he movie world’s reigning ice blonde beauty has been compared to screen sirens of old Hollywood like Grace Kelly and Kim Novak. Her elegance and cool exterior may be reminiscent of glamorous stars of the past, but Charlize Theron has a contemporary style all her own, (not to mention, the best legs in the business).

Sophistication and smouldering sexuality is all part of the package now, but she started from very humble beginnings. Theron grew up an only child on a farm in Benoni, South Africa.

Years of ballet lessons starting at age four, led her to attend an arts school at 12, and by 16, she won an international modeling contest. With her mother’s blessing, she moved to Milan and spent the next year doing runway work and finding her own look and style in the European fashion capitals. Finally, Theron bought a one-way ticket to Hollywood and never looked back.

Her breakthrough came in 1996 when she was cast as hell raising Helga in the shoot-‘em-up crime thriller 2 Days in the Valley.

Theron’s transformation in Monster (2003

Sporting a spandex catsuit, her knockout catfight opposite Teri Hatcher (TV’s Lois & Clark ) was the highlight of the film.

Next, she found herself working with childhood idol Tom Hanks. Theron fell under his spell after seeing him in Splash (1984) and dreamed of being a mermaid. Hanks gave her the small role of Tina, short-lived girlfriend of drummer Shades (Tom Everett Scott) in his film That Thing You Do! Hanks later told Vanity Fair Theron is, “The most naturally confident and talented actress I have ever worked with.”

Though stunningly beautiful, Theron has never been content to get by on looks alone. She’s smart, perceptive and has a wicked sense of humor. Put it all together, and she can play enticing, sexy and vulnerable as easily as fierce, independent and scary.

You want to talk scary? Witness her Oscar-nominated performance as real life Florida prostitute and serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster.

with James Spader in 2 Days in the Valley (1996)

Theron, who also co-produced the film, drastically transformed her appearance, gaining 30 pounds, wearing false teeth and even shaving off her eyebrows.

“When I saw myself in the mirror for the first time, I was extremely happy,” Theron said while on a promotional stop in Toronto. “In a movie like this, you can’t cop out and say, ‘Well, I’m willing to go to that deep, dark place to play the emotion, but I just don’t know about these teeth or the double chin’. I don’t believe that’s possible.”

Makeup and wardrobe were essential to the character says Theron. “We would do rehearsals in the morning,” she recalls,

in Trapped (2000) with fiancé Stuart Townsend

“and everything felt wrong until I put the pants on, the moccasins, the teeth, and my hair was brushed back. All of a sudden, everything would happen.”

Letting go of vanity wasn’t difficult. “Not one time through this process was it ever about me,” Theron comments. “My greatest fear was not getting close to what I’d envisioned I wanted to look like, as close to Aileen as I could. That was very important to me.”

At 28, the 5’10” star has lost the additional weight and is back to full power glam again. She’s engaged to Irish actor Stuart Townsend (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) whom she met when they co-starred together in Trapped (2002).

In only a few short years, Theron has gone from struggling, young hopeful to Hollywood A-list star, winning high profile roles and commanding top dollar. Her status, like her beauty, continues to grow and evolve.

—Elaine Loring