Halle Berry recalls sharing a 1-bedroom apartment with '15 other girls' as a young model

Before fame and Oscar acclaim, Halle Berry was one of 15 girls sleeping on bean bag chairs in a crowded one-bedroom apartment.

During Dax Shepard's visit Armchair Expert podcast, Never let go The star is open about the origins of her career, when she made the jump from the beauty pageant circuit to professional modeling. The change was spurred by an Ohio pageant organizer, who encouraged her to move to Illinois and join their modeling agency.

“He said, 'Come to Chicago, I'll hook you up with modeling and [you’ll] Make a bag of cash, just relax for a year and then figure out what you're going to do,'” Berry recalled. “I said 'OK.'”

Unfortunately, the reality was much less picture-perfect. Or, as Berry puts it, “a big ugly bunch.”

She explained, “He never told me it was going to be in a one-bedroom apartment and like 15 girls sleeping on the floor in bean bags. I had an idea of ​​what it was going to be, and then I realized, “Oh!'

Sheppard, whose long-running interview podcast often begins by asking guests to recall their rise to fame, noted that Berry's origins are part of a trend.

“We've heard this story a few times,” he shared. “People move in, and there's a manager, there's an agent, and they go there, and they're like, 'Oh, wow, I guess we all Living here.'

“I think we're all living together,” Berry said [with] A bathroom.'”

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After six months in the cramped apartment, Berry was ready for a change, “I pulled one girl aside and said, 'Let's get our own place.'”

While living with a roommate, Berry took her first steps into the world of acting—a transition that happened almost entirely by accident.

“My journey into acting was that I went to Second City,” the actress said, noting that she took a few classes with the world-renowned comedy troupe that marked the starting point for comedy photographers like Bill Murray, Steve Carell, John. Belushi, Jordan Peele and Tina Fey. But for Berry, it was primarily a way to pass the time.

“I was fed up,” he added “It wasn't because I thought I'd have a career as an actor, I just wanted something to do in the evening, and I also heard that some funny, good-looking people went there.”

Before long, Berry had booked her acting debut living dollof ABC who is the boss spinoff Although it only lasted one season, the actress got her start before landing a breakthrough role in Spike Lee's jungle fever.

His career would continue on an upward trajectory with a role in the 1991 comedy strictly business, Eddie Murphy romcom boomerang and its live action adaptation The FlintstonesBefore gaining acclaim for her portrayal of Dorothy Dandridge in the 1999 HBO biopic, Meet Dorothy Dandridge. The film earned Berry an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and her first Academy Award nomination. Two years later, she should win Best Actress at the 74th Academy Awards Monster's BallTo date she is the only black woman to receive this award

You can hear Berry retrace his steps to fame Armchair Expert above