Born in South Africa, Charlize Theron was a ballerina and model before getting attention as an actress in the Tom Hanks film That Thing You Do (1996) and the Woody Allen film Celebrity (1998). She played a New England ingenue in the 1999 art house hit The Cider House Rules, and by the year 2000 she was starring in big budget pictures like Reindeer Games (with Ben Affleck) and Robert Redford's The Legend of Bagger Vance (alongside stars Matt Damon and Will Smith). What made her a star was her transformation from offscreen beauty to onscreen nightmare as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003, co-starring Christina Ricci). She won an Oscar for best actress and was launched into the top tier of leading ladies. She won another Oscar nomination for North Country (2005), but the highly-anticipated Aeon Flux (2005) was raspberried by the critics and spurned by moviegoers. Her other films include The Italian Job (2003, starring Mark Wahlberg), the HBO movie The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004, she plays Britt Ekland) and the 2007 Paul Haggis film In the Valley of Elah (starring Tommy Lee Jones).
Theron was nearly cast to play Nomi, the role later taken by Elizabeth Berkley in the ill-fated movie Showgirls... The gossip sheets like to make hay out of the fact that Theron's mom shot and killed her dad back in 1991; the official story is that the dad was abusive and the mom was never prosecuted... Aeon Flux was a cartoon character from the early 1990s, created by Peter Chung.
As legend has it, Charlize Theron was discovered by an agent while fighting with a bank manager on Hollywood Boulevard. Eighteen and starving, Theron purportedly got into the argument after the manager refused to cash her check. The outburst caught the agent's attention, and eight months later Theron got her first acting job. She subsequently went on to become one of the hottest young actors in Hollywood, thanks to a fortuitous combination of talent and the blonde, statuesque good looks so fervently adored by the camera.
Born August 7, 1975, Theron was raised on a farm in Benoni, South Africa. Trained as a ballet dancer, she was sent to Milan at 16 to become a model following the death of her father (which, it was later revealed, occurred after he was shot by Theron's mother, who was defending herself from his drunken abuse). After tiring of modeling, Theron returned to her first love, dancing, which resulted in a move to New York to dance with the Joffrey Ballet. Unfortunately, her career was halted by a knee injury, which led Theron -- at her mother's behest -- to travel to Los Angeles to try her luck with acting. After a long, unprofitable struggle, fate smiled upon Theron in the form of the aforementioned bank encounter.
Following an inauspicious bit part in 1994's Children of the Corn III, Theron won her first dose of recognition with 2 Days in the Valley (1996). The film wasn't particularly successful, but it did give her both much-needed exposure and critical praise. The film also served as the stepping stone to her first leading role, that of Keanu Reeves' embattled wife in The Devil's Advocate (1997). The film drew poor reviews, but Theron managed to win widespread praise for her performance. Her next project, Trial and Error (1997), surfaced briefly before disappearing with nary a trace, but the subsequent Mighty Joe Young (1998) netted Theron more positive notices. Her ascent was confirmed with her casting in Celebrity, Woody Allen's 1998 cameo-fest that also featured turns from everyone from Kenneth Branagh to Winona Ryder to Leonardo DiCaprio to Isaac Mizrahi. In her portrayal of a perpetually aroused supermodel, Theron shone in a role seemingly designed to allow her to flaunt her natural attributes and little else. She was rewarded with more substantial -- not to mention multilayered -- work in The Cider House Rules (1999), Lasse Hallström's Oscar-winning adaptation of John Irving's novel. As a troubled young woman with secrets to hide, Theron received star billing alongside Michael Caine and Tobey Maguire.
None of this, however, nudged Theron from her A-list status, something that was confirmed by her casting in the flashy, star-studded 2003 remake of The Italian Job, a much-beloved 1969 comedy caper starring Michael Caine. The 2003 version featured Mark Wahlberg in the starring role, with Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, and Mos Def, among others, backing him up. That same year, Theron switched gears and dove headfirst into the "serious actress" category with her starring role in Monster, the crime drama based upon the real-life story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who, in the late '80s, murdered seven men in Florida. Co-starring Christina Ricci as Wuornos' lover, the film promised to show audiences a side of Theron that certainly hadn't been hinted at in her previous portrayals of models, girlfriends, and Southern debutantes. It was evidently successful as Theron was showered with more than a dozen awards including an Oscar following her first-ever Academy Award nomination.
2005 would be a decidedly mixed year for Theron. She first appeared in the live-action adaptation of the cult animated series Aeon Flux, a film that was nearly unanimously maligned by critics and largely avoided by audiences. Luckily, she also starred in the well-received docudrama North Country. Playing a woman who successfully battled sexual harrassment, Theron was honored with her second Oscar nomination for the performance. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
Charlize Theron (/ʃɑrˈliːsˈθɛrən/; born 7 August 1975) is a South African actress who later became an American citizen. She started her acting career in the United States and rose to fame in the late 1990s following roles in The Devil's Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and The Cider House Rules (1999). Theron won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003), becoming the first African to win an Academy Award in a major acting category. She received another Academy Award nomination for her performance in North Country (2005). Theron became an American citizen in 2007, while retaining her South African citizenship.
Theron was born in Benoni, in the then Transvaal Province of South Africa, the only child of Gerda (who has also called herself Gerta)[1] Martiz[2] and Charles Theron (born 27 November 1947).[2] Her mother is of German descent and her father was of Occitan (French) and Dutch ancestry; Theron is descended from early Huguenot settlers, and Boer War figure Danie Theron was her great-great uncle.[3] "Theron" is an Occitan surname (originally spelled Théron) pronounced in Afrikaans as "Tronn", although she has said that the way it is pronounced in South Africa is "Thrown".[4] She changed the pronunciation when she moved to the U.S.
Although fluent in English, her first language is Afrikaans.[5][6] She grew up on her parents' farm in Benoni, near Johannesburg.[7] Her father died on 21 June 1991, after he was shot by Theron's mother. Theron's father, an alcoholic,[7] physically attacked her mother and threatened both women while drunk. The shooting was legally adjudged to have been self-defence and her mother faced no charges.[8]
Theron attended Putfontein Primary School (Laerskool Putfontein). Those years were a period she characterises as not "fitting in":
I wore really nerdy glasses because I was blind as could be and the boys didn't like [me]. ... I didn't have any boyfriends, but lots of crushes. ... I wasn't in the popular crowd. There was a really popular girl at school and I was obsessed with her. ... I was in tears one day because I couldn't sit next to her. ... I actually got a lot of the mean-girl stuff from the ages of 7 to 12. I was pretty much a mess in primary school. But I got that out of my system by the time I got to high school and was more immune to all of that stuff.[9]
At 13, Theron was sent to boarding school and began her studies at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg.[7]
Career
Though seeing herself as a dancer,[10] Theron at 16 won a one-year modeling contract[7] at a local competition,[10] and with her mother moved to Milan, Italy.[11] After Theron spent a year modeling throughout Europe, she and her mother moved to New York City and Miami, Florida.[11] In New York, she attended the Joffrey Ballet School, where she trained as a ballet dancer until a knee injury closed this career path[10] at 19.[12] As Theron recalled in 2008,
I went to New York for three days to model, and then I spent a winter in New York in a friend's windowless basement apartment. I was broke, I was taking class at the Joffrey Ballet, and my knees gave out. I realized I couldn’t dance anymore, and I went into a major depression. My mom came over from South Africa and said, "Either you figure out what to do next or you come home, because you can sulk in South Africa."[10]
Intending now to work in movies, Theron flew to Los Angeles, California, on a one-way ticket her mother bought her.[10] During her early months there, she went to a Hollywood Boulevard bank to cash a cheque her mother had sent her to help with the rent.[13] When the teller refused to cash it, Theron engaged in a shouting match with her.[7] Upon seeing this, talent agent John Crosby,[13] in line behind her, handed her his business card and subsequently introduced her to casting agents and also an acting school.[14][13] She later fired him as her manager after he kept sending her scripts for films similar to Showgirls and Species.[15] After several months in the city, she was cast in her first film part, a non-speaking role in the direct-to-video film Children of the Corn III (1995).[7] Her first speaking role was a supporting but significant part in 2 Days in the Valley.[7] Larger roles in widely released Hollywood films followed, and her career expanded in the late 1990s with box-office successes like The Devil's Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and The Cider House Rules (1999).[7] She was on the cover of the January 1999 issue of Vanity Fair as the "White Hot Venus".[16] AskMen named her the number one most desirable woman of 2003. [17]
Theron received Best Actress Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for her lead performance in the drama North Country.[19][20]Ms. magazine also honoured her for this performance with a feature article in its Fall 2005 issue.[27] She was supposed to star in the screen adaption of the short story The Ice at the Bottom of the World by Mark Richard, and it was to be directed by Kimberly Peirce[28] and produced by Theron's company Denver and Delilah Films (Theron's two dog's names). Theron has owned the rights for many years.[29] She was also supposed to star in a movie adaption of the graphic novel Jinx, but both projects have not been produced as of yet.[30]
In October 2009, Theron was cast to star in a sequel to the Mad Max films, titled Mad Max: Fury Road.[33][34]
On 4 December 2009, Theron co-presented the draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa, accompanied by several other celebrities of South African origin. During rehearsals she drew an Ireland ball instead of France as a joke at the expense of FIFA, referring to Thierry Henry's handball controversy in the play off match between France and Ireland.[35][36] The stunt alarmed FIFA enough for it to fear she might do it again in front of a live global audience.[37]
Following a three-year hiatus from the big screen, Theron returned to the spotlight in 2011 with Young Adult. Directed by Jason Reitman, the film earned critical acclaim especially for Theron's performance. She was nominated for a Golden Globe and several other high profile awards.
In 2011, she described her process for becoming the characters in her film:
When I'm figuring out a character, for me it's easy, since once I say yes to something, I become super-obsessed about it – and I have an obsessive nature in general. How I want to play it starts at that moment. It's a very lonely, internal experience. I think about [the character] all the time – I observe things, I see things and file things [in my head], everything geared to what I'm going to do. I'm obsessed with the human condition. You read the script and become obsessed with [a character's] nature, her habits. When the camera rolls, it's time to do my job, to do the honest truth. You can't do that part of the [character-creation] work when you're [in the middle of] making the film. At least I can't.[39]
Theron became a naturalised citizen of the United States in May 2007,[42] while retaining her South African citizenship.[43]
She signed with William Morris Endeavour in 2009 and is represented by CEO Ari Emanuel.[44]
Health concerns
While filming Æon Flux in Berlin, Germany, Theron suffered a herniated disc in her neck, which occurred as a result of her suffering a fall while filming a series of back handsprings. This required her to wear a neck collar for a month.[45]
In July 2009, Theron was diagnosed with a serious stomach virus, thought to be contracted while travelling outside the United States.[46] She was hospitalised at Cedars-Sinai Hospital and she finished convalescing in her own home.[47]
From October 2005 to December 2006, Theron earned US$3 million for the use of her image in a worldwide print media advertising campaign for Raymond Weil watches.[50] In February 2006, she and her loan-out corporation were sued by Weil for breach of contract.[50][51] The lawsuit was settled on 4 November 2008.[52]
Theron also is a supporter of animal rights and active member of PETA. She appeared in a PETA ad for its anti-fur campaign.[54] She is a supporter of marriage equality and attended a march to support that in Fresno, California, on 30 May 2009.
In July 2009, Theron's Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP) announced a coalition with LAFC Soccer Club to give soccer fields to rural areas in South Africa. The US youth soccer club LAFC Chelsea made a three-year commitment to help build a community-wide soccer program for the schools in the Umkhanyakude district, encompassing uniforms, equipment, professional training for local coaches, referees and administrators, and health education.[55]
In December 2009, CTAOP and TOMS Shoes partnered to create a limited edition unisex shoe. The shoe was made from vegan materials and inspired by the African baobab tree, the silhouette of which was embroidered on blue and orange canvas. Ten-thousand pairs were given to destitute children, and a portion of the proceeds went to CTAOP.[56]
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