Charlize Theron (born August 7, 1975) is a South African actress and former fashion model with American citizenship. She is well-known for her portrayal of the serial killing lesbian Aileen Wuornos in the film Monster, for which she won an Academy Award.At the age of sixteen, Theron traveled to Milan, Italy, on a one-year modeling contract, after winning a local competition. She went to New York with Pauline’s Model Management. She decided to remain in NY after her contract ended, attending the Joffrey Ballet School, where she trained as a ballet dancer. A back injury closed this career path when Theron was eighteen.Unable to dance, Theron 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. Larger roles in widely released Hollywood films followed, and her career skyrocketed in the late 1990s with box office successes like The Devil’s Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and The Cider House Rules.

After appearing in a few notable films, Theron starred as the lesbian serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003). Film critic Roger Ebert called it “one of the greatest performances in the history of the cinema”.For this role, Theron won the Best Actress Oscar at the 76th Academy Awards in February 2004, as well as the SAG Award and the Golden Globe Award. She is the first South African to win an Oscar for Best Actress. The Oscar win pushed her to The Hollywood Reporter’s 2006 list of highest-paid actresses in Hollywood; earning $10,000,000 for both her subsequent films, North Country and Aeon Flux, she ranked seventh, behind Halle Berry, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Renée Zellweger, Reese Witherspoon, and Nicole Kidman.

On September 30, 2005, Theron received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the same year, she starred in the financially unsuccessful science fiction thriller Æon Flux, for which she received positive reviews. Additionally, Theron received a Best Actress Golden Globe nomination for her lead performance in the drama North Country. Ms. Magazine also honored her for this performance with a feature article in its Fall 2005 issue. Furthermore, Theron was nominated for an Oscar as a lead actress for the role.

In 2005, Theron portrayed Rita, Michael Bluth’s (Jason Bateman) love interest, on the third season of FOX’s critically-acclaimed television series Arrested Development. She also received Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for her role of Britt Ekland in the 2004 HBO movie The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.

In 2008, Charlize Theron was named the Hasty Pudding Theatricals Woman of the Year, preceded by others such as Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball and Julia Roberts.

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.