Halle Berry

Berry's parents selected her first name from Halle's Department Store, which was then a local landmark in her birthplace of Cleveland, Ohio.[8] Her mother, Judith Ann (née Hawkins),[9][10] is caucasian and Ohio-born psychiatric nurse,[8] and her father, Jerome Jesse Berry, was an African-American hospital attendant.[11] Berry's maternal grandmother, Nellie Dicken, was born in Sawley, Derbyshire, England, while her maternal grandfather, Earl Ellsworth Hawkins (an American), was born in Ohio.[12] Berry's parents divorced when she was four years old and she was subsequently raised by her mother, a psychiatric nurse.[8] Her father was an orderly in the same psychiatric ward where her mother worked and later became a bus driver. Berry has said in published reports that she was estranged from her father since her childhood.[13][8]Berry studied at Bedford High School, and worked in the children's department at Higbee's Department store. She subsequently attended the Cuyahoga Community College. In the 1980s, she entered several beauty contests, winning Miss Teen All-American in 1985 and Miss Ohio USA in 1986.[2] Other entries included Miss USA (first runner-up in 1986 to Christy Fichtner of Texas, the second of the Texas Aces), and sixth place in Miss World 1986 (the winner being Trinidad and Tobago's Giselle Laronde). In the Miss USA 1986 pageant interview competition, she said she hoped to become an entertainer or to have something to do with the media. Her interview was awarded the highest score by the judges.[14]