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Halle Berry was born on 14th August 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio. Her parents split up when she was 4 and her mother, a nurse, struggled to bring up Halle and sister Heidi on her own. Halle learned to fight for surival at a very young age after suffering racism in the predominantly white suburb she lived in. She also learned she had what it takes to go far, becoming Miss Teen Ohio at 14. She went on to participate in beauty contests such as Miss America and Miss Universe, and used her success as a platform to launch a modelling career that paid for her studies in journalism and drama in Chicago.

Hollywood beckons
Spike Lee gave Halle her first big role alongside Samuel L. Jackson in Jungle Fever in 1991, and her career sky-rocketed from there, though at first her body arguably attracted more attention than her acting skills in films such as X-Men, Die Another Day, Catwoman and Gothika. She then played in Warren Beatty's political satire Bulworth and TV film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, for which she won an Emmy and a Golden Globe award. She became the first black woman to win a Best Actress Oscar for Monster's Ball in 2002. 

Third time lucky in love?
Halle's love life has been far from smooth. In 1992 she suffered violence and abuse at the hands of actor boyfriend Wesley Snipes. She married baseball player David Justice in 1993 and again suffered violence at his hands. Halle hit rock bottom and attempted suicide at the time of her divorce from Justice, but thoughts of her mother stopped her from taking her own life. She married soul singer and self-confessed sex addict Eric Benet in 2001 only to divorce him in 2004. Halle's currently dating Canadian model Gabriel Aubry, 31.   

Halle supports the Daily Mirror's Hope Not Hate anti-racism campaign.