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Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, Transvaal Province, South Africa, on August 7, 1975. Theron first began appearing in films in the mid-1990s, establishing herself with roles in The Cider House Rules and The Devil’s Advocate. She went on to give an Oscar-winning performance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003), and has shown her acting range in films including North Country (2005), Young Adult (2011), Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Atomic Blonde (2017).
Actress and philanthropist Charlize Theron was born on August 7, 1975, in rural Benoni, South Africa, to co-owners of a road construction company, Charles and Gerda. The Afrikaans-speaking family lived on a working farm outside of Johannesburg, and although Theron’s childhood chores included tending livestock, her passion for dance became evident early on. To foster her artistic leanings, Theron began ballet lessons at age six. Her parents encouraged her burgeoning talent, and by age 12, she was sent to a Johannesburg boarding school to study dance.
The Theron household was an unhappy one, and as Charles struggled with alcoholism, he became physically abusive. In 1991, when Theron was 15, her father violently attacked her and her mother. Theron watched as Gerda shot and killed Charles; the murder was deemed an act of self-defense, and Gerda was never charged with a crime. In the wake of the death, Gerda assumed ownership of the company, and Theron concocted a story that her father had been the victim of a lethal car accident.
At 16, Theron entered a Johannesburg modeling contest, which she won. She soon traveled to Italy, where she won the International New Model Today competition, and began a modeling career in earnest. After traveling to New York at the age of 18, she left high fashion to attempt a career in dance. Her studies with the Joffrey Ballet were curtailed by severe knee injuries, forcing her to abandon a dance career.