Halle Berry

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An American actress from Cleveland, Halle Berry is considered one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood. She's a well-rounded actress, whose roles have ranged from slapstick comedy to gritty drama to romance to action to sci-fi. Berry received several awards for the HBO biopic Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, and in 2001 she became the first black woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her role in Monster's Ball. She has also been involved in the production side of several of her films.

Berry has some notoriety among comic book fans, as her portrayals of Storm and Catwoman were less than well-received. She has been a good sport about it, however: When it was announced that she would "win" the Golden Raspberry for Worst Actress for Catwoman, she became the second actor (after Tom Green) to accept her Razzie in person, donning the dress she wore to the Oscars and parodying her acceptance speech. She received a standing ovation from the audience.

Not to be confused with Halle Bailey of Chloe x Halle.

Halle Berry provides examples of the following tropes:
  • Action Girl
  • Bond Girl: Her role as Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson in Die Another Day and her infamous entry into said role qualifies.
  • But Not Too Black: With her light skin, straight hair, and European-ish features, the mixed-race Berry (white mother and black father) defines the trope.
  • Darkskinned Blonde: Technically, her hair in the X-Men movie series, although the hair's platinum or just plain white.
  • Faux Action Girl
  • Glamorous Wartime Singer: Dorothy Dandridge.
  • Haunted Heroine: Gothika.
    • She actually had to fight for her role in Monster's Ball for this exact reason, reminding the director that women's problems don't go away just because they're attractive.
  • Irony: She's probably one of a very few cases where a movie flop saves a career rather than delaying or destroying it. See Star-Derailing Role below.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Um, Swordfish anyone?
    • Yes please.
  • Sassy Black Woman
  • Self-Deprecation: As mentioned above, she was one of the first to show up and accept her Razzie. (And as such is the page image for that trope.)
  • Sexy Secretary: Played Sharon Stone (also The Dragon) in the film version of The Flintstones.
  • Shown Their Work: To prep for her role in Losing Isaiah where she played a crackwhore, Berry visited a Washington DC crackhouse (with an undercover police escort) to see first-hand what the drug does to people.
  • Star-Derailing Role: Supposedly inverted with Catwoman. Before the movie came out, she almost wasn't in the third X-Men film because she was demanding a bigger role and a bigger paycheck. Once Catwoman tanked, she got a shot of humility.
  • The Runner Up Takes It All: She was Miss Ohio in the 1986 Miss USA pageant and was the first runner up for the Miss USA title. Her later success speaks for itself.
  • Tragic Mulatto: Her role in the televised movie Queen. To a lesser extent, this also applies to much of her early life in suburban Ohio in the 70's.
  • Uncle Tomfoolery: Her role in "Baps" qualifies.
  • Wag the Director: How Catwoman came to be.
Halle Berry has performed in the following roles:

Advertising

  • Revlon Spokesperson

Film

Live Action TV

Magazines

  • Former model and pageant winner

Music Videos

  • Appeared as a cameo in Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott's 2002 music video, "Work It".
  • Also appeared in the Limp Bizkit video "Behind Blue Eyes", where she made out with Fred Durst, whom she was rumored to be dating at the time.
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