HALLE BERRY BIOGRAPHYWhatever, she was now a huge star. Next came Monster's Ball where she played the widow of executed criminal Puff Daddy. A struggling waitress with a kid to support, she's lonely and desperate and seeks solace in the arms of Billy Bob Thornton who, as it turns out, is one of the wardens who put her husband to death - the situation being complicated further by the fact that Thornton's son, played by Heath Ledger, commits suicide. The film was a big hit, but nearly wasn't made at all. With finances tight, all the actors worked for union scale. And it was controversial before it was ever released, the director having to cut a full minute from the scene where Berry and Thornton first make love. The renowned critic David Thomson wrote that Halle was so good in the scene that she "absolved" the whole movie, saying she was a "wrecked creature... demanding confrontation, full frontal embrace. And it is in her plunging down to some erotic base line that the film does really locate a bond between blacks and whites that gives cause for hope". The Academy agreed with his estimation, awarding her an Oscar. After appearing in so many cinematic critiques of race relations in America, she was delighted to be nominated alongside Denzel Washington and Will Smith. When she won, her delight overflowed, as she sobbed her thanks out to the millions and, hyperventilating wildly, told all black women how proud she was to be the vessel who'd opened the door for all of them. Everyone knew what she meant. Along with Washington's win and a Special Oscar for Sidney Poitier, the ceremony was an absolute triumph for the black acting community.

Though she'd begun to suffer from diabetes, Halle's career kept improving. She appeared in ads for Revlon, M&Ms and Pepsi Twist. She became a Bond girl, winning the part of Jinx in the 20th instalment, Die Another Day. And she played Storm again, in X-Men 2 - she turned down Ben Affleck's Gigli to do so, being replaced by Jennifer Lopez. Here evil mastermind Magneto, played by fellow Oscar nominee Ian McKellen, has broken out of jail and ABSOLUTELY MUST BE STOPPED.

So, looks like the Beauty Queen has made it all the way. Looking good, no?