HOLLYWOOD -- For Halle Berry, beauty once proved to be an albatross around her neck.
At 17, the Ohio native was named Miss Teen All American. A year later she was crowned Miss Ohio USA and went on to be the first runner-up for Miss USA.
It was her status as a model that got Berry her roles on TV series such as Knots Landing.
Parts in Jungle Fever, Losing Isaiah and Bulworth were overshadowed by more glamourous roles in The Flintstones, Executive Decision and Solomon & Sheba.
It was not until her critically acclaimed performance in the TV movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge that Berry finally received a hint of the respect she was seeking.
"Playing Dorothy Dandridge and winning a Golden Globe helped me achieve some critical acceptance. I think I had this monkey on back for so many years," says Berry.
"I had to prove I was more than a model and that I could really act. That role freed me up to do things I'd always wanted to. Without Dorothy Dandridge behind me, I'm not sure I'd have had the courage to go after Monster's Ball."
Emotional toll
In this racially charged drama that opens Feb. 15, Berry plays Leticia Musgrove, the wife of a man on death row in a Georgia prison.
Leticia has been faithfully visiting her husband, who is played by Sean Combs, for 11 years until the day of his execution.
Trying to raise their artistically gifted but troubled son Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun) on a limited income has taken its toll emotionally.
Leticia is tired and vulnerable when she becomes the lover of Hank Growtowski (Billy Bob Thornton), the man who headed the death team that executed her husband.
The film features several sexually explicit nude scenes between Thornton and Berry.
"I wanted this role desperately and I fought for it because I was not (director)Marc Forster's first choice. I wasn't any of his initial choices for that matter."
Berry is grateful that, once she won the role, Forster gave her final cut on the racy sex scenes. "I knew the nudity and violent nature of the sex scenes were essential to the story. Just knowing I had a veto freed me to go wherever we had to when we were filming."
Colour blind
The nudity in Monster's Ball follows fast on the heels of Berry's much ballyhooed topless scene in Swordfish.
"The big difference between the nudity in these two films is that in Swordfish I didn't need to be naked. It was my choice."
She is adamant that money did not play a role in that choice.
"I was not paid an additional $500,000 US for the topless scene. Those rumours made for great publicity which the studio exploited but they were totally not true," says Berry who received $2.5 million US for starring in Swordfish.
Berry has been married to R&B musician Eric Benet since January 2001. Benet came to the marriage with a daughter, India, born 1991.
"We have a very strong relationship, so when my movies require love scenes, Eric is not the least bit insecure. He's very much about letting me fly. He's not some ball-and-chain."
For years Berry has prided herself in winning roles that were not written for an African American actor. "I think the (film) business is less colour blind, but I think it's still a struggle to believe it's OK to cast me in everything."
Berry says colour was just one issue she had to deal with when she decided to become an actress. "Just being a woman in Hollywood is something to overcome. Being a woman and black can be pretty rough.
"Sometimes you capitalize on your looks. Other times, as in the case of Monster's Ball, you put it behind you and get out there an fight for what you want."
Berry is currently shooting the next James Bond movie in which she plays the villain Jinx.
On April 23, she'll fly into Vancouver to reprise her role as Storm in X2, the sequel to X-Men.
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