Portal:South Africa/Selected biography/21

Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron (born 7 August 1975) is a South African actress and fashion model. She rose to fame in the late 1990s following roles in The Devil's Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and The Cider House Rules (1999). Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama, the Silver Bear and many other awards for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003), becoming the first South African to win an Academy Award in a major acting category. In recent years she has also moved into the field of producing, both in television and film.

She received further Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for her performance in North Country in 2005, and a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Young Adult in 2011. In 2012 she appeared in Snow White & the Huntsman and Prometheus. Theron became a US citizen in 2007, while retaining her South African citizenship.