Halle Berry's rise to fame wasn't without pratfalls
Most recently, her arm was broken during the filming of "Gothika," a psychological thriller that opens Friday.
In "Gothika," Berry stars as Dr. Miranda Grey, a criminal psychologist working in the psychiatric ward of a women's prison. She awakens one day to find herself incarcerated in the same prison, charged with a brutal murder and haunted by ghosts.
Halfway through filming the movie, she broke her arm in a scene with co-star Robert Downey Jr., bringing the film to a screeching halt for four weeks. Upon her return, she worked for six weeks with a camouflaged cast on her right arm.
Downey has apologized to Berry for grabbing her arm hard enough to cause the injury. He is still contrite but, with the passage of time, is able to discuss the incident with some humor.
"I'm always willing to accept blame for anything that happens within 50 miles of me, but in this case, I felt so glad that I was sober when it happened, (because when I'm not) everything on Earth would be my fault."
Berry is a native of Cleveland, and her parents separated when she was 4. In high school, she was a cheerleader and prom queen and later was first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant.
Three years of modeling in Chicago led to a role on the forgettable TV series "Living Dolls," and then to her first movie role as an addict in Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever."
Her movie career languished until her breakthrough as the late Dorothy Dandridge in an HBO movie about the singer. Berry won an Emmy and Golden Globe for the portrayal.
"I remember winning the Golden Globe and thinking that this was the epitome of life. I had a marriage. I had a daughter I had these awards. I had paid homage to my hero (Dandridge). I was thinking that my life was too good to be true. I said that so many times, it turned out that it really was too good to be true.
"Right after that, I had the accident that flattened me."
For the record, the actress was cited for leaving the scene of a car accident in February 2000 on the Sunset Strip. She said at the time that she hit her head and has no memory of speeding away from the scene. She was fined $13,500 and ordered to serve 200 hours of community service.
It proved to be a wake-up call for Berry, who said she changed everything in her life after that.
"I really believe you manifest what you think, and I was thinking all wrong before the accident," she said. "Since then, I've started thinking that life is good and that I deserve all the good things that are happening to me."
With the exception of her failed marriage, the rethinking seems to be working. She won a best-actress Oscar for her performance in "Monster's Ball." She quickly has ascended to the level of superstar, and her film schedule is booked for years to come.
She is six weeks into filming "Catwoman," which will be released in July. There are rumors of a spinoff of her Jinx character from the James Bond movie "Die Another Day." There is a good chance she will be back as Storm if a second sequel to "X-Men" is made.