She's been a regular on People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful In the World at least eight times. Playboy has named her among the 10 Sexiest Women of the Century. She would have a fabulous career as a supermodel, let alone acting.

One of Halle's greatest strengths is her style. She can dress elegantly (those dresses and gowns at the various award functions and celebrity events), or in jeans, and look great. Let's face it, she'd look great in a potato sack!. And she's an accomplished actress! Is there no end to this woman?

Her amazing life began on Aug. 14, 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio. Halle Maria Berry, the bi-racial child of an African-American father and white mother (who's from Liverpool, England; Beatles country!) was named after the Halle Brothers Dept. Store or the Halle building itself (in Cleveland). Her father deserted the family when Halle was still very young, but her mother struggled to keep everything together. Halle also has an older sister, Heidi. Her mom was finally able to relocate to a Cleveland suburb where unfortunately, Halle and her sister were treated cruelly because they were of mixed race (they were also taunted in the city from black kids because of this).

But Halle made lemonade out of lemons. By the time she reached high school, she was a cheerleader, an honor society member, school paper editor, AND class president.

Around the age of 17, a boyfriend (or friend) entered her picture in a beauty pageant. And she won, becoming Miss Teen Ohio. After that, there was no turning back, as Berry entered other pageants, placing as a finalist or just winning the doggone thing in many national contests - Miss Teen All-American, Miss Ohio USA, first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant, and the first black woman in the Miss World competition, as just a few examples.

She briefly majored in broadcast journalism (1986) at Cleveland's Cuyahoga Community College, but left to pursue modeling and started taking acting lessons in Chicago.

Halle's acting career began on TV in 1989, as a regular on "Living Dolls" (playing a young model!). The show only lasted for one season, but was an important stepping-stone to bigger and better things.

In 1991, she landed a recurring role on "Knots Landing" and a small part in the Spike Lee film "Jungle Fever". "Fever" was her first noticeable role as the drug addict girlfriend of fellow addict Samuel L. Jackson. (Director Lee initially thought she was just too beautiful to be convincing as a street woman).

"Boomerang" (1992)was her second stand-out role, as a girlfriend of Eddie Murphy's, but it was the TV mini-series "Alex Haley's Queen" (also 1992) that made Berry a national breakout star (she was billed as "Introducing Halley Berry").

From 1993-1996, she embarked on her first marriage to David Justice, right-fielder for the Atlanta Braves baseball team. During this period, she co-starred with Jessica Lange in "Losing Isaiah" (1995) and played John Goodman's prehistoric sexy (and devious) secretary, "Sharon Stone" in the film "The Flinstones", directly based on the '60s popular cartoon TV series.

Halle reached another milestone (no pun intended; well, maybe a little) with "Executive Decision" (1996) when she achieved her first $1 million salary for a film. She was offered, but passed up, the Sandra Bullock role in "Speed".

It was a TV movie that pushed her career into high gear again. "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" (1999) was a compelling biography of the first black actress to be nominated for Best Actress ("Carmen Jones", 1954) for an Academy Award. Dandridge was also a great beauty and quite fashionable herself. And like Halle, her personal life had its ups and downs. But unlike Halle, Dandridge was a victim of the times she was born in.

Berry received Emmy and Golden Globe awards for her performance.

2001 saw a second marriage to R + B singer Eric Benet. They were divorced in 2003.  Several action roles followed: "X-Men" (2000) and its sequels. (She even looked stunning as a mutant!), "Swordfish" (2001), and "Die Another Day" (2002 - Another milestone as the first black "Bond girl". And I bet orange bikini sales went through the roof!).  For her portrayal of the struggling, downtrodden wife of an executed convict in "Monster's Ball", Halle Berry became the first African-American to win an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2002.

Yet another milestone was reached with "Gothika" (2003) and "Catwoman" (didn't she look sensational in that black outfit?); they were the first films in which she received top billing.

Halle is currently the highest paid African-American actress in Hollywood. She's also been a model spokesperson for Revlon for a few years and was recently signed as the new face of Versace.

Accounts vary on her height (some sources say 5'6', some say 5' 7'). I believe she's 5'7', weighs around 112 lbs., and is a Leo, and like most Leo women, she's also blessed with great hair. Short, straight, curly, whatever color, long, etc., she can wear it all.

Did you know that she has diabetes, lost 80% of the hearing in her left ear (from an abusive boyfriend), has released an ALBUM (Feb. 2007) and is now pregnant! (Can you imagine how stunning that child will be?).

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