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Charlize Theron extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Charlize Theron
Theron in February 2008
Born	August 7, 1975 (1975-08-07) (age 34)1 Benoni, South Africa
Occupation	Actress/Producer/Director
Years active	1995 – present
Domestic partner(s)	Stuart Townsend (2001 – 2010) (Separated)

Charlize Theron (pronounced /ʃɑrˈliːz ˈθɛrən/; born August 7, 1975)¹ is a South African actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She became an American citizen in 2007.

She rose to fame in the late 1990s following her roles in 2 Days in the Valley, Mighty Joe Young, The Devil's Advocate, and The Cider House Rules. She received critical acclaim and an Academy Award for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the film Monster, for which she became the first person from any African country to win an Academy Award in a major acting category. She received another Academy Award nomination for her performance in North Country.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Health concerns 5 Promotional deals 6 Activism 7 Filmography 8 Television guest appearances 9 References 10 External links

Early life

Theron was born in Benoni, South Africa, the only child of Gerda Jacoba Aletta (née Maritz) and Charles Jacobus Theron.²³ Her mother is of German descent and her father was of French and Dutch ancestry; Theron is directly descended from early Huguenot settlers, and Boer War figure Daniel Theron was her great-grandfather's brother.² "Theron" is an Occitan surname (originally spelled Théron) pronounced in Afrikaans as "Tronn", although she has said that she prefers the pronunciation "Thrown".⁴ Though Theron's first language is Afrikaans,⁵⁶⁷ she is fluent in English and speaks some Zulu.

Theron grew up on her parents' farm near Johannesburg (Benoni). She attended Putfontein Primary School (Laerskool Putfontein). At the age of 13, Theron was sent to boarding school and began her studies at the National School Of The Arts in Johannesburg. At 15, Theron witnessed the death of her father, an abusive alcoholic; her mother shot him in self-defence when he attacked her. The police pressed no charges against her.⁸

Career

At the age of 16, Theron traveled to Milan, Italy, on a one-year modeling contract, after winning a local competition. She went to New York with Pauline's Model Management. She decided to remain after her contract ended, attending the Joffrey Ballet School, where she trained as a ballet dancer. A knee injury closed this career path when Theron was 19.⁹¹⁰

Unable to dance, Theron flew to Los Angeles on a one-way ticket her mother bought her.⁹ During her early months there, she went to a bank to cash a check her mother had sent her to help with the rent. When the teller refused to cash it, Theron immediately started a shouting match with her. Afterwards, a talent agent in line behind her handed her his business card and subsequently introduced her to some casting agents and also an acting school.¹¹¹² She later fired him as her manager after he kept sending her scripts for films similar to Showgirls and Species.¹³ After eight 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). Larger roles in widely released Hollywood films followed, and her career skyrocketed in the late 1990s with box office successes like The Devil's Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and The Cider House Rules (1999). She glossed the cover of the January 1999 issue of Vanity Fair as the "White Hot Venus".¹⁴

After appearing in a few notable films, Theron starred as the serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003). Film critic Roger Ebert called it "one of the greatest performances in the history of the cinema".¹⁵ For this role, Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress at the 76th Academy Awards in February 2004,¹⁶ as well as the SAG Award and the Golden Globe Award.¹⁷ She is the first African to win an Oscar for Best Actress.¹⁸ The Oscar win pushed her to The Hollywood Reporter's 2006 list of highest-paid actresses in Hollywood; earning $10,000,000 for both her subsequent films, North Country and Æon Flux, she ranked seventh, behind Halle Berry, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Renée Zellweger, Reese Witherspoon, and Nicole Kidman.

On September 30, 2005, Theron received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.¹⁸ In the same year, she starred in the financially unsuccessful science fiction thriller Æon Flux.^{citation needed} Additionally, Theron received Best Actress Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for her lead performance in the drama North Country.¹⁶¹⁷ Ms. magazine also honored her for this performance with a feature article in its Fall 2005 issue.

In 2005, Theron portrayed Rita, Michael Bluth's (Jason Bateman) love interest, on the third season of Fox's critically-acclaimed television series Arrested Development.¹⁹ She also received Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for her role of Britt Ekland in the 2004 HBO movie The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.^{citation needed}

In 2007, Esquire named her the Sexiest Woman Alive.²⁰

In 2008, Theron was named the Hasty Pudding Theatricals Woman of the Year.²¹ That year she also starred with Will Smith in Hancock, a movie that grossed $227.9M in the U.S.A. and $396.4M internationally,²² and in late 2008 she was asked to be a UN Messenger of Peace by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.²³

On November 10, 2008, TV Guide reported that Theron will star in the film adaptation of The Danish Girl alongside Nicole Kidman. Theron will play Gerda Wegener, wife of Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe (Kidman), the world's first known person to undergo sex reassignment surgery.²⁴ In October 2009, Theron was cast to star in a sequel to the Mad Max films, titled Mad Max: Road Fury, which will commence filming at Broken Hill in New South Wales Australia in late 2010.²⁵²⁶

On December 4, 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.²⁷²⁸ The stunt alarmed FIFA enough for it to fear she might do it again in front of a live global audience.²⁹

Personal life

Theron resides in Los Angeles with her boyfriend Stuart Townsend, with whom she starred in the 2004 film Head in the Clouds, as well as in the 2002 film Trapped and 2005 Æon Flux. She has said that she will not marry until same-sex couples are able to have their marriages recognized.³⁰ Townsend recently stated he considers himself and Theron to be husband and wife. "We didn't have a ceremony," he said. "I don't need a certificate or the state or the church to say otherwise. So no there's no big official story on a wedding, but we are married... I consider her my wife and she considers me her husband".³¹ The couple split up in January 2010.³²

Theron became a naturalized citizen of the United States in May 2007.³³

Theron signed with William Morris Endeavour in 2009 and is represented by CEO Ari Emanuel.³⁴

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.³⁵

In July 2009, Theron was diagnosed with a serious virus, thought to be contracted while traveling overseas.³⁶ She was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Hospital.

Promotional deals

Having signed a deal with John Galliano in 2004, Theron replaced Estonian model Tiiu Kuik as the spokeswoman in the J'ADORE advertisements by Christian Dior.³⁷ Invariably, she would bearably bare the uppermost part of her bosom for Dior's ads.³⁸ Then, on December 18, 2007, she finally stripped for Dior's J'Adore perfume.³⁹ Galliano has reputedly cited her as a muse and has been creating couture dresses for her to wear to formal red carpet events such as the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards.

From October 2005 to December 2006, Theron earned $3,000,000 for the use of her image in a worldwide print media advertising campaign for Raymond Weil watches.⁴⁰ In February 2006, she and her loan-out corporation were sued by Weil for breach of contract.⁴⁰⁴¹ The lawsuit was settled on November 4, 2008.⁴²

Activism

Theron is involved in women's rights organizations, and marched for abortion rights.⁴³

Theron is a supporter of animal rights and active member of PETA. She appeared in a PETA ad for their anti-fur campaign.⁴⁴ She is also an active supporter of Democracy Now! and Link TV.⁴⁵ She is a supporter of same-sex marriage and attended a march in Fresno, California on 30 May 2009.

In July 2009, it was announced that Charlize Theron's Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP) would form a coalition with LAFC Soccer Club to give soccer fields to rural areas in South Africa. LAFC Chelsea, one of America's most successful and prominent youth soccer clubs, made a three-year commitment to help build a community-wide soccer program for the schools in the Umkhanyakude District. This help includes uniforms, cleats, balls and equipment, along with professional training for local coaches, referees and administrators. The soccer league training will also include life-saving health education administered through a CTAOP-funded mobile health program.⁴⁶ With the 2010 FIFA World Cup on African soil for the very first time, CTAOP wants to put a spotlight on the urgent need to provide sustainable health, education and recreational resources to remote areas where HIV/AIDS rates are unacceptably high.

Don Sheppards, president of LAFC Chelsea said:

“

...when I learned about Charlize's incredible plan to give sustainable opportunities to young South Africans who are at enormous risk, I knew that LAFC Chelsea was in position to help. Our goal is to help truly create a safer, healthier and better life for the young people in South Africa, especially those living in remote areas, and to ensure that the resources we bring are self sustaining. The three year commitment is so incredible and key to being sure that the program will be around for many years to come", says Charlize Theron. "I'm overwhelmed with gratitude to Don and LAFC Chelsea for their commitment to help us give these beautiful, young people a recreational outlet that is sorely lacking from their lives.46

”

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1995	Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest	Young Woman	Uncredited
1996	2 Days in the Valley	Helga Svelgen
	That Thing You Do!	Tina Powers
1997	Hollywood Confidential	Sally	TV film
	Trial and Error	Billie Tyler
	The Devil's Advocate	Mary Ann Lomax
1998	Celebrity	Supermodel
	Mighty Joe Young	Jill Young	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1999	The Astronaut's Wife	Jillian Armacost
	The Cider House Rules	Candy Kendall	Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Movie Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2000	Reindeer Games	Ashley Mercer
	The Yards	Erica Stoltz
	The Legend of Bagger Vance	Adele Invergordon
	Men of Honor	Gwen Sunday
2001	Sweet November	Sara Deever
	The Curse of the Jade Scorpion	Laura Kensington
	15 Minutes	Rose Heam
2002	Trapped	Karen Jennings
	Waking Up in Reno	Candy Kirkendall
2003	The Italian Job	Stella Bridger
	Monster	Aileen Wuornos	Academy Award for Best Actress Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture Silver Bear for Best Actress (tied with Catalina Sandino Moreno for Maria full of Grace) Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated—Irish Film & Television Award for Best International Actress
2004	The Life and Death of Peter Sellers	Britt Ekland	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Miniseries or a Movie Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
	Head in the Clouds	Gilda Bessé
2005	North Country	Josey Aimes	Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
	Æon Flux	Æon Flux
2007	In the Valley of Elah	Det. Emily Sanders
2008	Sleepwalking	Joleen	Also producer
	Hancock	Mary
	Battle in Seattle	Ella	Stuart Townsend directing
2009	The Burning Plain	Sylvia	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
	The Road	Wife
	Astro Boy	Narrator	'Our Friends'

Television guest appearances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Arrested Development	Rita	5 episodes
2006	Robot Chicken	Daniel's Mom / Mother / Waitress	1 episode

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Charlize Theron

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charlize Theron

• Charlize Theron at the Internet Movie Database
• Charlize Theron at Allmovie
• Charlize Theron at AskMen
• Charlize Theron at Yahoo! Movies
• Charlize Theron at TV.com
• Charlize Theron at People.com
• Charlize Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP)

v • d • e Academy Award for Best Actress Halle Berry (2001) · Nicole Kidman (2002) · Charlize Theron (2003) · Hilary Swank (2004) · Reese Witherspoon (2005) · Helen Mirren (2006) · Marion Cotillard (2007) · Kate Winslet (2008) · Sandra Bullock (2009) Complete list · (1928–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present)

v • d • e Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Sissy Spacek (2001) · Nicole Kidman (2002) · Charlize Theron (2003) · Hilary Swank (2004) · Felicity Huffman (2005) · Helen Mirren (2006) · Julie Christie (2007) · Kate Winslet (2008) · Sandra Bullock (2009) Complete List · (1943–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–present)

v • d • e Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Jodie Foster (1994) · Susan Sarandon (1995) · Frances McDormand (1996) · Helen Hunt (1997) · Gwyneth Paltrow (1998) · Annette Bening (1999) · Julia Roberts (2000) · Halle Berry (2001) · Renée Zellweger (2002) · Charlize Theron (2003) · Hilary Swank (2004) · Reese Witherspoon (2005) · Helen Mirren (2006) · Julie Christie (2007) · Meryl Streep (2008) · Sandra Bullock (2009)

Persondata
NAME	Theron, Charlize
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Actress, model
DATE OF BIRTH	August 7, 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH	Benoni, South Africa
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH