Halle Berry

Berry in 2009, photo by CarlaVanWagoner / Shutterstock.com

Birth Name: Maria Halle Berry

Place of Birth: Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.

Date of Birth: August 14, 1966

Ethnicity:
*father – African-American
*mother – English, some German and Irish, distant Dutch

Halle Berry is an American actress and model. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Monster’s Ball (2001). She is the only black actress to have won the Best Actress Oscar. Her roles also include The Last Boy Scout, The Flinstones, Executive Decision, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, X-Men, Swordfish, Die Another Day, Gothika, Things We Lost in the Fire, The Call, Kidnap, Kings, and Bruised, among others.

Halle’s father, Jerome Jesse Berry, was African-American. Halle’s mother, Judith Ann (Hawkins), is white, of English, some German and Irish, and distant Dutch, descent. She has two children, a daughter, with her former partner, Canadian model Gabriel Aubry, and a son, with her former husband, French actor Olivier Martinez.

Of her upbringing, Halle has said:

I was raised by my white mother and every day of my life I have always been aware of the fact that I am biracial. However, growing up I was aware that even though my mother was white, I did not look or feel very white myself.

Halle’s paternal grandfather was named Robert Berry.

Halle’s paternal grandmother was Cora Lee Powell (the daughter of Adam Powell and Charity Munford/Moffett). Cora was born in Greenwood, Leflore, Mississippi. Adam was the son of Tom Powell and Easter.

Halle’s maternal grandfather was Earl Ellsworth Hawkins (the son of Eugene Allen Hawkins and Bessie C. Spaulding). Earl was born in Dover, Tuscarawas, Ohio. Eugene was the son of John William Hawkins, who was born in Vermont, and of Katherine/Catherina “Katie” Drescher, who was born in Bavaria, Germany. Bessie was the daughter of Ellsworth Warren Spaulding, who was of approximately three quarters Colonial American (English), and one quarter Irish, descent; and of Agnes L. “Aggie” Johnson, whose father was English. Through her maternal grandfather, Halle has American-born ancestors going back to the 1600s.

Halle’s maternal grandmother was Nellie Dicken (the daughter of Henry Dicken and Ada B. White). Nellie was born in Shardlow, Derbyshire, England, to a father from Chesterfield and a mother from Spondon. Henry was the son of Robert Dicken and Ann Marsden. Ada was the daughter of John White and Maria.

Sources: Genealogies of Halle Berry – http://www.wargs.com
http://www.wikitree.com
http://famouskin.com

Halle’s paternal grandmother, Cora Lee Powell, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Cora Lee Powell on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

Death record of Halle’s paternal grandmother, Cora Lee (Powell) Berry – https://familysearch.org

Genealogy of Halle Berry (focusing on her mother’s side) – https://www.geni.com

Halle’s mother on the 1940 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

ethnic

Curious about ethnicity

260 Responses

  1. Holly88 says:

    I know her Mother is English and her Father is African American, but where does the Russian, Irish and German come from?

  2. Bored says:

    Bored says:
    February 10, 2011 at 7:04 pm
    Everyone the world is getting smaller and smaller and everyone is mixing. People can be mixed but in different ways, no two families are alike. I consider myself mixed although neither parent is white, they both have the same ancestry (black/native american/white). My maternal great grandmother and grandmother had very straight hair and this certainly was not from Africa. My grandmother was the Halle Berry type, and people say she looked Hindu, she was a knockout! My great grandmother believed her father to be white and she looked part white. Her family hid her anytime he came around, she had red hair like a fox. My maternal grandfather was a half bred, his mother was half white/half native American as a result of a rape. His father was black. Another great mother (paternal) was half native american/half white with blue eyes. All of these people have passed on, but I knew them all. My grandfather said that I looked like his grandmother who was native american. Should I ignore my ancestors because they were not black or all black. I carry their DNA. Of course I have African ancestry as well, but I choose to acknowledge the whole package. I am not a full blooded African, Native American nor White. Me and my sisters are often mistaken for Hispanic, but I definitely see the Native American in all of us, even my niece and nephews. I refuse to say African American because it’s just not true, no more than saying I am only Native American. This country has got to give up racial classifications, because and the end of the day we are all just people in search of happiness.

  3. concerned says:

    I have to believe that every thing imean races that mix with black come out perfect i mean look at all that beauty, it’s thnx to black race go girl u off the hook

  4. Goodlook says:

    So she is a mixture of everybody that fought in WW2 lol.

  5. Jackson says:

    She’s a babe

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