It seems fair to say that there are still a lot of people that don’t know that Charlize Theron is from South Africa. In fact the revelation is something that might surprise a few people are likely to have never heard this before. But it is the truth since she made her way from what would have been a very short-lived dancing career to an acting career that has lasted for a while now. For quite a few years she’s been a very inspiring and admired actress that has played in some of the biggest roles and been considered to be among the best in the business. There have been times when her characters either belonged to a movie that wasn’t that great or weren’t really those that would be remembered fondly, but the actress is someone that is bound to be remembered for a very long time.
Here are a few things you might not have known about her.
10. She had the chance to dance in Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.
Considering how big a deal both plays are and how demanding they can be on the performers it’s quite impressive to think that she was able to nab a part in both of them. Unfortunately injuries to both knees took her from any future career in dancing and led her instead towards acting.
9. Charlize learned English mostly from watching soap operas.
With her command of the English language it’s hard to think that she’s not from America, but the truth is that she had to learn a lot of her English from watching American TV. Obviously the language can in fact rub off on people.
8. English is actually her second language.
Afrikaans is her first language while English is her second. She had to develop the American accent that she uses so well and so convincingly. But if you hadn’t known anything about her by how you might not have ever guessed it.
7. By the age of 14 she was a fashion model.
Charlize has been strutting her stuff for a while now and as a model was quite good at what she did. In fact you can see this in her poise and the way in which she moves about at times in her many movies and commercials. She’s all grace sometimes.
6. She turned down a role for the female lead in Pearl Harbor.
The role went to Kate Beckinsale while Charlize went to star in The Devil’s Advocate with Keanu Reeves. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of regret about missed roles since like any actor would tell you there’s always another one to come.
5. Charlize auditioned for the lead role in Showgirls.
For the sake of her career this might have been a good thing since the film really went nowhere and didn’t help to revive Elizabeth Berkely’s career in the slightest. Sometimes not getting a role is the best thing that can happen to an actor.
4. She had to put on 30 lbs. in order to star in Monster.
Aileen Wuornos was apparently a heavier woman than Charlize and she had to take on a look that was positively frightening for the role. Plus, just a note of interest, she received her Oscar for the movie on what would have been Aileen’s 48th birthday.
3. At one time she had a crush on Tom Hanks.
Charlize has actually stated that when she watched Splash that she was initially very jealous of Daryl Hannah since she got to star with Tom Hanks and be intimate with him. It’s amusing what actors relay when they tell the stories of their lives.
2. She has a pretty bad case of OCD.
Apparently if she’s renting a room during a shoot she has to inspect every closed space on the premises until she’s content that she’s seen it all. You can imagine that this might be problematic if that means “all” the closed spaces in the place and not just her room, but hopefully she confines her search to the room that she stays in.
1. She’s been obsessed with the UFC since being turned on to it.
It’s kind of interesting to see which celebrities are UFC fans since you’ll see them occasionally at the bouts in the crowd cheering on their favorites. Some of those you would think to never see around such an event have been big fans for quite some time. There is something alluring about the nature of the sport no matter how brutal it can get.
Charlize is the kind of actress that can make you absolutely hate her character, as in Monster and Snow White and the Huntsman, or fall in love with her in various ways. But she can also be kind of devious since her characters in 2 Days in the Valley and Reindeer Games have proven that she’s no stranger to deception.Kate Beckinsale
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