Hello, I’m Halle Berry

and this is the Wired Autocomplete interview.

(happy music)

Yes, I googled it myself.

What was Halle Berry’s first film role?

Jungle fever.

I was very methodical back in the Jungle Fever days.

I had to go to a real crack den.

I didn’t shower, I didn’t wash my hair, all that.

Let’s just say I’ve evolved since then.

What are Halle Berry’s dogs called in John Wick?

Oh God, what were my dogs’ names?

I feel like a terrible dog mom.

The only names that come to mind right now

are my own dogs, Jackson and Roman,

and my two kittens, Cocoa and Boots.

I don’t remember.

I forgot. I’m sorry.

What did Halle Berry win an Oscar for?

Oh, that was Monster’s Ball, Leticia Musgrove.

I mean, every time you win an Oscar,

You will automatically be admitted to this illustrious club

in which not many people take part.

This changed my career and my life.

probably the highlight, definitely one

one of the highlights of my career.

What is Halle Berry’s latest movie?

(Laugh)

My last two films were “The Union” and “Never Let Go”.

That hasn’t come out yet.

These are my last two films.

Was Halle Berry Miss America?

No, I was not Miss America.

I was Miss Teen All-American.

I was Miss Ohio at the Miss USA pageant,

and I was Miss USA at the Miss World pageant.

I somehow got into my very first pageant

from my then boyfriend, and I wore my ball gown

because he wanted to date a beauty queen.

So I was somehow forced into it.

And if you win one of these things, you have to somehow

to the next, and the next, and the next, and the next.

And so I finally took part in a beauty contest.

that I didn’t really ask to be dressed.

But I loved it.

It was a great test for me.

It taught me how to speak in front of people,

how I feel comfortable in my own skin, can think quickly,

able to conduct interviews.

As if it had been a wonderful thing,

so don’t regret it.

How did Halle Berry become an actress?

Actually, more by chance.

Actually, I didn’t plan on becoming an actor.

I wanted to become a journalist.

I wanted to travel and go to war zones

and a kind of report on

what was really happening in the world.

And I moved to Chicago and realized I was bored

and I decided to take a course at Second City,

and it was my teacher there who said:

I think you have a certain natural talent.

Have you thought about becoming an actor?

And that was the first time I thought about it

when I was about 20 years old, 21 years old.

Which James Bond film did Halle Berry star in?

That would be “Die Another Day” with Pierce Brosnan.

He will always be my Bond, always.

I am a Pierce Brosnan fan.

With this film he restored my trust in men.

There could be no person who is more

of a gentleman than Pierce Brosnan.

Bond was not on my wish list, no, to act in one,

but I always loved the movies.

But since I was in one, I feel part of

of film history.

These films are cult.

You will forever be a part of our history,

and I feel truly honored to have been part of it,

especially with Pierce.

How long did Halle Berry train for John Wick III?

Oh my God, it’s been a long time.

Probably eight or nine months before the film was shot.

I trained with my combat team.

I had to learn jujitsu and film fighting,

some Taekwondo, some Muay Thai.

I also had to train with the dogs.

I trained a lot for John Wick III.

Halle Berry as Storm.

Yes, that happened.

I really loved playing Storm.

You know, being in the world of the X-Men

and the mutants were always very important to me

because I am a woman of color,

I often felt left out.

I often felt excluded

and overlooked and unseen.

And that’s exactly what the X-Men were all about.

These mutants find their voice

and find a way to be seen

and appreciated for who they really were.

And as a black woman, I could really identify with that.

So it was fun to put on Storm’s skin and fly

and to be part of this kind of storytelling.

I thought it was really important.

Halle Berry, vegan.

Oh, hell no, that’s not true.

(Laugh)

Nothing against vegans.

I love people who are vegan.

Great that you’re vegan, but I could never be vegan.

Halle Berry, pixie cut. Yes.

You know, I have this pixie cut

because I went to auditions as a young actor

and I would sit in the room

and there are 20 other girls who look exactly like me.

Long girl’s hair.

You couldn’t tell us apart.

The casting director would say something like, “Ah, you.”

And I realized that I

to somehow stand out from the others.

So one day I decided to cut everything off

of my hair and hence the pixie cut comes from.

And the first audition,

after I cut my hair,

I got my first acting job

in a show called Living Dolls with this pixie cut.

So the Pixie worked for me.

Halle Berry, Time 100.

Oh yes.

I have just received this wonderful honor from Time,

Time 100 in health this year

because I advocated for it vehemently in Washington.

And I’m starting an online health company

called Re Spin Health

to really help women from perimenopause onwards

and through midlife.

It is a brand for longevity among women,

and I’m really excited about it.

There was so little research, so few clinical trials.

You know, doctors only spend one chapter in medical school

Get to know your body during menopause.

So it’s time.

It’s time for women, it’s time for us

to get the healthcare we need.

Where is Halle Berry, oh, they always scare me.

Where did Halle Berry grow up?

I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.

a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, called Oakwood Village.

And I was a cheerleader and played the flute,

and I was class representative,

and editor of the school newspaper.

That’s what I did when I was growing up.

Did Halle Berry sing in Dorothy Dandridge?

Well, no, but I pretended to sing.

The singing for my film was actually done by Wendy Williams.

I wanted to sing,

but I realized I couldn’t do that, so they said:

we could use Auto-Tune, we could use all these things.

And I thought: no, no, no.

Dorothy deserves better.

We have Wendy Williams, a truly wonderful singer,

and she came and sang Dorothy for me.

Halle Berry, Kevin Hart movie.

I guess you could call it a movie.

It was Kevin’s stand-up film.

And he asked me to be there at the opening,

which was really fun.

It was also the first time I really got to know Kevin.

And what we did was fun.

It was fun.

Halle Berry in The Flintstones.

Oh yes. Rosetta Stone.

I was with the Flintstones.

My character was modeled after Sharon Stone.

I should be this vampy, sexy, seductive character

it was like channeling Sharon Stone.

That was very important to me

because as a black woman

Being involved in Bedrock was pretty revolutionary at the time.

I grew up with the Flintstones.

And there were no blacks in Bedrock

until I got to play Rosetta Stone in “The Flintstones”.

For me personally, this was groundbreaking.

I think people also wanted to see

a black person in Bedrock.

Halle Berry, Never Let Go.

Oh, that’s a movie that’s coming out here this fall.

I am really proud of that.

It is the first film that my partner Holly Jeter

and I produced with our new company, Halle Holly.

You have never seen anything like this before.

It is to see a mother

and her two children in an environment

that’s very scary.

It’s a psychological thriller, a kind of horror film.

And I didn’t think it would be like that

as scary as it is.

I saw it for the first time recently

and it’s really scary, probably because it’s so real.

Halle Berry, baps.

Oh, boobs.

This reminds me of Robert Townsend,

the late, great Natalie Desselle.

She’s passed away now, but she was my partner in crime fighting.

We had so much fun.

Ruth Carter made these great costumes

that people dress up every year

for year on Halloween as these characters.

And it was my introduction to comedy.

And I couldn’t imagine anyone better for it

with as Robert Townsend.

It was exaggerated, slapstick,

but it was a film with heart.

To this day, people tell me how much they enjoyed the film.

And Halle Berry, Extant.

These are the people who look up things like this?

Really, there is.

Extant was a while ago.

That was a TV show I made.

It was a show about a woman who flies into space

and there was a lot of technical research

that I had to do in this film.

And the hours, the hours were really long.

I had just had a baby and was breastfeeding.

I would shoot and then go to my childhood room

and nurse, I would shoot, come back.

It was the first time I had to be a mother

and come to terms with what it means to be a mother,

but also be a mother who works on set,

about 16 hours a day.

That was definitely the time when I worked the hardest.

Last: Halle Berry, Oscar dress.

This is a beautiful memory, it was a dress by Elie Saab.

And he wasn’t really a well-known designer at that time,

but I am someone who does not always go

for the hottest designer of the time.

I choose the dress

and what reflects how I want to feel in this moment.

And that was risky for me.

But the film Monster’s Ball, for which I won the Oscar

seemed risky to me back then when I was making the film.

So it was a kind of homage

to the risky feeling I had with the film,

so I decided to wear a daring dress.

It’s probably one of my favorite dresses of all time.

I don’t know, I’m surprised that anyone, you know,

Actually, don’t google me at all.

So it was interesting.

Those are all the questions for today.

Thanks, Wired. Until next time.

(quiet music)