Biography for
Charlize Theron
Date of Birth: 7 August 1975, Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa
Nickname: Charlie
Height: 5' 9½" (1.77 m)
Mini Biography
Charlize Theron grew up on a farm outside Benoni, South Africa, as the only child. She got an education as a ballet dancer and has danced both the "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker". There wasn't much for a young actress or dancer to do in South Africa, so she soon traveled to Europe and United States of America, where she got job at the Joffrey Ballet in New York. She was also able to work as a photo model. However, an injured knee put a halt to her dancing career.
At the age of 18, her mother made her go to Los Angeles to try a career in the movie industry. She came to Los Angeles without knowing anyone in the city but after two weeks when she was standing in line on Hollywood Boulevard an agent gave her his card. After eight months in Los Angeles she got her first part. Since then, she took acting lessons and her career skyrocketed in The Devil's Advocate (1997).
Trade Mark
Blonde hair and green eyes
Statuesque, model-like figure
Trivia
When she was 15 her father attacked her mother, and her mother shot him in self-defense. He died, but her mother was not charged in the incident.
First language is Afrikaans, English is spoken as her second language.
Appeared nude in the May 1999 issue of Playboy Magazine. The photos had been taken years earlier before she had became famous, and she unsuccessfully tried to prevent the magazine from publishing them.
Became a fashion model at age 14.
Named one of "People" magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. (2000).
Turned down the female lead in Pearl Harbor (2001) to star alongside Keanu Reeves in Sweet November (2001).
Auditioned for the female lead of Nomi Malone in Showgirls (1995).
Was ranked #4 in the 100 Sexiest Women list by FHM Taiwan (2001).
Placed #1 on Beautiful People Internet Poll, narrowly beating Cameron Diaz in #2 and Kate Beckinsale in #3. The photo featured on the site was the famous 'Diving Board' photo.
Both of her parents were born and raised in South Africa. Her ancestry includes French (the origin of her surname), Dutch, and German.
Voted #12 Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine (September 2002).
Used hypnotherapy as an aid to quit smoking.
Is the only child of Charles, whom she was named after, and Gerda Theron.
She gained 30 pounds to play Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003).
On the show, "Shootout" (2003), it was revealed that her manager discovered her in a Hollywood bank after he witnessed her yelling at a bank teller for refusing to cash her check.
Won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Aileen Wuornos on what would have been Aileen's 48th birthday: 29 February 2004.
After winning her Oscar, she returned to great celebrations in her native South Africa, and she even met former South African President Nelson Mandela. When he praised her for putting their country on the map and gave her a hug, Theron broke into tears (she was guest of honor at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg on March 11th 2004).
Has said her favorite actor is Tom Hanks.
In 2004, injured her neck while filming Æon Flux (2005). Fortunately, the injury wasn't serious enough to put her in the hospital, but it did postpone production for several weeks.
As a teenager in her native South Africa, she learned English by watching American TV.
At the 2005 Golden Globes she was sporting a new dark hair color. She is a now a member of the celebrities who have dyed their hair from blonde to brown, or black. They include, among others: Mary-Kate Olsen; Nicky Hilton; Mandy Moore; Renée Zellweger; Christina Aguilera, Melinda Messenger and Ashlee Simpson.
She was the first person to sign on to be a presenter at the 77th Annual Academy Awards, in 2005.
Second actress (the first was Kim Basinger) to win an Oscar after appearing naked in Playboy magazine.
She is the second South African-born person to win an Academy Award. The South African-born cinematographer Ted Moore was the first. South African-born actor Basil Rathbone was the first South African-born actor to be nominated, followed by Cecil Kellaway. Theron was the first South African-born woman to win an Oscar.
Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (September 29, 2005).
Named #15 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 women of 2005 list.
Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballot. She was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Actress category for her performance in the film Æon Flux (2005). However, she failed to receive a nomination. (Had she gotten the nomination, she would have been the first person to be nominated for both Leading Actress awards at the Oscars, for North Country (2005), and the Razzies.)
Named #4 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement (2005).
Studied acting with Ivana Chubbuck.
Named #15 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).
Dyed her hair black for Æon Flux (2005).
Trained as a ballet dancer at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City, and performed in both "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker". Her dancing career ended after a knee injury.
One of the first movies she ever went to see at the theater was Splash (1984). She confessed that after watching the movie, she felt jealous of Daryl Hannah and developed a crush on Tom Hanks. She even said to herself that she could have played the role of Madison better than Hannah.
Shares the same background as actor Daniel Bonjour who also left South Africa as a teenage actor and traveled to Europe and then America. Both their parents are of European background. Also, both actors have found it easier to simply use an American accent in their work.
Chosen by Femme Fatales magazine as one of the "50 sexiest women on the planet". [February 2006]
Esquire magazine's Sexiest Woman Alive in 2007.
Entertainment Weekly predicted her Oscar win for Monster (2003) eleven months before she won it.
She earns $2 million per year endorsing Dior's "J'Adore" fragrance, as well as $2.5 million per year endorsing Swiss Watch-maker, Raymond Weil.
At 16, she won a modeling competition to go to Milan and work on the catwalks and at 18, she won a scholarship to study ballet at the Joffrey School in New York. She turned to acting only because she injured both knees.
Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year for 2008.
Announced on "Late Show with David Letterman" (1993) that she is now a United States citizen (March 12, 2008).
Ranked #11 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list.
Was considered for the role of Vickie Kittrie in Mercy (2000).
Was in consideration for the part of Satine in Moulin Rouge! (2001) but Nicole Kidman, who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.
Replaced Angelina Jolie in the role Dagny Taggart in Atlas Shrugged: Part I (2011) before being replaced by Taylor Schilling.
Was originally cast as Greta Wegener in The Danish Girl (2014) but after dropping out of the project when production was delayed she was replaced by Gwyneth Paltrow, who in turn was replaced by Marion Cotillard.
She is good friends with her North Country (2005) co-star, Jeremy Renner.
Lives in Los Angeles and Malibu, California.
Was in consideration for the role of Helen Gandy in J. Edgar (2011), but Naomi Watts was cast instead.
Named the "Sexiest Woman Alive" by Esquire Magazine (2007).
Received the "Decade of Hotness" award from Spike TV (Guy's Choice).
Voted #24 in the 2007 Askmen Australia "top 99 most desirable women" list. She was voted #6 the previous year in 2006.
Voted #3 in the 2005 Askmen "top 99 most desirable women" list.
Voted #1 in the 2003 Askmen "top 99 most desirable women" list.
Ranked #20 in the 2011 FHM Australia list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".
Always speaks Afrikaans with her mother, who lives 2 minutes from her in L.A. They have matching fish tattoos.
Suffers from OCD to the extent that, if renting a house/hotel room during a movie shoot, cannot relax until she has explored every closet, locker and drawer in the premises.
The correct pronunciation of her name: Sharleese Thrunne.
Theron is involved in women's rights organizations, and has marched in pro-choice rallies.
Is a supporter of animal rights and appeared in a PETA ad for its anti-fur campaign.
Has her own charity called the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, which is committed to reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and sexual violence among African youth.
Friends with Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson and Bill Paxton.
Has an adoptive son, Jackson Theron (b. November 2011), whom she adopted in March 2012.
Named as the "Sexiest actress" by Victoria's Secret What Is Sexy list (2012).
Received America's National Association of Theatre Owners - Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film Award, at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. [April 24, 2012]
Returned to work 4 months after adopting her son Jackson in order to begin filming Mad Max: Fury Road (2014).
Was in a relationship with Stuart Townsend from 2001 to 2010.
Named one of the "most desirable" women for 2013 in Askmen's list of the Top 99 Most Desirable Women.
U.N. Messenger of Peace.
Personal Quotes
[on the revelation that her mother shot and killed her father while he was in a drunken rage, which was ruled self-defense] I was always Mama's girl, and I always felt like her protector.
Women have conquered the world. And with everything we go through, it's about time we had a female president. I don't think we're that far away, but it should have happened already. I wouldn't be surprised if Hillary Rodham Clinton runs - I really admire her.
I've always been very proud to be a South African and I've always been very honest to people about that. And whatever I can do in my power I promise you I will do. I don't think it's too much pressure. I think it's our duty as citizens of this country. You don't have to win an Oscar to do something good for your country. We all can do that. If I can be an encouragement for that I'll be glad to be that.
I'm 50-50 on glamour stuff. I'd rather put on a pair of jeans and get on my Harley and act like a guy.
I think of myself as a highly sexual creature. I have to use that. I have no choice. I like it. I didn't grow up with a mother telling me what was under my clothes was bad or evil.
[on the importance of the Toronto Film Festival for smaller films] If people, critics respond to the film there, it starts a nice little wave of chat, which for a movie like North Country (2005) is really important. It's one of those films that travels by word of mouth.
[on marriage] I'm happy for people who want to get married, but it's not my thing. I'm extremely happy in my relationship and I would love to have kids.
[on accents] At first I found it really hard using three different English accents: South African, faking the American, faking the accent required by the job. I decided to make it easier for myself and just do one. I haven't lost my culture, just my accent.
[on bad habits and guilty pleasures] Anything fried I'll take. Are you kidding me? I will fry my shoe and eat it.
Looks alone won't get you that far. It may get you in the door, but there's always somebody younger, somebody prettier. You have to rely on something else.
What kind of stories can you tell with glamor? There are very few stories of conflict you can tell, right? I look for good stories; I'm not driven by anything other than good filmmakers and good stories. And then my job as an actor is to service those stories as well as I possibly can. The physical is the last thing that drives me.
I live a very simple life. I don't have to make those giant movies. I don't have a yacht or a private plane. As long as I can maintain this life, which is pretty low-maintenance and simple, then all of a sudden you don't have to worry about all that stuff. I don't have to take a job to pay a mortgage on a house I can't afford.
I've always said that I worry about being with a man who doesn't flirt.
[on a possible biopic of her life] God, I hope not. I've been working harder than anything in my life to try and keep my life sacred. I really don't mind when I'm in front of a camera and playing a character I'm comfortable with . . . but I don't necessarily like the spotlight to be about me - not at all. The idea of sitting in Cannes and watching that . . . ugh. No.
[on playing unglamorous characters yet posing for glamorous spreads] Well, guess what? I'm a sexual creature. There's nothing wrong with that. Why do we have to be ashamed of being so many different things? Why do we have to be only one thing, a good mother or a hooker? I don't think that what's under my clothes is evil. I'm a woman, I'm feminine. And I like the way I look. And I celebrate that. And I don't make excuses for that.
People just aren't willing to see conflict, or ugliness or the more flawed side of life through a female character's eyes. I mean, can you imagine a woman playing Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976)? When Robert De Niro does it it's fine, [but] people are very uncomfortable about seeing that through a woman's eyes. We aren't allowed complexity.
[on the media's reaction to her appearance in In the Valley of Elah (2007) It just bummed me out because I was, "What do you want? Do you want me to play a detective from Albuquerque who's a single mom in a Dior dress?" The way they focused on my appearance, I felt like it hurt [the film] and I was embarrassed because [director] Paul Haggis had worked really hard, and just because I had a ponytail that's what they were talking about.
I don't believe in charmed lives. I think that tragedy is part of the lesson you learn to lift yourself up, to pick yourself up and to move on.
[on being congratulated by Nelson Mandela and South African president Thabo Mbeki after winning a Best Actress Oscar for Monster (2003)] I don't think I want to be a pin-up for anything! The people who inspire me are the ones who just live life and live it in a way that's good-natured. Do unto others what you want done unto yourself. It's not that hard. Don't screw people over. Enjoy life, travel, adventure. Enjoy. I try to just live my life in as good and authentic a way as possible. And I just wish people would write about that and the matter-of-fact way that that is, rather than, "On a summer's day, her mother shot her father". It's like I walk around with this badge. I live my life the way I want to live my life. It's like I have chosen this life. I want to be able to go to sleep at night and feel that I'm not haunted and I'm happy and I enjoyed my day in London and that I enjoy my friends and my love, and that if this is all gone tomorrow, like that man who died so horribly in front of me when I was five, that it was good.
[on her mother shooting her father, who was in a drunken rage, which was ruled self-defense] You know, people drank. Some people drank more, but it was never considered that this might be a problem. It was just the way it was then.
[on her role in Monster (2003)] I was trying to make the correlation between Aileen Wuornos and her experiences when she was very young. And I was reminded of something that happened to me. I was five years old and we were driving . . . all the cars stopped because a truck had rolled over and was ablaze. The doors were jammed and there was a man trapped inside. In South Africa everybody carries a weapon, and the man begged for someone to shoot him because he didn't want to burn to death. Nobody could get him out of the cab, so somebody shot him. It was horrific, but definitely a moment that made me have a great value for life. Other things in life have taught me not to take a moment for granted.
I never got offered parts like that, never. And it took a woman, a first-time female director to offer me that role. Paul Haggis [the director of Crash(2004/I) and In the Valley of Elah (2007)] recently said to me, "You know, often it's the material that will define an actor, but you didn't do that. You defined yourself with what you chose to do". And I thought that was a nice compliment.
I do like the challenge of finding material that people don't want to risk a lot of money on and that studios don't necessarily jump to go, "Yeah! We want to tell that story." And how could I not after I had done something like Monster (2003)? Everybody wondered how a movie like that could be successful.
[on her role in Hancock (2008)] I keep myself guessing. I get bored so quickly. I just really liked the material. And the girl was cool. I wasn't ticking any boxes. I just try and do good material and how it gets made is secondary . . . and anyway, it's really nice to get a decent paycheck.
As you get older, you get wrinkles and your boobs sag. But you get wisdom, too. So it's not all bad!
[in response to a reporter's question as to which side of the bed she sleeps on] The side that you're not on.
[responding to a question as to why she doesn't have kids] I actually have seven children no one knows about--in a cave. They can see Russia from their house, too.
I don't avoid glamorous roles. I played Britt Ekland [in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)], who is one of the most beautiful women alive. But I don't see so many. You tell me one glamorous role that is in a good movie you have seen in the last ten years. My point is, it's not a case of wanting to be glamorous or not. It's about wanting to tell a good story. And the physical is at the bottom of the list for me. Your job, as an actor, is to be a clean canvas for your director, and you have to tell the story as authentically as possible.
I don't know if I would be who I am today if I'd grown up in a different country. In our house the news was always on, the newspaper was always on the dining room table and my parents had a real thirst for politics, and that's how I grew up. A lot of my American friends grew up in a different way, and because of what's happened in America in recent years, they are asking questions, playing catch-up. But I can understand that, because they were living in a country that was comfy and cosy. I wasn't. I want to know what is going on. I have an interest in world politics - how can you not when you live on this Earth? I'm just flabbergasted when people don't give a shit.
I can remember [growing up in South Africa] we'd have to travel an hour to the nearest drive-in cinema, and we'd go and never really knew what was playing. But once you got there, it was an hour's drive back, so you may as well watch whatever it was. I was about eight or nine and Fatal Attraction (1987) was playing and Mom didn't want to turn all the way around, so she was like, "Well, this is as good a way for you to learn as any".
On her mother shooting her father: I don't think you can go through something like that and not kind of walk with it, hand in hand. But you try very hard to move on.
My mother was an incredible example to me. I can't imagine going through life without her. I think she has influenced who I am, but without intent really. She would always say, 'That's how I feel, but you should figure it out for yourself.' I think of my life now and I realize that the way I was brought up is why I can deal with so much now. I'm responsible for my own actions, my own decisions. So it's a weird one, because she didn't want me to be her, but I think now, at 32, I look at her and I kind of go, 'Wow, I somehow aspire to be you.' I think she really values me being independent and being myself.
The reason I did North Country (2005) wasn't just because of what the women were going through. I was really fascinated to understand where the men came from. But what those women suffered was appalling. Just appalling. The real lady that this happened to is still in therapy and on medication. When you meet her, you understand that this has taken a real toll on her.
Look, I can't forget I'm a woman. I love being a woman and I love being feminine, so that will always be part of my work, obviously. But I approach the material with a more humanistic approach. I think that kind of stuff can become over-earnest if you approach it with a big hammer. Personally I've been lucky. Maybe it's the way I was raised, but I know right from wrong and I know wrong when I walk into a room - and if I feel it's wrong, I walk right out again.
There were a lot of pros to winning the Oscar, but a lot of cons too. Suddenly it all became about transformation. Every movie I did after Monster(2003) was jumped upon as yet another transformation. Even when I only had dirt on my face, like in North Country (2005) it was transformation.
I do all this work with Guillermo Arriaga on the The Burning Plain (2008) script, we explore all these themes, and then we come on these junkets and it's like: 'So, you don't play a glamorous role again.' Sometimes I just want to look at people and say, 'Have you really thought this through?' You know, how many great stories can you tell in a Dior dress? Or is it because I've done a J'adore perfume ad that I can only be one type of woman? I don't think women are that. We are many things. One day we wake up and we want to put on jeans and T-shirt, and the next day we want to fucking have our hair done. But that doesn't mean that I don't have access to raw emotion.
Asked if beauty is a problem for her: No. But it seems to be a problem for journalists.
I don't know how to say this without sounding strange. But I feel like having this tragedy [her mother shot her father] at such a young age has given me a leg up from other people. Because, man, from 16, I knew the value of life and I knew how quickly it could be taken away. And from that moment on, I made a choice to either swim or to drown, you know?
People want to think that I am this tortured soul, that my work is drawn only from this one well. And though I would never sit here and say that it didn't mark me, or mould me into the person that I am, my life has had many painful journeys and heartbreaks since my father died, many of which I draw on for my work.
[after becoming a US citizen in 2007] You're stuck with me now.
I think women are way more conflicted than men, and I think we come from a society that's very comfortable with the Madonna-whore complex, you know. We're either really good hookers or really good mothers.
[on reconnecting with her roots in South Africa] I've gone back several times. The only thing that really stuck with me the first time I went back was walking through the house that I grew up in, and everything seemed so small. It was such a bizarre feeling. I was like, 'My mother made me sleep in a closet'.
I've never been a fan of labels. And I'm not a big fan of overly justifying bad behavior, or why people are the way they are. I think it's a cop-out. And I don't have a lot of empathy for that.
I live a very simple life. I don't have to make these giant movies. I don't have a yacht or a private plane. As long as I can maintain this life, which is pretty low-maintenance and simple, then all of a sudden you don't have to worry about all that stuff. It's such a blessed place to be in. I don't have to take a job to pay a mortgage on a house that I can't afford. My life comes first, then my job. I'm incredibly lucky to be in a position where I don't have to work all the time to live.
It's not like I've been [offered] any great glamorous roles that had great conflict and great story-telling. But I'm not going to be picky, because they're hard to come by. If I sit around waiting for a good, glamorous story to come around, I'm probably never going to work. So if you don't consider my character [in In the Valley of Elah] beautiful, I'm sorry, but that's really me. That's my natural hair color. That's me with very little make-up. There's no prosthetic. That's what I look like. I think we're starting to live in a culture where we're so celebrity-obsessed that we're starting to believe that when we see celebrities, they're supposed to look like they do on magazine covers. But that's about people doing hair and make-up for you, and wearing big gowns. I look for roles involving good stories and good filmmakers. And it's my job as an actor to service those stories as best I possibly can. It's not about how I look physically. Physical's the last thing I think of.
All of that stuff is really nice. I do have a bit of a guilt - I don't know if it's the African in me - but I'm one person and how much makeup do I need? I have a normal-sized closet. I donate things. I don't have a nature in me to want things in excess. I actually don't like it. A lot of times, I will auction it off and have it go to charity. And my friends benefit a lot. I call it Narnia. When I see a girlfriend and say, 'I like that top,' she's like, 'Narnia, from your closet.'
I don't really talk about my personal life and I don't really talk about my relationships. I'm not a big parties. I like the simplicity of my life, and I've chosen the kind of life I really want to live. I don't think my life is boring at all.
There's this kind of idea that someone like me would be horrible with women. That acknowledgement that if you look a certain way, you can't be a girl's girl. I have way deeper relationships with girls than I do with guys. I get along with guys. The women in my life are the ones who move me. It sounds so hokey, but I've been blessed with incredible women in my life.
If you wouldn't wear your dog, please don't wear any fur.
Fur isn't necessary. It doesn't make sense to me to let these animals suffer for fashion.
I wasn't technically the greatest, but I succeeded and got lead roles because when I died, I died, and when I was spinning into madness, I was spinning into madness.
It's great fun when you have three people coming to your house, and one's doing your nails, one's doing your hair and one's doing your makeup. Two hours later, you look gorgeous. But that's not my life.
The people who inspire me are the ones who just live life and live it in a way that's good-natured. Do unto others what you want done unto yourself.
We all understand situations where it's swim or drown. Sometimes we surprise ourselves when we start swimming and see how well we can do it.
[on Prometheus (2012/I) co-star Michael Fassbender] I saw him in Shame (2011), in which he plays a sex addict, and I didn't stop thinking about that film for weeks. No disrespect to the people who were nominated for Oscars, but the fact he wasn't to me was utter bulls**t. I think he's incredible. He's so effortless that I want to punch him! It just seeps out of him.
I think the reason why female directors are so successful is because they're not just telling women stories. They might be telling stories that affect women but their studies on men are done so well so that they're universal directors. So I really believe this is a talent, and just understanding the human conflict is so good that they can tell any genre, any kind of story, and that's why I think they're doing so well.
[on being cast in varying types of role] Every time, you start something from scratch. You can't really come into the new job carrying leftovers. But for me it's somewhat easy because I've never worked with two directors that are similar. I've never worked with material that you approached the same way. I think that's what makes it fun and makes it interesting.
I'm very attracted to characters who don't necessarily make it easy to be loved.
You go through situations that don't work out, and then all of a sudden you have this baby in your hands and you forget about all of that.
[about her weak teeth, in the 1980s from jaundice] My early childhood was devastating. I had no teeth until I was 11. I had these fangs because I had jaundice, when I was a kid and I was put on so many antibiotics that my teeth rotted. They [dental surgeons] cut them out. So I never had teeth. That was tough, you know, being in school having photos taken while I was pretending I had teeth. It was hideous.
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