Visit The Charlize Theron Shop
Early Life
Charlize Theron was born on August 7th, 1975 in Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa. She is the only child of Charles and Gerda Theron and grew up on the family farm in Benoni. She attended Putfontein Primary School and when she was six she began taking dance lessons in near by Johannesburg with a view to following a career in Ballet. At the age of thirteen, Theron was sent to boarding school and began her studies at the National School Of The Arts in Johannesburg. The family was hit by tragedy in 1990 when her father was shot dead by her mother. It was later revealed that Charles was an abusive alcoholic and police pressed no charges against Gerda as she was acting in self defence. It was also revealed that Theron, who was only fifteen at the time, was a witness to the shooting. After leaving school at sixteen, she won a local modelling contest and moved to Milan, Italy where she was awarded a twelve month modelling contract. On completion of the contract she moved to New York where she continued modelling as well as her Ballet tuition at the Joffrey Ballet School. At the age of nineteen she suffered a knee injury that meant she could no longer perform Ballet so she quit modelling and moved to Los Angles to try her luck with acting. After eight months in L.A., she was cast in her first film, a non speaking role in the 1995 direct-to-video film Children of the Corn III.
Career Highlights
Her first major film role came in 1996 when she was cast in the comedy crime drama 2 Days in the Valley. The film follows several intertwined story lines of a group of people who are drawn together by a murder in Los Angeles. Theron plays the role of Helga the Norwegian girlfriend and accomplice of a hit man played by James Spader. Although the movie was not a box office success, it has since gained a small cult following since its release to video and DVD. Later that year she had a small part in Tom Hanks’ directing debut, the comedy That Thing You Do!. Set in 1964, the movie tells the story of The Wonders, a one-hit wonder pop group and follows their rise to the top of the charts and decline the same year. Theron played the role of Tina Powers the girlfriend of the groups drummer.
The following year she was cast in Jonathan Lynn's comedy Trial And Error. The movie stars Jeff Daniels as a attorney for a successful law firm who,
Belstaff Italia, following his bachelor party, is unable to represent a client so enlists the help of his best man, Michael Richards, to take his place in court. Theron plays the role of Billy, a waitress who falls for Daniels only to discover he's engaged to his boss's daughter. Her second and final movie of the year came when she was cast alongside Keanu Reeves and Hollywood legend Al Pacino in the supernatural thriller The Devil's Advocate. Theron performance as the wife of a hotshot defence attorney (Reeves) was well received. Several critics praised her acting skills especially as the film progressed and her character begins to show signs of mental illness. Theron later revealed that at the request of the films director, Taylor Hackford, she had spent time with the therapist of patients suffering with schizophrenia in preparation for the role. The movie earned $12,170,536 during its opening weekend in the United States and would become her biggest box office success to that point, grossing over $150 million worldwide.
In 1998 Theron starred as Jill Young, the lead role in the Disney remake of Mighty Joe Young. The family adventure movie tells the story of a young woman who has grown up with a baby ape, Joe, as her adopted brother following the death of both their mothers at the hands of a group of illegal poachers. The pair later move to Hollywood where Joe is taken to a wildlife refuge until one of the poachers returns. Despite receiving many positive reviews the film was considered a box office failure, due in part to the success of the other big monster remake of the year, Godzilla. The same year she had a small cameo role as a supermodel in in Woody Allen's comedy Celebrity.
Her first appearance of 1999 came in the science fiction thriller The Astronaut's Wife directed and written by Rand Ravich. Theron plays the wife of Johnny Depp, a NASA astronaut who returns from a space walk showing signs of abnormal behaviour. Following his retirement, Theron is approached by a former NASA employee who claims her husband has been possessed by extraterrestrial beings. Her next role came in the Academy Award winning The Cider House Rules, a drama based on the1985 novel by John Irving. The movie, co-starring Tobey Maguire, Michael Caine and Paul Rudd, saw Theron play the role of Candy who visits Caine’s orphanage to have an illegal abortion and later embarks on an affair with one of his orphans, Homer Wells, played by Maguire.
In 2000 director John Frankenheimer cast Theron opposite Ben Affleck in the crime thriller Reindeer Games. The plot of the movie sees her character Ashley, begin exchanging letters with a man in prison and arranges to meet him upon his release. However the man she actually meets is a Affleck, the cellmate of the man she was intending to meet, who soon realises Ashely had an ulterior motive for her correspondence. This was followed by the crime drama The Yards. The movie starred Mark Wahlberg, James Caan and Joaquin Phoenix and is set in the world of corporate and political corruption in the commuter rail yards in New York City. Theron was praised by the critics for her dark and depressing portrayal of Erica Soltz, the heroine addict girlfriend of Pheonix. In November the same year she had a small part as Robert De Niro’s wife in Men of Honor. The movie is inspired by the true story of Master Chief Petty Officer Carl Brashear, played by Cuba Gooding Jr, the first African-American Master Diver in the United States Navy. The same month saw the release of her final movie of the year,
Giubbini Moncler, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Directed by Robert Redford and co-starring Will Smith and Matt Damon the film is set during the Depression in Georgia. Theron plays the role of Adel, the beautiful girlfriend of a promising young golfer who returns from World War I traumatized by his experiences. Adel is trying to recover her family's lost fortune by organising a winner takes all golf tournament between golf legends Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen, in which Damon is convinced to play by the mysterious traveller, Bagger Vance (Smith).
Theron then starred in the 2001 remake of Sweet November alongside Keanu Reeves. The film is based on an earlier version released in 1968 written by Herman Raucher and starring Sandy Dennis and Anthony Newley. Theron plays the role of Sarah, a young woman who dates men for a month at a time to improve there attitude towards life. The film was panned by the critics and was nominated for Worst Remake or Sequel at the 2001 Golden Raspberry Awards. Later in the year, following a brief appearance as the madam of an escort service in 15 Minutes, Theron was cast in her second Woody Allen film, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. Here she had another minor role playing Laura Kensington, a drug smoking actress who attempts to seduce a thief. Unfortunately the film was considered a flop with many critics rating it as one of the worst movies of Allen's career.
Her first movie of 2002 was the crime thriller Trapped, based on Greg Iles's bestselling novel, 24 Hours. The movie starred Kevin Bacon and Courtney Love as a pair of kidnappers who take the child of Theron and Stuart Townsend. It was revealed shortly after the end of filming the movie that Theron and Townsend had began dating and still remain together today. Her next role came in the road-trip comedy Waking Up In Reno. The movie is about two southern couples, Theron and Patrick Swayze and Billy Bob Thornton and Natasha Richardson, travelling from Little Rock to Reno to see a monster truck rally. Along the way it is revealed Theron has cheated on her husband with Thorton. The movie was generally met with poor reviews and only received a limited release in North America.
Despite only appearing in two films, 2003 would prove to be the most successful year of her Career thus far. The first saw her playing the role of Stella Bridger in F. Gary Gray’s version of the cult 1969 British film The Italian Job. Despite the shared title, the plot and characters differ from those of the original with Gray himself describing the film as a "homage" to the original rather that an actual re-make. Theron’s character is the daughter of a retired safecracker, played by Donald Sutherland, who seeks revenge when her father is double crossed and killed following his final heist. The movie was both a critical and commercial hit taking over $175 million worldwide fuelling rumours of a future sequel. Her second film of the year saw her play the lead role in the crime drama Monster. The movie is a biographical account of Aileen Wuornos, America's first female serial killer, following her life as a prostitute, her murder spree, capture and eventual execution. Theron received widespread praise for taking the hugely demanding role for which she was required to gain 30 pounds and wear prosthetic teeth. She won many awards for her performance, including the Academy Award for Best Actress, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress.
The 2004 Cannes Film Festival saw the premier of her next release, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, another biographical film about the life of the legendary British comic actor. It was directed by Stephen Hopkins and starred Geoffrey Rush as Sellers with Theron earning Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for her role as his second wife Britt Ekland. Later that year she appeared in her second film with boyfriend Townsend, the epic romantic drama Head In The Clouds. Set to the backdrop of political unrest in late 1930s Europe, Theron plays Gilda, a aristocrat who lives a life of hedonism and luxury at the expense of her wealthy family. The movie follows the love story of Gilda and Guy, a working class Irishman played by Townsend, through the Spanish Civil War to the Nazi occupation of Paris.
In 2005 Theron was cast as the title character in Karyn Kusama’s film adaptation of the popular American science fiction animated T.V. series Æon Flux. Created by animator Peter Chung, Æon Fluxin is a secret agent assassin fighting her nemesis Trevor Goodchild in a dystopian future world after a virus has wiped out 99% of the Earth's population. The movie was considered both a critical and box office disappointment but has performed better with DVD sales and developed a small cult following. Later that year Theron scored the second biggest hit of her career up to that point with an emotionally potent performance as Josey Aimes in North Country. The movie was inspired by the 2002 book Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed ######ual Harassment Law by Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy Gansler, which chronicled the case of Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Company. Theron received Best Actress Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for her lead performance as Aimes, a single mother who takes a job working in the iron mines of Northern Minnesota to support her two children only to find she is isolated by her male co-workers.
Her only role of 2007 was as Det. Emily Sanders alongside Tommy Lee Jones in Paul Haggis’s In the Valley of Elah. The drama is based on actual events, and portrays a military father's (Jones) search for his son,
Giubbotti Belstaff, who has recently returned from fighting in Iraq and subsequent hunt for his son's killers. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was later shown at the Toronto International Film Festival receiving countless positive reviews from the critics.
Her biggest hit of 2008 was the superhero drama film Hancock directed by Peter Berg. The movie tells the story of a vigilante superhero, John Hancock, played by Will Smith, whose reckless actions routinely cost the city of Los Angeles millions of dollars. Theron plays the role of Mary, the soccer mom wife of the PR man who makes it his mission to change Hancock's public image for the better. Despite receiving mixed reviews on its release, Hancock was the fourth highest grossing movie of the year earning over $620 million worldwide and earning Theron a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her second film of the year was the directorial debut of her boyfriend Townsend, Battle in Seattle. The movie is based on the actual events of the protest activity surrounding the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999. The same year she appeared in the drama Sleepwalking. The movie follows the bonding of a uncle, played by Nick Stahl, and his 12-year-old niece after she is abandoned by her mother (Theron). 2008 also saw the premiere of her latest movie The Burning Plain at various festivals, ahead of its general releases in early 2009.
Charlize Theron Filmography
1996 - 2 Days in the Valley - Helga Svelgen
1996 - That Thing You Do! - Tina Powers
1997 - Trial and Error - Billie Tyler
1997 - The Devil's Advocate - Mary Ann Lomax
1998 - Celebrity - Supermodel
1998 - Mighty Joe Young - Jill Young
1999 - The Astronaut's Wife - Jillian Armacost
1999 - The Cider House Rules - Candy Kendall
2000 - Reindeer Games - Ashley Mercer
2000 - The Yards - Erica Stoltz
2000 - The Legend of Bagger Vance - Adele Invergordon
2000 - Men of Honor - Gwen Sunday
2001 - Sweet November - Sara Deever
2001 - The Curse of the Jade Scorpion - Laura Kensington
2001 - 15 Minutes - Rose Heam
2002 - Trapped - Karen Jennings
2002 - Waking Up in Reno - Candy Kirkendall
2003 - The Italian Job - Stella Bridger
2003 - Monster - Aileen Wuornos
2004 - The Life and Death of Peter Sellers - Britt Ekland
2004 - Head in the Clouds - Gilda Bessé
2005 - North Country - Josey Aimes
2005 - Æon Flux - Æon Flux
2007 - In the Valley of Elah - Det. Emily Sanders
2008 - Sleepwalking - Joleen
2008 - Hancock - Mary Embrey
2008 - Battle in Seattle - Ella
2009 - The Burning Plain - Sylvia
Charlize Theron Trivia
Charlize Theron Links
Ask Men | Babe Invasion | Bestzilla | Celebrity Link | Chickipedia | Free Ones | IMDB |
Giubbini MonclerCharlize Theron - Hollywood Hottie
Threaded Mode