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Biography

Charlize Theron was born on August 7, 1975 in Benoni, South Africa. She is an Academy Award-winning Afrikaner actress and former fashion model. Charlize grew up in South Africa and, at 16, entered a modeling contest and won. She modelled in Milan rather unsuccessfully and moved to New York at age 18. She grew tired of modeling and moved to Hollywood to try her luck at acting. Unable to dance, she bought a ticket to Los Angeles.



After eight months in the city, she was cast in her first film part, a non-speaking role in the direct-to-video film Children of the Corn III. She followed this with larger roles in widely released Hollywood films, and her career skyrocketed in the late 1990s, with box office successes like The Devil's Advocate, The Cider House Rules, and Mighty Joe Young. The May 1999 issue of Playboy published nude photos of Theron, taken during the early years of her modeling career. Claiming they had been "for private use", Theron ended up suing photographer Guido Argentini.



Charlize Theron dated the lead singer of Third Eye Blind, Stephan Jenkins, from January 1998 to July 2001. Jenkins broke up with her after failing to take her requests of marriage seriously. Charlize Theron now resides in Los Angeles with her long-time boyfriend, Stuart Townsend, with whom she starred in the 2004 film Head in the Clouds, as well as in the 2002 film Trapped; she has said that they will not marry until same-sex couples are able to have their marriages recognized. Charlize Theron played Candy Kendall in the widely acclaimed and Oscar- nominated The Cider House Rules by Miramax, which was based on the novel by John Irving. The same year she starred in John Frankenheimer's Reindeer Games with Ben Affleck. Next, Theron played Adelle in Robert Redford's The Legend of Bagger Vance with Will Smith and Matt Damon.



In October 2005, her mother, Gerda, was married in California. The media thought that Charlize was the one getting married (to Townsend) and the paparazzi got as close as it could for the photos. Theron is also involved in women's rights organizations. In 2006, Theron won GLAAD's Vanguard Award at the GLAAD Media Awards for increasing "visibility and understanding in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community". Theron is a supporter of animal rights and active member of PETA. She recently appeared in a PETA ad for their anti-fur campaign.