African American actress Halle Berry has been raising eyebrows even since she was elected prom queen in high school. She was born August 14th, 1968, in Cleveland, Ohio. She was named after the department store Halle (HAL-ee) Brothers. Her mother, Judith, was and remains a nurse in a psychiatric ward, but her father was absent for the majority of Halle’s life. Her father left the family when Halle was only four years old and returned when she was eight. The second time around he beat Halle’s mother, sister, and even the family’s dog. Due to her father’s inexcusable and abusive behavior, Halle has no contact with her father to this day.

Halle’s mixed-race heritage was immediately an issue in the Midwest where she grew up. She had to endure the taunts and teases from other children, both black and white. She also had to deal with the resentment from other girls because of her beauty.

She was chosen prom queen in high school, but was accused of stuffing the ballot box. Some say the accusation was derived from the fact that Halle beat out a blue-eyed blond. However, a coin toss made Halle the winner in the end. In addition to the title she was also a cheerleader, class representative and editor of the school magazine.

Despite the humiliating and unfair attack in high school, she began competing in formal beauty contests and winning many. Her first win was the Miss Teen All-American, and she went on to win the coveted title of Miss Ohio. She may have had a struggle winning the high school title, but she was officially the most beautiful woman in the state!

In 1986 she became the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant. She was the first African-American to represent the U.S. in the Miss World contest in London that same year. Halle didn’t win Miss World, but she did receive enough money from her pageant years to put herself through Cleveland’s Cuyohoga Community College to study broadcast journalism as well as the invaluable experience on-camera and in high-pressure situations. But a former pageant judge suggested she give modeling a try in Chicago. She took his advice and was a catwalk model up until 1989.

Her modeling career lead Halle to her first weekly TV series. She played a teenage model in 1989’s Living Dolls. Her first feature film was in Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” (1991), where she played a crack addict. That same year Halle landed her first starring roles: as a femme fatale in the romantic comedy “Strictly Business” and as a dancer in “The Last Boy Scout”.

In 1992, Berry was cast as Eddie Murphy’s vis-a-vis in “Boomerang”. Usually appearing in adult-oriented films, Halle gained a youthful following for her performance as sexy secretary Sharon Stone in “The Flintstones” in 1993. In 1995 she co-starred with Jessica Lange in “Losing Isiah”.

Halle married David Justice, a baseball player for the Atlanta Braves on January 1st, 1993 but divorced in March of 1996. People weekly named her on the list of “the 50 most beautiful people” and in 1995 the American magazine “Ebony” elected her as the most beautiful, Afro-American woman. She has continued with her acting career and has also been a spokeswoman for Revlon cosmetics since 1996.