Halle Berry is an Emmy, Golden Globe and Academy award winning American actress, model and beauty queen. She is best known for her role in the film Monster’s Ball.

Halle Berry was born in Cleveland, Ohio on August 14, 1996. Her parents divorced when she was four years old and she was raised by her mother. In 1989 she was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type 1, but this has never held her back. In high school she was a cheerleader, class president, prom queen, school newspaper editor and honor society member. Before she began acting, Halle Berry entered several beauty pageants. She won the Miss Ohio USA and Miss Teen All-American contests. From beauty pageants, she moved to Chicago to pursue a modeling and acting career.

In 1989, Halle Berry auditioned for a won a part in the television series The Living Dolls. Soon after came her breakthrough film role, Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever. Next she starred in Strictly Business and Boomerang with Eddie Murphy. Several film roles followed including the made for television movie Queen: The Story of an American Family, based on an Alex Haley novel. Film roles such as Executive Decision, Bulworth and Why Do Fools Fall In Love followed.

In 1999, Halle Berry became the first African-American woman to be nominated for Best Actress from the Academy Award for her role in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. She was also nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe awards for that role. Next, Halle Berry took on the role of a mutant for the X-Men trilogy of movies. Late in 2001, she acted in Monster’s Ball, which earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was the first African-American woman to win the award.

Action movies such as Die Another Day and Catwoman were next for Halle Berry, along with the thriller Gothika. In 2005, she starred in the Oprah-produced made for television movie Their Eyes Were Watching God. More film roles are coming in 2007, and Halle Berry is making a transition to behind-the-camera work. She is producing a comedy series called The Broke Diaries and Mixed: My Life in Black and White.

Halle Berry was married to baseball star David Justice from 1992 to 1996. In 2001 she married musician Eric Benet, but the two divorced 2005. She is currently dating a Canadian model, Gabriel Aubry and has talked about adopting children.