She grew up in a small town called Benoni and was a member of the tribe South Soho. She was born a single child in a very wealthy family. She learned many of the 28, (twenty-eight!) languages she speaks from the staff on her parents’ farm.
When she was 6, Charlize showed her first signs of what would be her stardom.
She began ballet and considered doing this for a career. She continued dancing and would eventually go professional in Johannesburg. At the age of 16 she took an offer to begin modelling in Milan, Italy, because she’d won a local modeling contest.
She was not content with the way she was viewed as a model, so on the last day of shooting under her current contract in New York City, she decided she wouldn’t return to Milan. Instead she began dancing with the Joffrey school in New York, returning to her first love. At 18, she suffered a ballet ending injury. And her carreer ended in this field.
Her mother bought her a one-way ticket to Los Angeles in 1994 and Charlize started visiting all of the agents on Hollywood Bulevard but without any luck. She went to the bank to cash a check for $500 she’d got from her mother and became furious when she learned that the bank could not cash her check because it was an out-state check.
She made a scene and an agent gave her his card, in exchange that she learn the language, which she did by watching soap operas on TV. Her first role was as a young mother in a park in a B-film in 1995, but it was a non-speaking role with three seconds of screen time.
Her next role was as Helga in 2 Days in the Valley (1996), which landed her the role of Tina in That Thing You Do! (1996). Since then, she has starred in movies like The Devil’s Advocate (1997); Mighty Joe Young (1998); The Cider House Rules (1999); The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) and The Italian Job (2003).
An important day in her life was February 29th, 2004 when she was awarded with her first Academy Award for her performance in Monster (2003).
Trivia
When she was 15 her father attacked her mother, and her mother shot him in self-defense. He died, but 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, from January 1998 to 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 Africans, 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
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.
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 Æon 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.
At the 2005 Golden Globes she was sporting a new dark hair color. She is a now a member of the celebrities who have dyed their hair from blonde to brown, or black. They include, among others: Mary-Kate Olsen; Nicky Hilton; Mandy Moore; Renée Zellweger; Christina Aguilera, Melinda Messenger and Ashlee Simpson.
She was the first person to sign on to be a presenter at the 77th Annual Academy Awards.
Second actress (the first was Kim Basinger) to win an Oscar after appearing naked in Playboy magazine.
Met fiancé Stuart Townsend on the set of Trapped (2002).
Her South African roots will always be important to her; she starred in a public service announcement in her native land, about the abundance of rape in South Africa. And when the South African government refused to air it, she went to court to make sure it did.
She is the second African to win an Academy Award. The South African-born cinematographer Ted Moore was the first. South African-born actor Basil Rathbone was the first African born actor to be nominated, followed by Cecil Kellaway.
Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (September 29, 2005).
Named #15 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list.
Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballot. She was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Actress category for her performance in the film Æon Flux (2005). However, she failed to receive a nomination. (Had she gotten the nomination, she would have been the first person to be nominated for both Leading Actress awards at the Oscars, for North Country (2005), and the Razzies.)
Named #4 in FHM’s “100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005″ special supplement (2005).
Studied acting with Ivana Chubbuck.
Named #15 in FHM magazine’s “100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006″ supplement. (2006).
Personal Quotes
[On the revelation that Charlize’s mother shot and killed Charlize’s father while he was in a drunken rage. The shooting was ruled self-defense]: I was always Mama’s girl, and I always felt like her protector.
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.
I think of myself as a highly sexual creature. I have to use that. I have no choice. I like it. I didn’t grow up with a mother telling me what was under my clothes was bad or evil.
[On the importance of the Toronto Film Festival for smaller films]: If people, critics respond to the film there [Toronto Film Festival], it starts a nice little wave of chat, which for a movie like North Country (2005) is really important. It’s one of those films that travels by word of mouth.
[On marriage]: I’m happy for people who want to get married but it’s not my thing. I’m extremely happy in my relationship and I would love to have kids.
[On accents]: 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.
Source — IMDB.com
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