What is Halle Berry's net worth and salary?
Halle Berry is an American actress, former fashion model, and beauty queen who has a net worth of $90 million. Halle Berry first turned heads on the pageant circuit, where she was Miss Teen All-American in 1985, Miss Ohio in 1986, first runner-up at the Miss USA pageant in 1986, and the first African-American to ever compete in the Miss World pageant. After moving to Chicago and then New York to pursue a modeling and acting career, she booked roles on various television series, including "Living Dolls," "Amen," "A Different World," and "Knots Landing." She made the transition to film work with Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever" and has since gone on to a steady career in film and television movie work.
She has starred or co-starred in such projects as "The Last Boy Scout," "Boomerang," "Alex Haley's Queen," "The Flintstones," "Losing Isaiah," "Bulworth," "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge," "Monster's Ball," the "X-Men" franchise, and "Frankie & Alice." Along the way, she has won multiple NAACP Image Awards, multiple Screen Actor's Guild Awards, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and an Oscar, among many other honors. More recently, Berry has appeared in "John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum," "Bruised," "Moonfall," and "The Mothership." She has also been the subject of headlines for her rather tumultuous personal life.
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Early Life
Maria Hally Berry was born on August 14, 1966, in Cleveland, Ohio. Her first name was legally changed to Halle when she was five. It was a reference to a local department store called Halle's Department Store. Her parents divorced when she was four years old, from which point on, she lived exclusively with her mother.
In the early 1980s, Halle began entering beauty pageants. She won both Miss Teen All-American and Miss Ohio USA in 1985. In 1986, she placed second in the Miss USA Beauty Pageant. She then placed first in the Miss USA World Beauty Pageant.
In 1989, Halle changed her focus from modeling to acting. That same year, she landed a role on an ABC sitcom called Living Dolls. She appeared in 12 episodes. In 1991, she landed a role in the Spike Lee film Jungle Fever. More film and television roles followed, and by the mid-1990s, she had grown into one of the biggest stars on the planet. In 1996 she earned her first major paycheck when she earned $1 million to star in Executive Decision.
In 2000, she first appeared as Storm in the X-Men film franchise. She appeared in a total of four X-Men movies.
Swordfish Salary
Halle was initially offered a career-high $2 million to star in Swordfish opposite Hugh Jackman and John Travolta. According to legend, she initially agreed to do a topless scene in the movie but then got cold feet. Not wanting to remove the scene, Warner Brothers reportedly upped her salary by $500,000 to complete the full topless scene, bringing her total payday to $2.5 million.
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Other Salaries
Halle accepted a significantly smaller paycheck, $600,000, to star in Monster's Ball. She would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film which was released in 2001.
The following year, she earned $4 million to star in the James Bond movie Die Another Day. She then earned $6 million for her role in 2003's Gothika.
In 2004, Halle earned her largest single career paycheck when she was paid $14 million – the same as $19 million in today's dollars – to star in the rebooted Catwoman. From this point on, Halle has consistently earned $10-12 million per major film role. She was consistently one of the highest-paid actresses in the world in the 2000s.
Awards
Halle won an Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG Award for her portrayal of Dorothy Dandridge in the film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. Berry also won an Oscar for Best Actress for her starring role in Monster's Ball and was nominated for a BAFTA award in 2001 for the same performance. Halle Berry became the first African-American actress to win an Academy Award for "Best Actress." For 2011's "Frankie & Alice," Berry won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture and the PRISM Award for Performance in a Feature Film.
Revlon Deal
Halle signed her first Revlon endorsement deal in 1996. She renewed her deal in 2004. After winning her Academy Award, she demanded that Revlon increase her annual pay from $3 million to $5 million. Today, she likely earns north of $10 million per year from Revlon alone.
Personal Life
Halle was married to baseball player David Justice from 1993 to 1997. She was married to musician Eric Benét from 2001 to 2005. She dated Canadian model Gabriel Aubry from 2005 to 2010. They had one child together. She was married to actor Olivier Martinez from 2013 to 2016. They have one child together. In 2020, Berry began dating Grammy-winning musician Van Hunt.
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Gabriel Aubry Divorce
In 2014, a judge ruled that Berry had to pay over $16,000 a month in child support to her ex, Gabriel Aubry, to provide for their daughter Nahla until she turns 19. The court also ordered Berry to pay $115,000 retroactively in child support and Aubry's cover the legal fees. Berry is fully responsible for paying the tuition for Nahla's school, and both parents will divide the health care costs. Berry and Aubry met in 2005 and split in 2010, which set off a bitter custody and child support battle. Tensions erupted in a physical altercation between Aubry and Berry's husband, Olivier Martinez, on Thanksgiving Day in 2012, when Aubry came to Berry's home to drop off then-4-year-old Nahla. Berry and Aubry's legal battles also included Berry seeking to relocate their daughter to France and Nahla's nanny filing a restraining order against Aubry. Since their custody dispute came to an end in the spring of 2011, both parents have shared equal custody of Nahla.
Olivier Martinez Divorce
Halle's divorce from Olivier took SEVEN YEARS to finalize. Their marriage only lasted three years. Finally, in August 2023, they reached a settlement that called for her to pay him $8,000 per month in support. She will ALSO pay Olivier 4.3% of all income she earns in a year above $2 million. They also agreed to share joint custody of their son Maceo. Halle will also pay for Maceo's health insurance, therapy and school tuition.
Real Estate
In 2004, the same year she earned $14 million to star in "Catwoman," Halle Berry paid $8.5 million for a 5,000 square foot oceanfront mansion in Malibu. She listed the 3-bedroom home, which is located within the exclusive Malibu Cove Colony and has 60 feet of beach frontage, for $18 million in October 2023. She ultimately pulled the listing.
In 2006, Halle paid $5.995 million for a home in Los Angeles, not far from West Hollywood. The seller was Frankie Muniz. Today, this home is likely worth around $10 million.
