Benoni

Charlize Theron was born on the 7th August 1975 to Afrikaans parents, her father of French origins and her mother of German origins. She was born in a town called Benoni, about 20 kilometres east of Johannesburg. Her first language is Afrikaans and English is her second.

She grew up in a rural community and had a lot of freedom. It was here that she started taking ballet lessons when she was six and she developed a true love for dancing. When she was 12 she went to a boarding school in Johannesburg. Here she did even more dance training and started to become very good. However, the relationship between her mother and father was getting more and more unpleasant until one day in 1991 her mother shot him while he was attacking her. Her mother was not punished by the law because she was acting in self-defence.

Soon after this Charlize entered a modelling competition which she won. This meant she had to go to Italy to represent South Africa in an international competition. She won this also. Now she had lots of work as a model so she left school and started travelling around Europe for work.

After some time she became a little bored with this life so she decided to move to New York and enrol at a ballet school - she still had her dreams of becoming a dancer. Sadly after only 8 months she injured her knee so badly that her dancing career was finished forever. However, she refused to give up on her wish to be a performer and moved to Los Angeles to look for work as an actress.

Things here were tough and she didn't find any work. However, one day while she was in a bank arguing with the staff, a talent agent saw her and offered her the chance of some work. This was her lucky break. She worked on one or two small films before getting some more important roles. Films such as The Devil's Advocate, Men of Honour and The Astronaut's Wife made her well-known. However, the film which made her really famous was the one for which she got an Oscar for Best Actress - Monster, in 2003.

Away from the big screen she is a supporter of animal charities and also works hard for various causes in her native South Africa. Nelson Mandela called her a great ambassador for her country - a compliment indeed!