Charlize Theron is a South-African born American actress and former fashion model. She was born on August 7, 1975 in Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa. Theron is best known for having portrayed the serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the movie which was entitled Monster. In fact, she actually won an Academy Award for her role in this film. She has also won numerous other awards including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Theron was an only child. She grew up on her parents' farm near Johannesburg (Benoni), Africa. When she was 13-years-old she was sent off to attend boarding school. This is when she began her studies at the National School Of The Arts in Johannesburg. Then at the age of sixteen, she traveled to Milan, Italy, where she worked as a model with Pauline's Model Management for a year since she had won a local competition. From there she traveled to New York City where she decided to remain and attend the Joffrey Ballet School after her modeling contract ended. Unfortunately, due to a knee injury Theron was no longer able to pursue this career path due to a knee injury. For this reason, she accepted a one way ticket to Los Angeles from her mother. It was there, during an argument with a bank teller that a talent agent handed Therton his business card. Through him she was introduced to some casting agents and an acting school. After only spending eight months in Los Angeles she was cast in her first film part. It was a non-speaking role in the direct-to-video film Children of the Corn III (1995). Larger roles in widely released Hollywood films followed. Finally, in the late 1990's her career skyrocketed with box office successes like The Devil's Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998) and The Cider House Rules (1999).

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