Birthday:August 7, 1975
Hometown: Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa
Social Status:In a relationship with actor/producer Stuart Townsend

Charlize Theron doesn’t just walk a red carpet, she owns it. Whether she’s dressed down and dirty as a blue-collared factory worker(North Country)or portraying a deranged serial killer (Monster)—the Oscar-winning star has that certain It factor that lights up the big screen.
In fact,Theron is one of those women we envy. Her amazing green eyes, along with her5’10”statuesque body, have the power to make any man weak in the knees. (Forget it, guys, she’s in a happy relationship with actor Stuart Townshend.) Her looks are also what prompted her career, something she’s not ashamed of.“I think of myself as a highly sexual creature,” Theron has said. “I have to use that. I have no choice. I like it. I didn’t grow up with a mother telling me what was under my clothes was bad or evil.”
Theron left her hometown of Benoni, South Africa at the age of 16 after winning a modeling contest. After a few modeling stints in Milan, she moved to Los Angeles, where it didn’t take long until she was discovered and the rest of Hollywood fell in love with her.
Appearing in films such as The Devil’s Advocate, Reindeer Games, The Cider House Rules, Sweet November and The Italian Job helped prepare her for one of the biggest honors she could achieve as an actress: an Oscar. Winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monsterput her at the top of Hollywood’s A-list.
Aside from her beauty contract with luxe line Dior, Theron has also dived into therole of producer on the films The Burning Plain, Sleepwalking and Monster. But that aside, Theron has no plans to switch to a career only behind the scenes. Up next for the talented actress is a role in The Road, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Cormac McCarthy. Theron plays the wife of a man (Viggo Mortensen) who embarks on a nightmarish road trip after a nuclear explosion in an attempt to transport his son to safety while fending off cannibals. She also reprises her role as master safecracker Stella Bridger in the upcoming The Brazilian Job, the much-anticipated sequel to The Italian Job, starring Matt Damon.
—Toni-Marie Ippolito

Upcoming Films:
The Road (2009)
The Brazilian Job (2011)

Selected Filmography:
Hancock
Sleepwalking
In the Valley of Elah
Aeon Flux
North Country
Monster
The Italian Job
Sweet November
The Cider House Rules

Charlize Theron Gallery: