Halle Berry

Halle Berry was born on August 14, 1968, in Cleveland, Ohio. She had a disruptive childhood in which her father walked out on the family and her mother was forced to bring her up alone. Throughout her childhood and up until her teens Halle excelled in almost everything she took part in - holding positions of newspaper editor, class president, member of the honour society, varsity cheerleader, and prom queen.

Alongside her academic talents she was emerging as a stunning young woman and won countless awards and pageants, including Miss Ohio, Miss Teen All-American, and in 1986, was first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant. Halle was also the first African American to represent the U.S. in the Miss World competition in London. After studying broadcast journalism she abandoned this line of work and took up a career in catalogue modelling.

Her acting career began in television with the sitcom ‘Living Dolls’, she then went on to make an impact on Hollywood with her roles in ‘Jungle Fever’, ‘The Last Boy Scout’ and ‘Boomerang’. Since then she’s starred in a number of high profiled films – including being cast as the Bond girl.