Charlize Theron Biography

Date of Birth : 7 August 1975, Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa

Nickname : Charlie

Height ; 5' 9½" (1.77 m)

Occupation : Actress, producer, director, fashion model

Charlize Theron grew up on a farm outside Benoni, South Africa, as the only child. She got an education as a ballet dancer and has danced both the "Swan Lake" and the "Nutcracker Suite". There wasn't much for a young actress or dancer to do in South Africa, so she soon traveled to Europe and United States of America, where she got job at the Joffrey Ballet in New York. She was also able to work as a photo model. However, an injured knee put a halt to her dancing career.

Charlize began her modeling career in 1991 aged 16 when she won a local modeling contest. She started modeling in Europe and came to New York a year later. She didn't like being a model though, and decided to try her luck with ballet, which had been her biggest passion as a child. Unfortunately, a knee injury prevented her from dancing.

South African actress Charlize Theron made Oscar and Golden Globe-worthy impressions with heavy-hitting dramatic roles which often saw her struggling to survive oppressive environments. Theron's own experiences surviving the strife of an unstable childhood home gave her a strong perspective, as did the strong-willed independence that inspired her to head to Europe and begin a professional modeling career while she was still a teenager. But if the 5'10" blonde was misdiagnosed as merely an actress-turned-model for her early supporting roles, that persona was shattered with a pair of Oscar-nominated starring performances in "Monster" (2003) and "North Country" (2005); both portraits of two women who came to deal with second-class citizen status in very different ways.

Theron again received critical praise for playing an abandoning mother in the bleak family drama "Sleepwalking" (2008), but the Sundance-screened indie received overall negative reviews. She was slated to return to the big-screen in the summer of 2008 in an anticipated summer hit, the Will Smith starring vehicle, "Hancock" (2008), in which she would play the love interest of a failed superhero attempting to make a comeback.

In July 2009, Theron's Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP) announced a coalition with LAFC Soccer Club to give soccer fields to rural areas in South Africa. The US youth soccer club LAFC Chelsea made a three-year commitment to help build a community-wide soccer program for the schools in the Umkhanyakude district, encompassing uniforms, equipment, professional training for local coaches, referees and administrators, and health education.