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"Theron" is an Occitan surname (originally spelled Théron) pronounced in Afrikaans as [tron], although she has said that the way she pronounces it in South Africa is [Bron]. She changed the pronunciation when she moved to the U.S. to give it a more "American" sound. She grew up on her parents' farm in Benoni, near Johannesburg. Her father was lawfully killed by her mother with a firearm on 21 June 1991. Theron's father, an alcoholic, physically attacked her mother and threatened both women while drunk. Theron attended Putfontein Primary School (Laerskool Putfontein), a period she later characterised as not "fitting in". At 13, Charlize Theron was sent to boarding school and began her studies at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg.
Although Theron became fluent in English (which she speaks with a General American accent) around age nineteen, her first language is Afrikaans. His childhood was marked by a family drama which led her mother-in self-defense to kill his father before him. But his aptitude for ballet will allow it to leave South Africa and integrate the Joffrey Ballet of Ney York. His physical off-the standard will also lead on the podium at the world as a model. That's when she moved to Los Angeles as his movie career will begin. After an appearance in the Corn The three, she got her first role in That Thing You Do by Tom Hanks.
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In 2007, she played the detective Emily Sanders in the film by Paul Haggis, In the Valley of Elah. After a relationship with Stephan Jenkins, lead singer of rock band Third Eye Blind, Charlize Theron met her future husband in 2002, Stuart Townsend on the set of Trpped. In 2008, she is also showing its first film as director: Battle in Seattle . After his many films rather dark, the beautiful blonde co-starred in the comedy of the summer of 2008, Hancock, with Will Smith. She returned to drama in Far from the scorched earth where she shared the bill with another blonde: Kim Basinger. She then led by John Hillcoat for the post-apocalyptic drama The Road in which she plays the wife of Viggo Mortensen.
In 2012, she landed the lead role of the new movie Diablo Cody, Young Adult and is nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress. The same year, the actress surprised only by adopting a little boy, a small South African named Jackson. But Charlize does not use his new role as mom to slow the pace of filming. Indeed, in 2012, it is also showing the film Snow White and the Hunter of Rupert Sanders and the highly anticipated Prometheus from Ridley Scott. She made the cover of famous magazine Vanity Fair. On 18 November 2008 she was appointed Messenger of Peace United Nations for its actions towards the poor children in South Africa.
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Theron became a naturalised citizen of the United States in May 2007, while retaining her South African citizenship. In the mid-1990s, Theron had a two-year relationship with actor Craig Bierko. From 1997 to 2001, she dated Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins. Theron then began a relationship with Irish actor Stuart Townsend, with whom she starred in Trapped (2002) and Head in the Clouds (2004). Theron and Townsend separated in January 2010 after nearly nine years together.