Before She Became a Well-Known Actress, Halle Berry Had a Successful Career in Beauty Pageants During the 1980s

Did you know that prior to her epic movie career, (Ohio native) Halle Berry won the Miss Teen All American 1985 and Miss Ohio USA in 1986 pageant? In 1986, she won the Miss Ohio title, finished as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant and then came in sixth in the Miss World 1986.

In those days, the Miss USA winner went to Miss Universe, and the runner-up went to Miss World, where she was introduced as “The representative from the United States of America.” Halle was the first African-American to compete at Miss World and she finished in 6th place, before forging a hugely successful acting career and winning an Oscar in 2002.

Halle has said that her pageant experience gave her poise, public speaking skills, and resilience — all of which helped her transition to modeling, then to acting in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She was also notable for being one of the first Black women to achieve high placements in multiple major pageants, challenging industry beauty standards at the time.