Charlize Theron

A hero to me is someone who stands up for what is right and helps other people. Charlize Theron lives up to these characteristics by raising awareness for animal cruelty, and by helping the Cape Town Rape Crisis Center. She has overcome a lot to get where she is today.

Charlize in her Modeling Days

Charlize Theron was born on August 7, 1975, in a little town called Benoni in South Africa. Her father, Charles, whom she was named after, was of French descent and her mother, Gerda, is of German descent. Both of her parents were born and raised in South Africa, so Afrikaans is Charlize's first language; English is her second. Theron began taking ballet when she was six years old. When she was 12, she had to go to Johannesburg, South Africa, to a boarding school that specialized in arts. There she had dance training, studied classical ballet, flamenco, Greek, and contemporary dance. Things were good there, but at home it wasn’t. Her father became an alcoholic and he allegedly tortured her mother, and Charlize felt like she had to protect her. In 1991, it is alleged that Charles attacked Gerda, and out of self-defense, she shot him. He died, but Gerda did not serve any time in jail; they suffered no more. Two months later, Charlize entered a modeling contest. She won and flew to Italy for the International New Model Today contest. Winning, again, she began her life as a working model.

Charlize wins a Golden Globe

After a year of this, Charlize moved to New York to study at the Joffrey Ballet School, modeling in her spare time to support herself. Eight months later, her knee blew out while dancing. This forced her to quit for a while. She moved to Miami for a few months to model, but was not happy, so she moved to Los Angeles to try her luck in acting. In 1994, Theron was living in a rundown hotel on Fairfax called The Farmer's Daughter. She didn’t have any money, she was eating bread stolen from restaurants, and no agent was interested in her. Charlize went to the bank to cash a check for $500, and was refused because it was out of state. She was furious and was letting everyone know it, when a man, impressed with her performance, said he could make her a star. He was the real deal. His name was John Crosby, a talent manager working with John Hurt and Rene Russo. He sent Theron to some casting directors to get rid of her heavy accent. In a few months, she made her first role, which was non-speaking, but it was a start.

Charlize gets her star (

Charlize started to play in a few movies like That Thing You Do, Trial and Error, and Disney’s Mighty Joe Young. Things were going well, and Charlize's mother had re-married. Charlize learned respect and trust from her stepfather. On the first day of the Mighty Joe Young shoot, tragedy struck in Theron’s family. Her stepbrother died in a car crash at the age of 22. Gerda divorced her second husband soon after and moved to Los Angeles to be closer to Charlize. She has starred in many movies since, like Men of Honor, Trapped, Monster, in which she gained 30 pounds just to get the role and she won an Oscar for that performance, and Aeon Flux.

Charlize with her dog Tucker

In my opinion, a hero is someone that helps other people and stands up for what is right. Charlize helps raise awareness for animal cruelty. Theron posed with her dog, Tucker, for the “If you wouldn’t wear your dog… please don’t wear any fur” billboard for PETA. Charlize also helped the Cape Town Rape Crisis Center when the government wouldn’t let them release the exact number of rapes committed in South Africa per year. With Charlize's help, they won and were able to release the number. Charlize Theron is a beautiful and kind-hearted person.