tarlet, siren, femme fatale, ingenue, vixen, mega-babe - those are just a few of the words that have been used to describe Charlize Theron. But don't tell her that. The red-hot actress hates to be categorized and still thinks of herself as just a small-town girl. The town she is referring to isn't some sleepy mid-west Mayberry, but rather Benoni, South Africa, a rural farming community not far from Johannesburg.
  The 25-year-old actress who exudes elegance and sex appeal grew up on a farm feeding chickens, milking cows and tending to her pet goat. Her French father, Charles, and German mother, Gerda, also owned a road construction company, which enabled them to send Theron to boarding school and ballet lessons.

  Theron's life, however, was far from idyllic. Her father was an alcoholic and extremely distant. When Theron was 15, he died when her mother shot him in  self-defense after he attacked her during an argument. Charges were never filed and to this day Theron says her mother is her best friend. While she doesn't speak specifically of the incident, Theron is surprisingly at peace and reflective of her childhood, "We all have scars," she says. "We all probably come from a scarred childhood. But you have to move on."
  After her father's death, Theron and her mother worked tirelessly to run the family business. Less than a year later, at the age of sixteen, she won a modeling contest and left home for the fashion runways of Milan and New York. Restless, Theron grew tired of being seen as just "somebody beautiful who should not say a word" and walked away from modeling to pursue her first love, ballet. She studied with the Joffrey Ballet School in New York but her dreams of being a prima-ballerina were shattered when a