Charlize Theron

Theron is the mother of two adopted daughters. She adopted Jackson in 2012 and August in 2015, and in 2019 she said that Jackson is a transgender girl. Theron has described her daughters' identities as theirs to determine and has publicly supported equality and LGBTQ+ rights.

Theron was in a relationship with actor Stuart Townsend from 2001 to 2009 after meeting him while working on Trapped. She later dated actor Sean Penn from 2013 to 2015 and denied that they had ever been engaged. Theron became a naturalized U.S. citizen while retaining her South African citizenship.

Theron grew up on a farm near Benoni, South Africa, and began ballet lessons as a child. At 13, she attended a Johannesburg boarding school focused on the arts. At 16, she won a modelling competition and moved to Milan, where she worked as a model. She later moved to New York City and studied at the Joffrey Ballet School, but a knee injury ended her prospects as a professional dancer.

In 1994, Theron moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. She attracted the attention of talent agent John Crosby after arguing with a bank teller who refused to cash a cheque from her mother. Her first film role was a non-speaking part in Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995), followed by a more prominent role as Helga Svelgen in 2 Days in the Valley (1996). She also appeared in That Thing You Do! the same year.

Her first major breakthrough came with The Devil's Advocate (1997), in which she starred alongside Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino. Further roles in Mighty Joe Young, Celebrity, The Cider House Rules, and The Italian Job established her as a leading Hollywood actress.

Theron's performance as real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003) transformed her reputation. She gained substantial weight and adopted a markedly different physical appearance for the role. Her performance won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama, making her the first South African to win an acting Oscar.

She followed Monster with a series of dramatic and character-driven performances. She portrayed actor Britt Ekland in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), played an iron mine worker fighting sexual harassment in North Country (2005), and appeared in In the Valley of Elah (2007), The Burning Plain (2008), and The Road (2009). Her performance in North Country earned her another Academy Award nomination.

Theron also demonstrated her range in the black comedy Young Adult (2011), playing a troubled writer who returns to her hometown, and in Tully (2018), where she portrayed an overwhelmed mother. She received a third Academy Award nomination for playing news anchor Megyn Kelly in Bombshell (2019).

Theron became closely associated with action cinema through roles that combined physical performance with psychologically forceful characters. She played Queen Ravenna in Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) and its sequel, The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016), and portrayed Meredith Vickers in Ridley Scott's science-fiction film Prometheus (2012).

Her role as Imperator Furiosa in George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) became one of her most recognised performances. The film received widespread critical acclaim, and Theron's portrayal of the determined warrior earned praise for making Furiosa a dominant central character. She later played British intelligence agent Lorraine Broughton in Atomic Blonde (2017), reinforcing her status as an action star.

Theron joined the Fast & Furious franchise as the cyberterrorist Cipher in The Fate of the Furious (2017), returning for F9: The Fast Saga (2021) and Fast X (2023). Her other action and fantasy credits include The Old Guard (2020), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), and The School for Good and Evil (2022). She portrayed Calypso in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey.

Since the early 2000s, Theron has worked as a producer through Denver and Delilah Productions. Her producing credits include The Burning Plain, Dark Places, Long Shot, Tully, Bombshell, and The Old Guard. She has also served as an executive producer on television projects including Mindhunter, Girlboss, and Hyperdrive.

Theron founded the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project in 2007 to support African youth and organisations working to combat HIV/AIDS. She was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2008 and has participated in campaigns focused on HIV/AIDS prevention, women's rights, and violence against women and girls.

She has supported same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ rights through public statements and participation in rallies, including a 2009 march in Fresno and the 2019 LA Pride event. Her advocacy work has also included partnerships with organisations and initiatives connected to women's empowerment and AIDS awareness.