The Biography Channel - Charlize Theron Biography

A violent childhood compelled her to succeed and when she won an Oscar, Theron knew she's made it. How did the beautiful blonde shake off the 'girlfriend' tag to become a Monster?

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Charlize Theron
born: 07-08-1975
birth place: Benoni, South Africa

Charlize Theron grew up on a farm outside of Johannesburg. She was named after her father Charles who was of French descent, while her mother Gerda hailed from German stock – but both parents were born and raised in South Africa.

Aged six, Theron began ballet lessons and at 12 was sent to a boarding school in Johannesburg, specialising in the arts. Here Theron stepped up her dance training, now studying classical ballet as well as flamenco, Greek and contemporary dance.

Back at home though, trouble was brewing. Charles had slipped into alcoholism and Theron had come to feel like her mother's protector after Charles started to physically abuse her.

In 1991, when Theron was back from school for the weekend and upstairs in her room, the situation came to a head. Charles attacked Gerda once more and she shot him dead (for years Theron told interviewers her father was killed in a car crash). The incident was viewed as self-defence and therefore Gerda didn’t serve any time in prison.

Keen to move on, Gerda encouraged Charlize to enter a Johannesburg modelling contest. Theron won the contest and flew to Italy to represent South Africa at the International New Model Today competition. She won again and soon modelling work came flooding in. Soon she was living on her own in Milan, travelling to jobs all over Europe.

After a year, Theron moved to New York to study at the Joffrey Ballet School, financing herself by modelling in her spare time. Sadly her prima ballerina dreams turned to dust when her knee "blew out" in class, forcing her into premature retirement.

In 1994, Theron found herself living in a cheap hotel, broke and eating bread stolen from restaurants. Fate would play its card though when, while attempting to cash a much-needed $500 donation from her mother, the cashier refused as it was an out-of-state cheque. Theron went ballistic, giving the cashier and bank's staff a taster of her South African fieriness. Unbeknown to her, Theron’s blast had been witnessed by John Crosby, a longtime talent manager then representing John Hurt and Rene Russo. He immediately offered to represent her. Crosby organised acting classes and within months, Theron had made her acting debut in Children of the Corn III.

By 1997 Theron would already have established a reputation as one of the most promising young actresses on the scene by appearing in a few TV series as well as an ad for Martini. Her silver screen debut was in Jonathan Lynn's Trial And Error. Lynn's previous hit film My Cousin Vinny had earned an unexpected Oscar for Marisa Tomei.

Now Theron was entering the major league. The Devil's Advocate (1997), also starring Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves, saw Theron act her socks off as Reeves’s suicidal wife.