Since the early 2000s, she has ventured into film production with her companyDenver and Delilah Productions. She has produced numerous films, many in which she had a starring role, includingThe Burning Plain (2008),Dark Places (2015), andLong Shot (2019). Theron became an American citizen in 2007, while retaining her South African citizenship.
She grew up on her parents' farm in Benoni, nearJohannesburg.[10][11][12][13] On 21 June 1991, Theron's father, analcoholic,[10] threatened both Charlize and her mother while drunk, physically attacking her mother and firing a gun at both of them.[14] Theron's mother retrieved her own handgun, shot back and killed him.[14] The shooting was legally adjudged to have been self-defense, and her mother faced no charges.[15][16]
Theron attended Putfontein Primary School (Laerskool Putfontein),[11] a period during which she has said she was not "fitting in".[17] She was frequently unwell withjaundice throughout childhood and theantibiotics she was administered made her upperincisormilk teeth rot; they had to be surgically removed. Theron's permanent teeth did not grow until she was roughly ten years old.[18][19] At 13, Theron was sent to boarding school and began her studies at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg.[10][18] About her early life in her home country, Theron has said: “I grew up as an only child in South Africa, and there was turmoil in my family, but the surroundings were so great. I was usually barefoot in the dirt: noGame Boys, no computers, and we had sanctions, so there were no concerts. This meant you had to entertain yourself.”[20]
Career
1991–2002: Early work and breakthrough
Although she saw herself as a dancer,[21] Theron won a one-year modelling contract at age 16[10] at a local competition inSalerno, Italy[21][22] and moved with her mother toMilan, Italy.[23][24] After Theron spent a year modelling throughout Europe, she and her mother moved to the United States; they resided in New York City andMiami.[24] In New York, she attended theJoffrey Ballet School, where she trained as a ballet dancer until a knee injury closed this career path.[21][25] As Theron recalled in 2008:
I went to New York for three days to model, and then I spent a winter in New York in a friend's windowless basement apartment. I was broke, I was taking class at the Joffrey Ballet, and my knees gave out. I realized I couldn't dance anymore, and I went into amajor depression. My mom came over from South Africa and said, "Either you figure out what to do next or you come home, because you can sulk in South Africa".[21]
In 1994,[26] Theron flew toLos Angeles on a one-way ticket her mother bought for her; she intended to work in the film industry.[21] During her initial months there, she lived in a motel with the $300 budget that her mother had given her;[6] she continued receiving checks from New York and lived "from paycheck to paycheck".[27] Theron stole bread from a basket in a restaurant to survive.[27][6] One day, she went to aHollywood Boulevard bank to cash a few checks, including one her mother had sent to help with the rent;[25][6] however; the check from her mother was rejected because it was out-of-state and she was not an American citizen.[6] Theron argued and pleaded with thebank teller untiltalent agent John Crosby,[25] who was the next customer behind her, cashed it for her and gave her his business card.[10][6]
Crosby introduced Theron to an acting school.[28] In 1995, she played her first non-speaking film role in thehorror filmChildren of the Corn III: Urban Harvest.[10] In Theron's first speaking role, she portrayedhitwoman Helga Svelgen in2 Days in the Valley (1996). Despite the film's mixed reviews, Theron drew attention due to her beauty and to a scene in which she foughtTeri Hatcher's character.[6][29][30] Theron feared beingtypecast as characters similar to Helga and recalled being asked to repeat her performance in the film during auditions:[6] "A lot of people were saying, 'You should just hit while the iron's hot' [...] But playing the same part over and over doesn't leave you with any longevity. And I knew it was going to be harder for me, because of what I look like, to branch out to different kinds of roles".[29]
When auditioning forShowgirls, Theron was introduced to talent agent J. J. Harris by co-casting director Johanna Ray. She recalled being surprised at how much faith Harris had in her potential. Theron has referred to Harris as her mentor. Harris found scripts and films for Theron in a variety of genres and encouraged her to become a producer. She served as Theron's agent for over 15 years.[6][23]
Theron's career expanded by the end of the 1990s. In the horror dramaThe Devil's Advocate (1997), which is credited as her break-out film,[31] Theron starred alongsideKeanu Reeves andAl Pacino as the haunted wife of an unusually successful lawyer. She subsequently starred in the adventure filmMighty Joe Young (1998) as the friend and protector of a giant mountain gorilla, and in the dramaThe Cider House Rules (1999), as a woman who seeks an abortion in World War II-eraMaine.[10] WhileMighty Joe Young flopped at the box office,[32]The Devil's Advocate andThe Cider House Rules were commercially successful.[33][34] She appeared on the cover of the January 1999 issue ofVanity Fair as the "White Hot Venus".[35] The May 1999 issue ofPlayboy magazine also featured Theron on its cover; the photos of Theron used byPlayboy had been taken several years earlier when she was an unknown model, and Theron unsuccessfully sued the magazine for publishing them without her consent.[36][37]
By the early 2000s, Theron continued to steadily take on roles in films such asReindeer Games (2000),The Yards (2000),The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000),Men of Honor (2000),Sweet November (2001),The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001), andTrapped (2002), all of which, despite achieving only limited commercial success, helped to establish her as an actress. On this period in her career, Theron remarked: "I kept finding myself in a place where directors would back me but studios didn't. [I began] a love affair with directors, the ones I really, truly admired. I found myself making really bad movies, too.Reindeer Games was not a good movie, but I did it because I loved [director]John Frankenheimer".[38]
InMonster (2003), Theron portrayedserial killerAileen Wuornos, a former prostitute who was executed in Florida in 2002 for killing six men (she was not tried for a seventh murder) in the late 1980s and early 1990s;[10] film criticRoger Ebert felt that Theron gave "one of the greatest performances in the history of the cinema".[40] For her portrayal, she was awarded theAcademy Award for Best Actress at the76th Academy Awards in February 2004,[41] as well as theScreen Actors Guild Award and theGolden Globe Award.[42] She is the first South African to win an Oscar for Best Actress.[43] The Oscar win pushed her toThe Hollywood Reporter's 2006 list of highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, earning up to US$10 million for a film; she ranked seventh.[44]AskMen named her the number one most desirable woman of 2003.[45]
In the critically acclaimed dramaNorth Country (2005), Theron played a single mother and an iron mine worker experiencing sexual harassment. David Rooney ofVariety wrote: "The film represents a confident next step for lead Charlize Theron. Though the challenges of following a career-redefining Oscar role have stymied actresses, Theron segues fromMonster to a performance in many ways more accomplished [...] The strength of both the performance and character anchor the film firmly in the tradition of other dramas about working-class women leading the fight over industrial workplace issues, such asNorma Rae orSilkwood."[50] Roger Ebert echoed the same sentiment, calling her "an actress who has the beauty of a fashion model but has found resources within herself for these powerful roles about unglamorous women in the world of men."[51] For her performance, she receivedAcademy Award andGolden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress.[41][42]Ms. magazine honoured her for this performance with a feature article in its Fall 2005 issue.[52] On 30 September 2005, Theron received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.[43]
Her film releases in 2009 were the post-apocalyptic dramaThe Road, in which she briefly appears inflashbacks, and the animated filmAstro Boy, providing her voice for a character. On 4 December 2009, Theron co-presented the draw for the2010 FIFA World Cup inCape Town, South Africa, accompanied by several other celebrities of South African nationality or ancestry. During rehearsals she drew anIreland ball instead ofFrance as a joke at the expense of FIFA, referring toThierry Henry's handball controversy in theplay-off match between France and Ireland.[58][59] The stunt alarmed FIFA enough for it to fear she might do it again in front of a live global audience.[60]
2011–2019: Established actress
Following a two-year hiatus from films, Theron returned to the spotlight in 2011 with the black comedyYoung Adult. Directed by Jason Reitman, the film earned critical acclaim, particularly for her performance as a depressed, divorced, alcoholic 37-year-oldghostwriter.Richard Roeper awarded the film an A grade, stating "Charlize Theron delivers one of the most impressive performances of the year".[61] She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and several other awards. Roger Ebert called her one of the best actors working today.[62]
In 2012, Theron took on the role of villain in two big-budgeted films. She playedEvil Queen Ravenna, Snow White's evil stepmother, inSnow White and the Huntsman,[63] oppositeKristen Stewart andChris Hemsworth, and appeared as a crew member with a hidden agenda inRidley Scott'sPrometheus.Mick LaSalle of theSan Francisco Chronicle foundSnow White and the Huntsman to be "[a] slow, boring film that has no charm and is highlighted only by a handful of special effects and Charlize Theron's truly evil queen",[64] whileThe Hollywood Reporter writer Todd McCarthy, describing her role inPrometheus, asserted: "Theron is in ice goddess mode here, with the emphasis on ice [...] but perfect for the role all the same".[65] Both films were major box office hits, grossing around US$400 million internationally each.[66][67] The following year,Vulture/NYMag named her the 68th Most Valuable Star in Hollywood saying: "We're just happy that Theron can stay on the list in a year when she didn't come out with anything [...] any actress who's got that kind of skill, beauty, and ferocity ought to have a permanent place in Hollywood".[68] On 10 May 2014, Theron hostedSaturday Night Live onNBC.[69][70] In 2014, Theron took on the role of the wife of an infamous outlaw in the western comedy filmA Million Ways to Die in the West, directed bySeth MacFarlane, which was met with mediocre reviews and moderate box office returns.[71][72]
In 2015, Theron played the sole survivor of the massacre of her family in the film adaptation of theGillian Flynn novelDark Places, directed byGilles Paquet-Brenner, in which she had a producer credit,[73] and starred asImperator Furiosa inMad Max: Fury Road (2015), oppositeTom Hardy.[74][75]Mad Max received widespread critical acclaim, with praise going towards Theron for the dominant nature taken by her character.[76] The film made US$378.4 million worldwide.[77] She next reprised her role as Queen Ravenna in the 2016 filmThe Huntsman: Winter's War, a sequel toSnow White and the Huntsman,[78] which was a critical and commercial failure.[79] In 2016, Theron starred as a physician and activist working in West Africa in the little-seen romantic dramaThe Last Face, withSean Penn,[80] provided her voice for the 3D stop-motion fantasy filmKubo and the Two Strings, and produced the independent dramaBrain on Fire. That year,Time named her in theTime 100 list of the most influential people in the world.[81]
In 2017, Theron starred inThe Fate of the Furious as the cyberterrorist Cipher, the main antagonist of the entire franchise, and played a spy on the eve of the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 inAtomic Blonde, an adaptation of the graphic novelThe Coldest City, directed byDavid Leitch.[82]The Fate of The Furious had a worldwide gross of US$1.2 billion.[83] andAtomic Blonde was described by Richard Roeper of theChicago Sun-Times as "a slick vehicle for the magnetic, badass charms of Charlize Theron, who is now officially an A-list action star on the strength of this film andMad Max: Fury Road".[84] In the black comedyTully (2018), directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody, Theron played an overwhelmed mother of three. The film was acclaimed by critics, who concluded it "delves into the modern parenthood experience with an admirably deft blend of humor and raw honesty, brought to life by an outstanding performance by Charlize Theron".[85] She played the president of a pharmaceutical corporation in the crime filmGringo and produced the biographical war drama filmA Private War, both released in 2018.[86]
Theron is inspired by actressesSusan Sarandon andSigourney Weaver.[6] She has described her admiration forTom Hanks as a "love affair" and watched many of his films throughout her youth.[104][6] Hollywood actors were not featured in magazines in South Africa so she did not know how famous he was until she moved to the United States,[6] which has been inferred as a factor of her "down-to-earth" attitude to fame.[105] After filming forThat Thing You Do! finished, Theron got Hanks'autograph on her script.[106] She later presented him hisCecil B. DeMille Award in 2020, in which Hanks revealed that he had a mutual admiration for Theron's career since the day he met her.[107][108]
In 2019, Theron spoke about her method of working on roles. Creating a physical identity together with the emotional part of the character, she said, is "a great tool set that adds on to everything else you were already doing as an actor. It's a case-by-case thing, but there is, to me, this beautiful thing that happens when you can get both sides: the exterior and interior. It's a really powerful dynamic". When preparing for a role, "I almost treat it like studying. I will find space where I am alone, where I can be focused, where there's nobody in my house, and I can really just sit down and study and play and look at my face and hear my voice and walk around and be a fucking idiot and my dogs are the only ones who are seeing that".[109]
The Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP) was created in 2007 by Theron, in an effort to support African youth in the fight againstHIV/AIDS. By November 2017, CTAOP had raised more than $6.3 million to support African organizations working on the ground.[110]
In 2008, Theron was named aUnited Nations Messenger of Peace.[111][112] In his citation,Ban Ki-moon said of Theron: "You have consistently dedicated yourself to improving the lives of women and children in South Africa, and to preventing and stopping violence against women and girls."[113] She recorded a public service announcement in 2014 as part of the UN's "Stop Rape Now" program.[114]
In December 2009, CTAOP andToms Shoes partnered to create a limited edition unisex shoe. The shoe was made from vegan materials and inspired by the Africanbaobab tree, the silhouette of which was embroidered on blue and orange canvas. Ten thousand pairs were given to destitute children, and a portion of the proceeds went to CTAOP.[115]
Theron is a supporter ofsame-sex marriage and attended a march and rally to support that inFresno, California, on 30 May 2009.[118] She publicly stated that she refused to get married until same sex marriage became legal in the United States, saying:
I don't want to get married because right now the institution of marriage feels very one-sided, and I want to live in a country where we all have equal rights. I think it would be exactly the same if we were married, but for me to go through that kind of ceremony, because I have so many friends who are gays and lesbians who would so badly want to get married, that I wouldn't be able to sleep with myself....[119]
Theron further elaborated on her stance in a June 2011 interview onPiers Morgan Tonight. She stated: "I do have a problem with the fact that our government hasn't stepped up enough to make this federal, to make [gay marriage] legal. I think everybody has that right".[120]
In March 2014, CTAOP was among the charities that benefited from the annualFame and Philanthropy fundraising event on the night of the86th Academy Awards. Theron was an honoured guest along with Halle Berry and keynote speakerJames Cameron.[121]
In 2015, Theron signed an open letter whichOne Campaign had been collecting signatures for; the letter was addressed toAngela Merkel andNkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, urging them to focus on women as they serve as the head of theG7 in Germany and theAU in South Africa respectively, which will start to set the priorities in development funding before a main UN summit in September 2015 that will establish new development goals for the generation.[122] In August 2017, she visited South Africa withTrevor Noah and made a donation to the South African charity Life Choices.[123] In 2018, she gave a speech about AIDS prevention at the 22nd International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, organized by theInternational AIDS Society.[124]
On 22 June 2022, it was announced that Theron andSheryl Lee Ralph would receive the Elizabeth Taylor Commitment to End AIDS Award for their commitment to raising awareness of HIV at the Elizabeth Taylor Ball to End AIDS fundraising gala.[125]
Endorsements
Having signed a deal withJohn Galliano in 2004, Theron replaced Estonian modelTiiu Kuik as the spokeswoman in theJ'Adore advertisements byChristian Dior.[126] In June 2024, Dior announced Theron will no longer be the face of J'Adore and be replaced byBarbadian singer and businesswomanRihanna.[127] In 2018, she appeared in a new advertisement for Dior J'adore. From October 2005 to December 2006, Theron earned US$3 million for the use of her image in a worldwide print media advertising campaign for Raymond Weil watches.[128] In February 2006, she and her production company were sued by Weil for breach of contract.[128][129] The lawsuit was settled on 4 November 2008.[130] In 2018, Theron joinedBrad Pitt,Daniel Wu andAdam Driver as brand ambassadors forBreitling, dubbed the Breitling Cinema Squad.[131][132]
Theron adopted two children: a daughter in March 2012[135] and another daughter in July 2015.[136] She has been interested in adoption since childhood, when she became aware of orphanages and the overflowing numbers of children in them.[23] In April 2019, Theron revealed that Jackson, then seven years old, is atransgender girl. She said of her daughters, "They were born who they are and exactly where in the world both of them get to find themselves as they grow up, and who they want to be, is not for me to decide".[137]
Theron said in 2018 that she went to therapy in her thirties because of anger, discovering that it was due to her frustration growing up duringSouth Africa's apartheid,[124][23] which ended when she was 15.[23]
Theron's first public relationship was with actorCraig Bierko, whom she dated from 1995 to 1997.[139][140]
Theron was in a three-year relationship with singerStephan Jenkins until October 2001. Some ofThird Eye Blind's third album,Out of the Vein, explores the emotions Jenkins experienced as a result of their breakup.[141][142]
Theron was in a relationship with Irish actorStuart Townsend from 2001 to 2009 after meeting him on the set ofTrapped. The couple lived together inLos Angeles and Ireland.[143][144]
In December 2013, Theron began dating American actorSean Penn.[145] The relationship ended in June 2015.[146] There were reports they were engaged, which Theron strongly denied, adding that the relationship had ended before it ever became serious.[147] Theron starred in Penn's filmThe Last Face (2016), which they filmed while still a couple.[148]
In July 2025, Theron appeared on the podcastCall Her Daddy to candidly express her newly discovered love ofcasual sex, including having sex with a man 23 years her junior.[149]
Health concerns
Theron often quips that she has more injuries on sets that are not action films;[150] however, while filmingÆon Flux in Berlin, Theron suffered aherniated disc in her neck, caused by a fall while filming a series of backhandsprings. It required her to wear aneck brace for a month.[151] Her thumbligament tore during filming ofThe Old Guard when her thumb caught in another actor's jacket during a fight scene, which required three operations and six months in a thumb brace.[152][153][154] During the filming ofAtomic Blonde she broke teeth from clenching her jaw,[155] and had dental surgery to remove them: "I had the removal and I had to put a donor bone in there to heal until I came back, and then I had another surgery to put a metal screw in there."[154]
Outside of action films, she had a herniated disk in her lower back as she filmedTully and suffered from a depression-like state, which she theorized was the result of theprocessed food she had to eat for her character'spost-natal body.[156] In July 2009, she was diagnosed with a seriousstomach virus, thought to be contracted while overseas.[157][158] While filmingThe Road, Theron injured hervocal cords while screaming during thelabour scenes.[159] When promotingLong Shot, she revealed that she laughed so hard atBorat that her neck locked for five days.[160] She added that on the set ofLong Shot she "ended up in theER" after knocking her head against a bench behind her when she was putting onknee pads.[160]
^Hirschberg, Lynn (24 February 2008)."Charlize Angel".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Archived from the original on 25 February 2008. Retrieved1 December 2022.
^abSnyder, Gabriel (June 2008)."Charlize".W. Archived fromthe original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved23 May 2008.
^Ryan, Tim (17 April 2008)."TOTAL RECALL: THE 20 GREATEST FIGHTS SCENES EVER".Rotten Tomatoes. Archived fromthe original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved9 May 2020.17. 2 DAYS IN THE VALLEY (1996) - 59% - Charlize Theron vs. Teri Hatcher [...]2 Days in the Valley sets itself apart in a number of ways, not least of which is a hotel room-destroying donnybrook between Teri Hatcher and Charlize Theron.
^"Charlize Theron".E! True Hollywood Story. Season 12. Episode 5. 20 June 2008. 14 minutes in.E!.Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved10 May 2020.The fact that Charlize did even really know what celebrities were when she was growing up is probably the main reason why she's able to be so grounded and so normal...
^Desta, Yohana (11 July 2017)."Tom Hanks Probably Regrets Making This Joke About Charlize Theron".Vanity Fair.Archived from the original on 10 May 2020. Retrieved10 May 2020.One of the actress's first major roles was in the music comedyThat Thing You Do! which Hanks directed. Theron, like any mere mortal, asked Hanks to sign her copy of the film's script, which is when he left the note.
^Marre, Oliver (14 October 2008)."Charlize Theron: A tale of two watches".The Guardian.Archived from the original on 9 May 2020. Retrieved9 May 2020.Swiss watchmaker Raymond Weil is seeking $20m in damages from Theron for wearing a Christian Dior watch, contrary to the terms of a 14-month contract she signed with Raymond Weil in 2005. The contract committed her to wear Raymond Weil watches during public events, especially when the paparazzi is present.
^Barr, Sabrina (23 June 2020)."Charlize Theron Says She and Sean Penn Were 'Never Engaged'".The Independent.Archived from the original on 27 June 2020.In 2014, while they were together, it was reported that Theron and Penn had become engaged. [...] "What? That's not true, no. I did not 'almost get married to Sean', that's such bulls***," the 44-year-old [Theron] said. "No, we dated, that was literally all we did, we dated."
^"Charlize Theron underwent three surgeries to fix shattered thumb". 16 October 2019.Archived from the original on 10 May 2020.on Tuesday's episode ofThe Ellen DeGeneres Show, the Oscar winner went into more detail, revealing she tore the ligament off the bone of her thumb. "I was doing a film in London... I was fighting a very big guy and he had an armoured vest on, and my thumb got stuck inside his vest and he decided to make a sharp move and my whole thumb just went back... I fell to my knees and cried like a girl."
^Russian, Ale (11 July 2017)."Charlize Theron Recalls Calling Her Doctor After Struggling with Weight Gain for a Role: I Think I'm Dying!'".People.Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved10 May 2020.It was brutal in every sense", says Theron, who gained weight to play the mom of a newborn in Tully, which filmed last year. "This time around, I really felt it in my health. The sugar put me in a massive depression. I was sick. I couldn't lose the weight. I called my doctor and I said, 'I think I'm dying!' And he's like, 'No, you're 41. Calm down.'
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