Charlize Theron
☼ Born on 7 December 1975, in Benoni, Transvaal, South Africa
Biography
Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, a city in the greater Johannesburg area, in South Africa, the only child of Gerda Theron (née Maritz) and Charles Theron. She was raised on a farm outside the city. Theron is of Afrikaner (Dutch, with some French Huguenot and German) descent, and Afrikaner military figure Danie Theron was her great-great-uncle.
Theron received an education as a ballet dancer and has danced both the "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker". There was not much work for a young actress or dancer in South Africa, so she soon traveled to Europe and the United States, where she got a 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.
In 1994, her mother bought her a one-way ticket to Los Angeles, and Charlize started visiting all of the agents on Hollywood Boulevard, but without any luck. She went to a bank to cash a check for $500 she received from her mother, and became furious when she learned that the bank would not cash it because it was an out-of-state check. She made a scene and an agent gave her his card, in exchange for learning American English, which she did by watching soap operas on television.
Her first role was in the B-film Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995), a non-speaking part with three seconds of screen time. Her next role was as Helga Svelgen in 2 Days in the Valley (1996), which landed her the role of Tina Powers in That Thing You Do! (1996). Sin
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ce then, she has starred in movies like The Devil's Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), The Cider House Rules (1999), The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) and The Italian Job (2003). On February 29, 2004, she won her first Academy Award, a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Monster (2003).
In the role of actor
Fast X (17/05/2023)
It is the beginning of the end of The Fast Saga with Fast X. While enjoying family life with Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) and his son Little Brian (Leo Abelo Perry), Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is visited by a bloody Cipher (Charlize Theron). The Cipher’s criminal organization was hostility taken over by Dante Reyes (Jason […]
The Addams Family 2 (01/10/2021)
The kooky and creepy family goes on a cross-country vacation in The Addams Family 2. Wednesday Addams (Chloë Grace Moretz) wins big her school’s science fair, receiving praise from its holographic benefactor Cyrus Strange (Bill Hader), but she is embarrassed by the presence of her parents Gomez (Oscar Isaac) and Morticia (Charlize Theron) and her […]
F9: The Fast Saga (19/07/2021)
Justin Lin returns to direct the ninth entry of this long-running franchise with F9: The Fast Saga. Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) has been spending the last few years living a quiet and reclusive life with his wife Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez ) and young son Brian. However, Dom and Letty are visited by their old team […]
Bombshell (19/12/2019)
The story behind the 2016 Fox News scandal is told in Bombshell. Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) is one of the top anchors at Fox News, who had just recovered from a year of public ridicule by Presidential candidate Donald Trump when fellow Fox News host Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) finds herself suddenly fired. Immediately afterwards, […]
The Addams Family (10/10/2019)
The creepy and kooky family return for a new animated adventure in The Addams Family. Following their wedding, Gomez (Oscar Isaac) and Morticia Addams (Charlize Theron) are forced by torch-wielding villagers out of the old country and have to find a new place to call home. Arriving in New Jersey, Gomez and Morticia take shelter […]
Long Shot (08/05/2019)
Sparks fly when an unemployed journalist is hired as a speechwriter for the Secretary of State in Long Shot. Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) is a journalist for a left-leaning publication, who is forced to quit his job after learning that the newspaper was acquired by wealthy mogul Parker Wembly (Andy Serkis). Joining his best friend […]
Tully (04/05/2018)
A stressed out mother of three hires a night nanny in Tully. Marlo (Charlize Theron) is a woman on the verge of giving birth to her third child, who already has a stressful time raising two kids with her husband Drew (Ron Livingston), particularly her son Jonah (Asher Miles Fallica), who is possibly autistic. At the […]
Atomic Blonde (29/07/2017)
An undercover MI6 agent tries to locate a list of double agents in cold war Berlin in Atomic Blonde. In 1989 Berlin, MI6 operative James Gasciogne is killed by the KGB, who steal a watch containing a microfilm list of every field agent in the Soviet Union. Top agent Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) is assigned by her […]
The Fate of the Furious (19/04/2017)
Dominic Toretto seemingly turns his back on family in The Fate of the Furious. While on honeymoon in Cuba with Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is approached by cyberterrorist Cipher (Charlize Theron), who blackmails Dom into betraying his family, which he does while performing a job for Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson). After the […]
Kubo and the Two Strings (23/08/2016)
A boy goes on a quest for his father’s samurai armour in Kubo and the Two Strings. Kubo (Art Parkinson) is a boy who lives with his mother in a small village, where he tells stories to the villagers about his samurai father Hanzo, using magical origami controlled by Kubo’s shamisen. One day Kubo ignores […]
Mad Max: Fury Road (16/05/2015)
After thirty years, director George Miller returns to his signature franchise with Mad Max: Fury Road. Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) scours across the post-apocalyptic wasteland haunted by visions of his tragic past. Max finds himself captured by the War Boys, lead by the tyrannical Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), and is designated as a living blood […]
A Million Ways to Die in the West (02/06/2014)
Following the success of his 2012 feature debut Ted, Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) returns to direct and star in this comedic tale set in the Wild West. Set in the year 1882, in the small town of Old Stump, Arizona, sheep farmer Albert Stark (MacFarlane) tries his best to avoid the many violent confrontations (and […]
Prometheus (09/06/2012)
Ridley Scott’s return to science fiction in 30 years began as a sort of prequel to Alien that expanded the backstory of the origins of the mysterious ship where the alien creatures were originally found. Indeed those prequel elements are still very much present within Prometheus. However, it seems that Scott decided all but severe the […]
The Job (06/05/2012)
For my final film of Hot Docs, I saw this French documentary that filmed the recruitment process for an insurance company. Ten job seekers come in for the job, not even being told what it is, and they go through a recruitment process that I can best describe as both shocking and enthralling. To call […]
Young Adult (16/12/2011)
Young Adult sees the reteaming of director Jason Reitman and and screenwriter Diablo Cody after their previous collaboration on Juno, which won Cody the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The film stars Charlize Theron as Mavis Gary, the author (more specifically, barely credited ghost-writer) of a (formerly) popular series young adult novels, who returns home to […]
Hancock (05/07/2008)
This film about an anti-superhero has been getting poor reviews. The general concentrate is that the film falls apart in the second half. I would agree that the second half opens up some plot holes. However, I would say that I was able to overlook them and I found Hancock to be a decent film. […]