Charlize was born in the small town of Benoni, South Africa in 1975. She was the only child of Charles and Gerda Theron. Her parents owned a farm and a road construction company. She started taking ballet lessons at the age of 6 and quickly had aspirations of one day being a professional ballet dancer. She would soon realize this dream as she began dancing professionaly in Jonannesburg just a few years after she started ballet article continued below..

• Head in the Clouds (2004) .... Gilda Bessé
• The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) .... Britt Ekland
• Monster (2003) .... Aileen
• The Italian Job (2003) .... Stella Bridger

In 1991 a tragic event occurred in her life. Her father passed away. This left her mother in charge of both the farm and the road construction business. This, as you can well imagine, was very difficult for both her mother and herself. It was around this time that she began modelling in Milan, Italy. This lasted but for a short while as she soon grew tired of being viewed as nothing more than a pretty model. It was at this time that she returned to her first true love of ballet. But because of a knee injury at the age of 18, her career ended as a ballet dancer. Broke and without the ability to dance, she decided to go to Hollywood and try her luck out as an actor.

How she was "discovered" is quite unbelievable. And of all places it happened in a bank. When a teller in an L.A. bank refused to cash her out-of-town check she threw a bit of a tantrum. This was noticed by talent manager John Crosby. He saw something in her that was special and as we all now know, he certainly found a true gem. If only we could all be so lucky. From an unhappy customer in a bank to one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood is pretty amazing, but nonetheless true. So to quote a slogan of a cigarette company, "You've come a long way baby."

• When she was 15, her father attacked her mother, and her mother shot her father in self-defense. Her father died, and her mother was not charged in the incident.
• First language is Afrikaans, English is spoken as her second language.
• Appeared in the May 1999 issue of Playboy Magazine
• Became a fashion model at age 14.
• Named one of "People" magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People [2000]
• Turned down the female lead in Pearl Harbor (2001) to star alongside Keanu Reeves in Sweet November (2001).
• Auditioned for the female lead in Showgirls (1995).
• Dated Stephan Jenkins, lead singer of the band Third Eye Blind. [January 1998 - July 2001]
• Was ranked 4th of the 100 Sexiest Women by FHM Taiwan (2001).
• Placed #1 on Beautiful People Internet Poll, narrowly beating Cameron Diaz in #2 and Kate Beckinsale in #3. The photo featured on the site was the famous 'Diving Board' photo.
• Both her parents are Afrikaans, born and raised in South Africa. However her father is of French descent and her mother of German descent.
• Voted the 12th Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine September 2002.
• Measurements: 36B-24-36 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
• Used hypnotherapy as an aid to quit smoking.
• Was named after her father, whose name was Charles.
• She gained 30 pounds to play Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003)
• On the show, "Sunday Morning Shootout" (2003), it was revealed that her manager discovered her in a Hollywood bank after he witnessed her yelling at a bank teller for refusing to cash her check.
• Along with actor Djimon Hounsou, she is the first African actor/actress to be nominated for an Academy award.
• Won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Aileen Wuornos on what would have been Aileen's 48th birthday. (29 February 2004)
• After winning her Oscar, she returned to great celebrations in her native South Africa, and she even met former South African President Nelson Mandela. When he praised her for putting their country on the map and gave her a hug, Theron broke into tears (she was guest of honor at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg on March 11th 2004).
• One of the first movies she ever went to see at the theater was Splash (1984). She confessed that after watching the movie, she felt jealous of Daryl Hannah and developed a crush on Tom Hanks. She even said to herself that she could have played the role of Madison better than Daryl Hannah.
• She has been dating Irish actor Stuart Townsend since August 2001.
• Has said her favorite actor is Tom Hanks.
• In 2004, injured her neck while filming Aeon Flux (2005). Luckily, the injury wasn't serious enough to put her in the hospital, but it did shut down production for several weeks.
• As a teenager in her native South Africa, she learned English by watching American TV.

"I was always Mama's girl, and I always felt like her protector." - on the revaltion that Charlize's mother shot and killed Charlize's father while he was in a drunken rage. The shooting was ruled self-defense. "At first I found it really hard using three different English accents: South African, faking the American, faking the accent required by the job. I decided to make it easier for myself and just do one. I haven't lost my culture, just my accent."

"Women have conquered the world. And with everything we go through, it's about time we had a female president. I don't think we're that far away, but it should have happened already. I wouldn't be surprised if Hillary Rodham Clinton runs - I really admire her."

"I've always been very proud to be a South African and I've always been very honest to people about that. And whatever I can do in my power I promise you I will do. I don't think it's too much pressure. I think it's our duty as citizens of this country. You don't have to win an Oscar to do something good for your country. We all can do that. If I can be an encouragement for that I'll be glad to be that."

I'm 50-50 on glamour stuff. I'd rather put on a pair of jeans and get on my Harley and act like a guy.