Charlize Theron

Lore & Background

Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, Transvaal Province (Gauteng Province since 1994), the only child of road builders Gerda and Charles Theron. Her great-granduncle was Second Boer War military leader Daniel Theron. She is from an Afrikaner family with Dutch, French, and German ancestry. Her first language is Afrikaans. When Theron was 15, on 21 June 1991, her mother killed her father in self-defense after he drunkenly attacked her and fired a gun at Charlize and her mother; the shooting was legally adjudged self-defense. Theron attended Putfontein Primary School and later the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg.

Theron left South Africa at age 16 to model in Europe, winning a one-year modeling contract in Salerno, Italy. She moved with her mother to Milan, then to the United States, residing in New York City and Miami. In New York, she trained at the Joffrey Ballet School until a knee injury ended her dance career. In 1994, she flew to Los Angeles on a one-way ticket bought by her mother. After a chance encounter with talent agent John Crosby, she began acting. Her first speaking role was in 2 Days in the Valley (1996). Her breakout film was The Devil's Advocate (1997). She later starred in Mighty Joe Young (1998) and The Cider House Rules (1999).

Theron's portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003) won her the Silver Bear and Academy Award for Best Actress. She was nominated twice more for the Oscar for North Country (2005) and Bombshell (2019). She has starred in commercially successful action films including The Italian Job (2003), Hancock (2008), Prometheus (2012), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Atomic Blonde (2017), The Old Guard (2020), and several Fast & Furious installments. Since the early 2000s, she has produced films through her company Denver and Delilah Productions. Theron became an American citizen in 2007 while retaining her South African citizenship.

Reader's Guide

Charlize Theron's significance lies in her versatility as an actress and her role as a producer. She broke through in the 1990s as a leading lady, but her transformative performance in Monster (2003) earned her an Academy Award and established her as a serious dramatic actress. She has since balanced critically acclaimed roles in dramas like North Country and Bombshell with major action franchises such as Mad Max: Fury Road and Fast & Furious. As a producer through Denver and Delilah Productions, she has shaped projects in which she often stars. Theron's career reflects a trajectory from model and dancer to one of Hollywood's highest-paid and most respected figures. Her dual citizenship and Afrikaner heritage, along with her mother's act of self-defense that shaped her early life, add depth to her public narrative. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016.

Did You Know?

• Theron became the first South African to win an acting Oscar, for Monster (2003).
• Her mother killed her father in self-defense in 1991 when Theron was 15.
• She trained as a ballet dancer at the Joffrey Ballet School before a knee injury ended that career.
• Theron stole bread from a restaurant basket to survive during her early months in Los Angeles.