and their child until 29 November 2012.

• Aubry then got a temporary restraining order against Martinez on 26 November 2012. He said that the fight started when Martinez threatened to kill him if he did not agree to let Berry and Martinez move to France.

• After that, photos of Aubry’s injured face leaked and went viral in the media.

  

• On 29 November 2012, Halle Berry and Aubry reached a friendly custody agreement in court.

• In April 2013, Berry was featured in a Gucci campaign video titled ‘Chime for Change’ to raise awareness and funds for women’s education, health, and justice.

• She got married to Olivier Martinez in France on 13 July 2013. In October 2013, Berry gave birth to their son.

• In August 2013, Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner appeared before the California State Assembly to support a bill to protect celebrities’ children from harassment by photographers. The bill passed in September 2013.

• In June 2014, a court ordered her to pay Gabriel Aubry $16,000 per month in child support, plus $115,000 and $300,000 for Aubry’s lawyer fees.

  

• After two years of marriage, Halle Berry and Martinez announced their divorce in 2015. It was finalised in December 2016.

• In 2016, she lent her voice to Bruno Mars’ song ‘Calling All My Lovelies’ from his album 24K Magic.

• In October 2017, Halle Berry appeared in the singing reality show Drop the Mic, where she had a fun rap battle with James Corden.

• She worked as an executive producer for the television series Boomerang, which aired on BET in 2019.

• Halle Berry directed and starred in the 2020 film Bruised.

• In 2020, she shared on Instagram that she started dating American musician Van Hunt.

• In 2023, Halle Berry started working with Range Media Partners as a producer and director.

• The custody and child support issues between Berry and her ex-husband, Olivier Martinez, were settled in August 2023.

• In May 2024, she supported a bill, which was introduced by Senators Patty Murray and Lisa Murkowski, for research and awareness on menopause. During a media conversation, Berry said,
  

  I’m in menopause, OK?… The shame has to be taken out of menopause. We have to talk about this very normal part of our life that happens. Our doctors can’t even say the word to us, let alone walk us through the journey.”

• In April 2025, Halle Berry was named a jury member for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

• She has been featured on the cover of many magazines and tabloids.

  

• Halle Berry is a fitness enthusiast and goes to the gym regularly. She often shares pictures of her gym sessions on social media.

  

• She is an animal lover and has two pet dogs and a cat. She often shares pictures of her pet on social media.

  

• Halle Berry is often spotted enjoying alcoholic beverages on various occasions.

  

• She enjoys smoking cigarettes occasionally.

  

• Horse riding and swimming are her favourite recreational activities.