- 2004
Statuesque
Theron wins an Oscar for Best Actress at the 76th Annual Academy Awards for Monster. She dons a beaded Gucci body-hugger by Tom Ford and carries a clutch purse encrusted with 1,500 diamonds. Theron celebrates all night long, entering the Governor's Ball with Oprah Winfrey on her arm. She also attends the Vanity Fair bash at Morton's and an afterparty at agent Rick Yorn's house; the Oscar winner and Townsend depart after wolfing down waffles, bacon and quiche.
Pain in the Neck
While filming the sci-fi thriller Aeon Flux, Theron slips doing back handsprings; she suffers a herniated disc between her sixth and seventh vertebrae, which presses into the fluid sac near her spinal cord. Theron trained in gymnastics for 3½ months for the role. Townsend tells the AP she is fine "but she could've been in a lot of trouble."
No Hiding Her Feelings
Theron aligns herself with animal-rights organization PETA in its anti-fur campaign. With her pooch Tucker, she appears on billboards that say, "If you wouldn't wear your dog, please don't wear any fur." The following year, the outspoken activist announces that she and Townsend would not wed until gay marriage is legal in the U.S., and is award The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's (GLAAD) Vanguard Award – the organization's highest honor.
- 2005
Mining for Oscar
Theron stars as struggling single mother Josey Aimes in North Country, a movie based on the landmark sexual harassment lawsuit against a Minnesota mine. Her gritty performance earns Theron a second Oscar nomination, but she loses to Reese Witherspoon, who played June Carter in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.
- 2007
Political Projects
East of Havana, a documentary produced by Theron, is released. The film follows the lives of three Cuban youth wrapped up in the local hip-hop scene. "At the end of the day, hip-hop is poetry," Theron tells Marie Claire. "It's a way for these kids to open up about the repression they face." Next up: a small part in Battle in Seattle, written and directed by Theron's boyfriend Stuart Townsend.
Sexiest Woman Alive
The In the Valley of Elah star is named Esquire's "Sexiest Woman Alive." In the issue, the 32-year-old Oscar winner doesn't concentrate on her looks, instead, she criticizes past roles ("Reindeer Games. That was a bad, bad, bad movie.") and politics ("I grew up in a country that learned the lesson that you can't impose your way of life on 26 different kinds of people just because you call yourself righteous.").
- 2008
Hancock
Opposite Will Smith, Theron plays Mary Embrey in Hancock, which makes $107 million in the U.S. and another $78 million internationally. "Charlize Theron is a fantastic actress – gorgeous, sexy, powerful, so much range," Smith tells PEOPLE. "From drama to comedy, she can do all things fantastic."
Photo Credits
BIOGRAPHY (top to bottom): Gary Hershorn/Reuters/Landov; Kobal Collection/Wireimage; Jim Jordan/Peta/Splash News; Warner Bros./Everett; Sheryl Nields/Esquire Magazine/AP; Frank Masi/Columbia Pictures
- Name
- Charlize Theron
- Birth Date
- August 07, 1975
- Birth Place
- Benoni, South Africa
- Heart Monitor
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Stuart Townsend, boyfriend (2001 to present)
Stephan Jenkins, ex-boyfriend (1997 to 2001)
