Charlize Theron

Biography of Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron was born on August 7, 1975 in Benoni, Transvaal, South Africa.

She is the only child of Gerda Jacoba Aletta Maritz and Charles Jacobus Theron.

She grew up on her parents' farm in Benoni, near Johannesburg.

On June 21, 1991, her father, an alcoholic, threatened and physically attacked her drunken mother, who shot and killed him. She was legally acquitted after it was considered that she acted in her own defense.

She attended Putfontein Primary School (Laerskool Putfontein) and at age thirteen, she was admitted to boarding school and studied at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg. Although her English is fluent, her first language is Afrikaans.

She started her career as a model in her native country. She traveled to the United States to dedicate herself to classical ballet, an activity that she had to abandon due to an injury.

In 1995, she made her film debut with a very brief role in the horror film Children of the Corn III. A year later she worked in Two Days in the Valley, and in that same year she could be seen in The Wonders, a film directed by Tom Hanks.

In 1997, she landed her first leading role in the thriller Deal with the Devil, sharing the bill with Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. In 1998 Woody Allen had her to participate in Celebrity, although the film that gave her career a boost was Lasse Hallström's Cider House Rules. The film was a complete success, it obtained several Oscarnominations and took two of them.

She returned to share the poster with Keanu Reeves in Sweet November and worked again with Woody Allen in The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001).

She achieved critical and public recognition thanks to her work in Monster, directed by Patty Jenkins, a film for which she was awarded the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress, a Golden Globe for best actress in a leading role. in a dramatic film, and an Oscar for best actress in a leading role.

She was nominated again for the Golden Globes and the Oscars for Best Actress for her role in In the Land of Men. In 2008, she co-starred with Will Smith in the movie Hancock.

She appeared in the 2010 video for Crossfire by Brandon Flowers (The killers). In 2012, she played Queen Ravenna in Snow White & the Huntsman and Meredith Vickers in Ridley Scott's Prometheus, both of which were box office hits. In 2014, she produced and starred in Dark Places.

During 2017 she premiered the action movie Fast and Furious 9. In 2018, she acted in the movies Tully, directed by Jason Reitman and Gringo comedy directed by Nash Edgerton. Theron worked in 2019 in the romantic comedy Long Shot.

She later played Megyn Kelly in the biographical drama Bombshell (2019), receiving a third Oscar nomination.

She produced and starred in The Old Guard directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood for Netflix. It premiered in July 2020.

In 2007 she received US citizenship, although she retained South African citizenship.

She revealed in 2018 that she went to therapy when she was thirty years old due to her unexplained anger, and discovered that it was due to her frustration growing up with her during apartheid South Africa, which she ended when she was fifteen.

In the mid-1990s, she had a two-year relationship with actor Craig Bierko.

Between 1997 and 2001, she dated Stephan Jenkins, a member of the Third Eye Blind gang.

She then began dating Irish actor Stuart Townsend, with whom she starred in Trapped (2002) and Head in the Clouds (2004). They broke up in January 2010 after nearly nine years together.

In early 2014, she was related to actor Sean Penn, they broke up at the end of June 2015.

On March 14, 2012, she stated that she adopted a boy named Jackson. She adopted a girl in July 2015 named August.

In April 2019, Theron said that Jackson, then seven years old, was a trans girl.