Charlize Theron

Biography

Charlize Theron is an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning South African and American actress and producer celebrated as one of the most versatile, fearless, and commanding performers in Hollywood history. Raised in Benoni, South Africa, Theron overcame profound personal tragedy before moving to the United States to pursue ballet and acting, gaining breakthrough attention in The Devil's Advocate (1997) and The Cider House Rules (1999). In 2003, Theron delivered one of the most astonishing transformations in film history portraying real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Patty Jenkins's Monster, earning universal critical acclaim and winning the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first South African to win an Oscar in an acting category. She earned further Academy Award nominations for Niki Caro's North Country (2005) and Jay Roach's Bombshell (2019 as Megyn Kelly). Theron revolutionized modern action cinema starring as the fierce Imperator Furiosa in George Miller's post-apocalyptic masterpiece Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), performing her own grueling stunts in Atomic Blonde (2017), and headlining Netflix's The Old Guard. Appointed a United Nations Messenger of Peace and founder of the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, she remains a pioneering Hollywood producer and an immortal screen icon.