Halle Berry is one of the highest-earning actresses in Hollywood who originally landed her big break in showbiz after finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant back in 1986. Her acting career was in full effect after landing a role in the 1992 romantic comedy Boomerang, opposite Eddie Murphy and Grace Jones.
From there, Halle was offered much bigger roles, such as Storm in the X-Men films, Patience Phillips in 2004’s Catwoman, and Miranda Grey in Gothic. Not to mention, she also won an Oscar award for Best Actress as Leticia Musgrove in Monster’s Ball with Billy Bob Thornton.
With so much success at the box office, having amassed over $8 billion with her films worldwide, it’s no wonder why Hollywood studios are spending a lot of money to cast Halle in their movies, but just how much does she earn for each motion picture?
Halle Berry’s Salary Per Movie
While her salary for any of her projects before 1996 has never been publicly disclosed, it’s known that Halle received a $1 million payday after signing a deal to star in Executive Decision.
The following year, she was cast in Brian Singer’s X-Men, alongside Hugh Jackman and Famke Janssen, where she is believed to have made another $1 million.
In 2001, she earned a career-high $2 million when she was cast as Ginger in the John Travolta-led flick, Swordfish.
Warner Brothers reportedly added an additional $500,000 after Halle complained about her topless scene in the film and how she didn’t want the take to be included in the final cut — but she ended up taking the money in favor of allowing the studio to keep the scene as it was, bringing her total salary to $2.5 million.
And while Halle took a drastic pay cut when she signed on for Monster’s Ball for $600,000, the film ended up winning her an Oscar for Best Actress — and in case you weren’t aware, winning a prestigious award from the Academy is known to boost an actor’s salary by millions.
This was no different in Halle’s case, who made $4 million the next year when she was cast as the latest Bond girl in the 007 film Die Another Day. Gothika, a psychological thriller-drama with Robert Downey Jr. would earn the mother of two another $6 million.
In 2004, Halle earned the highest she’s ever made for a film — $14 million — after landing the role of Catwoman in the self-titled action-packed flick. While the movie failed to impress critics and subsequently bombed at the box office, Halle said she enjoyed being part of the project and was optimistic about a potential return for a sequel.
“It was what it was but I know if we had a chance to do it again I know we’d make it better. We’ll make a better story and have a better villain,” she said in a 2006 interview. “I always thought we should’ve had a better villain than a woman whose face cracked off, but that’s the past. I’m over it. (Laughs) But I would do it, I loved being Catwoman.”
“But if they seriously said ‘We want to do another one and here’s how we’re going to make it better because we learned from the mistakes.’ I would because I believe we could make it better. I think Catwoman is a great character that maybe wasn’t presented in the right way.”
If an A-list actor has too many films that aren’t performing as well as they should have, their salaries can very well drop since they are showing the studios that their involvement in the project isn’t attracting an audience.
Luckily for Halle, she bounced back really quick and continued to command between $10-$12 million per motion picture, which ended up earning her the title of one of the best-paid actresses in Hollywood in the ‘00s, along with Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, and Jennifer Aniston.
Aside from the money she makes for her films, Halle has won a ton of awards over the years, including an Emmy, Golden Globe, and a SAG award for her portrayal of Dorothy Dandridge in the movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.
To date, Halle remains the only African-American actress to have won an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Some of her notable endorsement deals included her $5 million-a-year partnership with Revlon, who upped the deal by $2 million following Halle’s Oscar win.
She’s also modeled for a bunch of campaigns such as Versace’s Spring/Summer 2006 collection and Harry Winston’s jewelry line in 2007.
Later this year, Halle will star opposite Patrick Wilson and Donald Sutherland in the action-fantasy film Moonfall, which is expected to hit cinemas in October.
