Movies & Stars Stars and Film Features

Star of the Month – Halle Berry Born August 14, 1966

Halle Berry is an award-winning actress and former beauty queen. She was the first African American to win an Academy Award for Acting in a Leading Role.

Preparation & How-To’s

• This is a copy of the complete activity. Read the Biography of the Starand use the Intermission questions to spark a discussion.

• Print a copy of the Star-of-the-Month pictures to post on your bulletinboard and/or show during the activity.

• Print a special sign to advertise your movie (or movies) of the month.

• Print this Halle Berry word search from our Puzzles page.

Biography of the Star Early Life

Halle Maria Berry was born on August 14, 1966, in Cleveland, Ohio. Her father, Jerome, was an African American hospital attendant, and mother, Judith, was a Caucasian psychiatric nurse. Halle and her older sister, Heidi, spent the first few years of their childhood living in an inner-city neighborhood, where they experienced discrimination for not being black enough. In the early 1970s, Jerome abandoned the family, and Judith moved the girls to the Cleveland suburb of Bedford, where they attended a nearly all-white public school. The racism they endured from members of the community only spurred Halle to work harder and excel.

Throughout high school, she participated in many extracurricular activities and held leadership positions, including class president and head cheerleader. Given her good looks and stage presence, Berry entered the beauty pageant circuit and earned the title of Miss Teen Ohio and Miss Teen All-American in 1985. A year later, she won the Miss Ohio title and was first runner-up at the Miss USA pageant, earning her the right to compete at the 1986 Miss World competition. Berry was the first black woman to ever represent the USA in the Miss World pageant, where she placed sixth among the 77 international contestants seeking the crown.

Halle’s pageant experience led to a successful modeling career. For a short time, she attended Cleveland's Cuyahoga Community College, where she studied broadcast journalism and hoped to pursue a career as a news reporter. However, she was not passionate about the work. Instead, she longed to be in the entertainment industry, and eventually she quit school, moving first to Chicago and later New York City to advance her acting career. In the short term, she worked as a catalog model to help pay the bills.

©ActivityConnection.com – Halle Berry – Page ! of !1 5

From Small Screen to Silver Screen

In 1989, Halle Berry won a role on a weekly TV comedy series called Living Dolls, a spin-off of Who’s the Boss? that had a 12-episode run. A few years later, she played a recurring character in six episodes of the prime-time hit drama Knot’s Landing. That same year, Berry had her first big-screen break when she was cast as Samuel L. Jackson's drug-addicted girlfriend in Spike Lee's critically-acclaimed film Jungle Fever. The role raised her profile as a serious actress and earned her more substantial supporting roles in the action-thriller The Last Boy Scout (1991) starring Bruce Willis and the romantic comedy Boomerang (1992) playing opposite Eddie Murphy. In 1994, she played a “stone-age seductress” in The Flintstones.

Berry received critical acclaim in 1995 for her emotional portrayal of a rehabilitated crack addict fighting to regain custody of her young son in Losing Isaiah. Performing alongside veteran actors Jessica Lange and David Strathairn, she not only held her own but demonstrated her range as an actress. Later that same year, Halle was the first African American actress to be cast as the Queen of Sheba in Showtime’s Solomon & Sheba. In 1996, she earned her first leading role, in the crime thriller Executive Decision. Two years later, she starred opposite Hollywood legend Warren Beatty in the political satire Bulworth.

In 1999, Berry released her most passionate project to date, co-producing and starring in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, an HBO biopic about the life and career of actress Dorothy Dandridge. Dandridge, the first African American actress to be nominated for an Academy Award, for the 1955 Carmen Jones, had a very tragic life marked by an abusive childhood and premature death at the age of 42 from a drug overdose. Critics praised Halle’s tortured depiction of the actress’ struggle to succeed amid overwhelming racism in 1950s Hollywood. The role won Berry a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Television Movie.

Comic Book Hero and Bond Girl

In 2000, Halle Berry began a multi-film run as the comic book character Storm in Marvel’s X-Men, one of the year’s most anticipated film adaptations. She then reprised the role in the sequels X2 in 2003 and X-Men: The Final Stand in 2006. In 2004, Berry brought the story of DC Comic’s Catwoman to the screen, playing the lead character and her feline alter ego. Not only did the movie receive poor reviews, it was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry nominations (recognition of the worst in film) and won for Worst Picture, Worst Actress, Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay. Halle arrived at the ceremony to accept her Razzie in person, the first actress to ever do so.

In 2002, Halle Berry portrayed the character Jinx in the popular James Bond spy thriller Die Another Day, joining the ranks of a unique club of beautiful women—including Ursula Andress, Jill St. John, Jane Seymour, Britt Ekland, and Sophie Marceau—known as “Bond Girls.” In the film, which marked the 40th anniversary of the series, Berry emerges from the ocean dressed in nothing but a tangerine-colored bikini with a hunting knife attached to her side. Given her stunning good looks, it is not surprising that she has been recognized amongst Playboy’s “100 Sexiest Women of the Century,” People’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World,” and Esquire’s “Sexiest Woman Alive.”

©ActivityConnection.com – Halle Berry – Page ! of !2 5

Intermission

• What is your favorite Halle Berry film? Why?

• Do you believe that racism exists in many forms? Have you ever experienced discrimination? How did that experience influence your life?

• In your experience, what drives people to excel? Which is more motivational: praise or criticism?

• What is your view of beauty pageants? Do you think they can provide good training for careers in the entertainment field? Explain your response.

• Do you think professional success depends on diligent preparation or luck? Do you remember how you got your “big break”?

• If they were to make a biopic of your life, what would the title be? Who would you cast in the leading role?

• How would you react to a nomination for a Razzie award? Would you be embarrassed, angry, or defiant? Do you think there should be awards for the worst in other areas of life (such as worst driving, worst cooking, worst fashion, etc.)?

• In your opinion, what is the appeal of the “Bond Girl”? Who do you think is the greatest “Bond Girl” of all time? Why?

• If you were a judge of the “Sexiest Woman Alive” contest, what would your criteria be? Name some of your finalists and why you selected them.

Halle Berry Trivia

Not only is Halle Berry well-known for her acting, but she is also a spokesmodel for Revlon cosmetics. She engages in activism to support causes she cares about like protecting the environment and advocating for privacy rights. How much do you know about the award-winning actress?

• With three marriages and two children, Berry’s love life has been fodder for the tabloid press. She was involved in stormy relationships with her Jungle Fever co-star Wesley Snipes and Atlanta Braves outfielder David Justice. After her marriage to Justice ended in 1997, she wed and promptly divorced rhythm and blues musician Eric Benét. Shortly thereafter, she and her supermodel boyfriend Gabriel Aubry announced they were expecting a daughter, Nahla Ariela. The couple split in 2010, and Berry began dating actor Olivier Martinez, whom she married in 2013. She gave birth to their son, Maceo-Robert, later that year, but their marriage lasted only two years before ending in divorce.

• Berry has several connections with Dorothy Dandridge, which she discovered when researching for her role in the biopic. Both she and Dandridge were born in the same hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. Coincidentally, Dorothy Dandridge was the first African American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actress category, while Halle Berry was the first to have won the prize.

• She was named after the grand old Halle Building in Cleveland, Ohio, which originally housed the Halle Brothers department store. Today, the building is an office building, but fans of The Drew Carey Show may recognize it as the Winfred-Louder department store where the show was set.

©ActivityConnection.com – Halle Berry – Page ! of !3 5

• Halle Berry and Hugh Jackman have co-starred in six movies: X-Men (2000), Swordfish (2001), X-Men 2 (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Movie 43 (2013), and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).

• In preparation for the film Catwoman, Berry adopted a cat to help her understand feline movements and behavior. Playdough, whose name was changed from Playto to match her playful personality, became an extra in the movie.

• Halle Berry is known for immersing herself in her roles. In preparation for playing a crack addict in Jungle Fever, she reportedly refrained from bathing for two weeks to get into character. It certainly paid off, as this movie launched her career.

• She is among a very elite club of seven African American actresses to win an Oscar in a competitive category. Joining her are Hattie McDaniel, who won for Gone with the Wind (1939), Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost (1990), Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006), Mo’Nique for Precious (2009), Octavia Spencer for The Help (2011), and Viola Davis for Fences (2016).

• Berry is a volunteer with and a contributor to the Jenesee Center, Inc., a domestic violence prevention and intervention organization headquartered in Los Angeles.

• “Monster's Ball” is an old English term for a condemned man’s last night on Earth.

Now, let’s look at one of Berry’s most celebrated movie roles:

Monster’s Ball (2008)

The role that marked the pinnacle of Halle Berry’s career came in 2008 when she was cast as the wife of a death row prisoner in Monster’s Ball. The drama explores the unlikely relationship between her character, Leticia, and the racist prison guard, played by Billy Bob Thornton, who assisted in the execution of her husband, Lawrence. A widower, Hank Growtowski is a correctional officer at the local prison with hate in his heart, even toward those closest to him. When his son commits suicide after a heated argument, Hank falls into despair, locking away all mementos that would remind him of this great loss. He quits his job at the prison and begins spending time at a diner where Leticia works.

She has endured her own heartache, raising her son Tyrell on her own while her husband’s fate is uncertain. She struggles financially and faces the repossession of her car and eviction from their home. When Tyrell is struck by a car on a rainy highway, Leticia desperately tries to save his life while cars pass her by. Hank comes to her rescue and provides moral support to Leticia as she mourns her son’s death. After getting better acquainted, they realize how much sorrow they have in common. They drown their grief with alcohol. A physical relationship evolves as they battle extreme loneliness and loss.

The relationship is not without its challenges. Hank grapples with feelings of guilt when he realizes that Leticia is Lawrence’s widow. Leticia has an encounter with Hank’s father, whose racist comments leave her feeling cheapened and betrayed. When Leticia is evicted from her home, she agrees to move in with Hank and eventually discovers the truth about his involvement in her husband's death. Longing for a way forward, Leticia chooses to stay with Hank and learns to accept their flawed relationship. For the first time in a long time, she dares to feel hopeful for the future.

©ActivityConnection.com – Halle Berry – Page ! of !4 5

Photo from LionsGate/Courtesy Everett Collection

This role would earn Halle Berry a Golden Globe nomination and an Academy Award for Best Actress. She became the first African American woman to win the Oscar, an honor that seemed long overdue. Berry delivered an emotional acceptance speech, thanking all the performers who came before her, including Dorothy Dandridge.

Intermission

• What were your impressions of Monster’s Ball? Did you find it depressing or uplifting? Why?

• Did you expect Hank and Leticia to end up together? Does that seem realistic in youropinion? Explain.

• Do you believe that our lives are intertwined with others in ways that we often do notunderstand? When you think about these two characters, how does this interconnectednessplay out?

• Have you ever been in a situation where you had to put aside your anger and bitterness toforgive another? What was that process like for you? And them?

• What is your view toward capital punishment? Who do you think suffers the most: the deathrow inmate or those who survive him or her? Explain.

• Why do you think it took so long for an African American female to win an Academy Award?Do you think there is a lingering racial bias in the entertainment industry? Explain.

©ActivityConnection.com – Halle Berry – Page ! of !5 5

©ActivityConnection.com – Halle Berry (Pictures)

StaroftheMonth

HalleBerry BornAugust14,1966

©ActivityConnection.com

HalleBerryThe bold words listed below can be found vertically,

horizontally, diagonally, forward, and backward.

W W Q X X L L H C P B U R D B Y E T M N M O J C C T E C U A H Z L E H A Z R A I G N Z O T H P L N M O M C E N V U H L L M A P S E H E O A H F O I C E C F N N D N M R W L T D P O O F U H O Y Z T O I T J O X H M I C R M L S Z N L W A N N D A G G D V A C T W V L O C B A C M Y O L K S B U L W O R T H T A O T T T G N A R E M O O B R S A D O H T D E F R E L Z F E Z Y N E F I E A W A R D F Z S Z E L F L Z K G X Z M T R A S S X P R L E B A P E Z C L A I

ACADEMY AWARD

ACTRESS

CLOUD ATLAS

DIE ANOTHER DAY

BOOMERANG

BULWORTH

CATWOMAN

THE FLINTSTONES

GOTHIKA

MODEL

PERFECT STRANGER

X-MEN

©ActivityConnection.com

HalleBerry(solution)

W W Q X X L L H C P B U R D B Y E T M N M O J C C T E C U A H Z L E H A Z R A I G N Z O T H P L N M O M C E N V U H L L M A P S E H E O A H F O I C E C F N N D N M R W L T D P O O F U H O Y Z T O I T J O X H M I C R M L S Z N L W A N N D A G G D V A C T W V L O C B A C M Y O L K S B U L W O R T H T A O T T T G N A R E M O O B R S A D O H T D E F R E L Z F E Z Y N E F I E A W A R D F Z S Z E L F L Z K G X Z M T R A S S X P R L E B A P E Z C L A I