HALLE BERRY.

BERRY, Halle, 1966-; ACTORS; BENET, Eric, 1970-; CELEBRITIES

One year after her historic Best Actress Oscar win for her gritty portrayal of a struggling waitress in "Monster's Ball," the star with the silk-pie skin and to-die-for body says she has "evolved into this woman that feels very confident in who she is." It shows. Berry, 36, a former catalog model and Miss USA first runner-up, seems to get more gorgeous with every passing year. Slipping into a tight bodysuit as mutant weather girl Storm in" X2: X-Men United," the sequel to the 2000 megahit, she even manages to make a white wig look sexy. More often than not, what she wants is free time to spend with her husband, R&B singer Eric Benet, 36, and his 11-year-old daughter India, whom she adopted after marrying Benet in 2001. India's biological mother, Tami Stauff, died in a 1993 car accident. "India has been a great addition to my life, because I no longer just focus on me," Berry says. "Before she came into my life, I was about work, work, work. Now I get to really focus on what's important. And we get to play." Not that married life has been all fun and games. During the past year, Berry and Benet have had to repeatedly confront talk of trouble. Although Benet previously has admitted to "mistakes," Berry says the union is solid