Halle Berry has apologised to the Jewish community after she joked that she looked Jewish in a photograph.

The actress was appearing on the Jay Leno show in the US when she showed an enhanced photo of herself with a big nose and commented: "Here's where I look like my Jewish cousin!"

Pregnant Berry then asked TV producers not to air the comments after Leno realised its impropriety. An audience member reportedly said: "Ms. Berry should know how unbelievably inappropriate her comment was. She should be ashamed of herself."

The star apologised yesterday for the remarks, saying: "I so didn't mean to offend anybody - and after the show I realised it could be seen as offensive, so I asked Jay to take it out, and he did.

"We were going through pictures to see which ones looked silly, and one of my Jewish friends said (of the big-nose picture), 'That could be your Jewish cousin!' And I guess it was fresh in my mind, and it just came out of my mouth. But I didn't mean to offend anybody. I didn't. I didn't mean any harm. The scene was cut from the show."