Overview (3)

Mini Bio (1)

Trade Mark (2)

Blonde hair and green eyes



Statuesque, model-like figure



Trivia (86)

When she was 15, her father attacked her mother, and her mother shot him in self-defense. He died, but her mother was not charged in the incident.



Her first language is Afrikaans (South African Dutch). She speaks fluent English as her second language.



Nude pictures of her taken in 1994 appeared in the May 1999 issue of Playboy Magazine.



Became a fashion model at age 14.



Named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. [2000]





Auditioned for the female lead of Nomi Malone in Showgirls (1995), which went to Elizabeth Berkley

Ranked #4 in the 2001 FHM Taiwan list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".





Placed #1 on Beautiful People Internet Poll, narrowly beating Cameron Diaz in #2 and Kate Beckinsale in #3. The photo featured on the site was the famous 'Diving Board' photo.

Both of her parents were born and raised in South Africa. Her ancestry is Afrikaner: largely Dutch, as well as French Huguenot (the origin of her surname) and German.



Voted #12 Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine. [September 2002]



Used hypnotherapy as an aid to quit smoking.





Is the only child of Charles, whom she was named after, and Gerda Theron



She gained 30 pounds to play Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003).



On the show Shootout (2003) it was revealed that her manager discovered her in a Hollywood bank after he witnessed her shouting at a bank teller for refusing to cash her check.



Won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003) on what would have been Aileen's 48th birthday: February 29, 2004.



After winning her Oscar, she returned to great celebrations in her native South Africa, and she even met former South African President Nelson Mandela . When he praised her for putting their country on the map and gave her a hug, Theron broke into tears (she was guest of honor at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg on March 11, 2004).



Has said her favorite actor is Tom Hanks



In 2004 she injured her neck while filming Æon Flux (2005). Fortunately the injury was not serious enough to put her in the hospital, but it did postpone production for several weeks.

As a teenager in her native South Africa, she learned English by watching American television.



In 2005 she was the first person to sign on to be a presenter at the 77th Annual Academy Awards.





Sued photographer Guido Argentini , charging breach of contract and invasion of privacy for allegedly selling intimate photos he took of her in 1994 to Playboy. She won the case. [December 1998]



She is the second South African-born person to win an Academy Award-- Ted Moore was the first. Basil Rathbone was the first South African-born actor to be nominated, followed by Cecil Kellaway . Theron was the first South African-born woman to win an Oscar.

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on September 29, 2005.



Ranked #15 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2005 list.





Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballot. She was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Actress category for her performance in Æon Flux (2005). However, she failed to receive a nomination (had she gotten the nomination, she would have been the first person to be nominated for both Leading Actress awards at the Oscars, for North Country (2005), and the Razzies.).

Ranked #4 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement.





Studied acting with Ivana Chubbuck

Ranked #15 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement.





Dyed her hair black for the title role in Æon Flux (2005).

Trained as a ballet dancer at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City, and performed in both "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker". Her dancing career ended after a knee injury.





One of the first movies she ever went to see at the theater was Splash (1984). She confessed that after watching the movie, she felt jealous of Daryl Hannah and developed a crush on Tom Hanks . She even said to herself that she could have played the role of Madison better than Hannah.



Shares the same background as Daniel Bonjour , who also left South Africa as a teenage actor and traveled to Europe and then America. Both their parents are of European background. Also, both actors have found it easier to simply use an American accent in their work.

Chosen by Femme Fatales magazine as one of the "50 sexiest women on the planet". [February 2006]





"Entertainment Weekly" predicted her Oscar win for Monster (2003) 11 months before she won it.

She earns $2 million per year endorsing Dior's "J'Adore" fragrance, as well as $2.5 million per year endorsing Swiss watchmaker Raymond Weil.



At 16 she won a modeling competition to go to Milan, Italy, and work on the catwalks and, at 18, won a scholarship to study ballet at the Joffrey School in New York. She turned to acting only because she injured both knees, dashing any hopes of a ballet career.



Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year. [2008]





On March 12, 2008, she announced on the Late Show with David Letterman (1993) that she is now a U.S. citizen.

Ranked #11 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2008 list.





Was considered for the role of Vickie Kittrie in Mercy (2000), which went to Peta Wilson



Was considered for the role of Satine in Moulin Rouge! (2001) but Nicole Kidman , who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.



Was originally cast as Gerda Wegener in The Danish Girl (2015) but after dropping out of the project when production was delayed she was replaced by Gwyneth Paltrow , who in turn was replaced by Alicia Vikander



Was in consideration for the role of Helen Gandy in J. Edgar (2011), but Naomi Watts was cast instead.

Named the "Sexiest Woman Alive" by Esquire magazine. [2007]



Received the "Decade of Hotness" award from Spike TV (Guy's Choice).



Ranked #24 on the 2007 Ask men Australia top 99 "most desirable" women list. She was ranked #6 the previous year in 2006.



Ranked #3 in Ask men's top 99 "most desirable" women of 2005.



Ranked #1 in Ask men's top 99 "most desirable" women of 2003.



Ranked #20 in the 2011 FHM Australia list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".



Always speaks Afrikaans with her mother, who lives two minutes from her in Los Angeles. They have matching fish tattoos.



Suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) to the extent that, if renting a house/hotel room during a movie shoot, cannot relax until she has explored every closet, locker and drawer in the premises.



The correct pronunciation of her name: Sharleese Ti-ron. The "Ti" pronounced as in till. The surname is a well-known Afrikaans surname which originated from France, coming to South Africa by way of the immigration of the French Huguenots.



Is involved in women's rights organizations, and has marched in pro-choice rallies.



Is a supporter of animal rights and appeared in a PETA ad for its anti-fur campaign.



Has her own charity called the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, which is committed to reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and sexual violence among African youth.



Named "Sexiest Actress" by Victoria's Secret What Is Sexy list. [2012]



On April 24, 2012, she received America's National Association of Theatre Owners - Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film Award, at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.





Returned to work four months after adopting her son Jackson in order to begin filming Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).

Ranked one of the "most desirable" women on Ask men's top 99 "most desirable" women of 2013.



United Nations Messenger of Peace.



Ranked #5 on the list of "Hollywood's Top-Earning Actresses in 2012" by Forbes magazine. Her income between May 2011 and May 2012 was estimated to be $18 million.





Was the 125th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Actress Oscar for Monster (2003) at The 76th Annual Academy Awards (2004) on February 29, 2004.

Ranked #24 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2014 list.



Her first language is Afrikaans and she did not become fluent in English until she came to the USA as a teenager. Consequently, American is her natural accent when she speaks English.



Has two adopted children: a son Jackson Theron (b. November 2011, adopted March 2012) and a daughter August Theron (adopted July 2015).





Shaved her head for the role of Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).

Was introduced to the UFC by a friend and became obsessed with it.



Her last name Theron is correctly pronounced as one syllable.



Seventh highest paid actress of 2017 with $14 million.



She prefers "There-in" as the English pronunciation of her surname, not "There-own".





She was considered for the role of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde (2001), but the role went to Reese Witherspoon



She was considered for the role of Hela in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) before her rival, Cate Blanchett was cast.



Nominated for the 2019 Golden Globe Award in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy category for her role as Marlo in Tully (2018), but lost to Olivia Colman for The Favourite (2018).



Wanted to play Roxie Hart in Chicago (2002) as she was a dancer for most of her life but was kicked off by director Rob Marshall . The role eventually went to Renée Zellweger who was nominated for an Oscar for her performance.

Does not have a middle name. Her mother, however, has 13.



In April 2019, Theron revealed that her son Jackson, identifies as a girl. She stated, "I am raising two beautiful proud Black African girls and I want them to find themselves and not necessarily push my ancestry on them.".





(May 3, 2019) Revealed that she landed in the hospital for five days after watching Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006). She went to go see the film while she had a pre-existing injury in her neck - a herniated disk in her neck. She laughed so hard that her neck locked up. An ambulance had to take her to the hospital. Though the movie came out nearly 15 years ago, Theron said she's never had a chance to pick up where she left off.

Her first modeling assignment was for the Afrikaans-language monthly women's magazine "Rooi Rose" (Red Rose) when she was the "New Model Today" winner in 1991.



Founded film company "Denver and Delilah Productions" in early 2000s.





Has acted out giving birth in two of her movies; The Road (2009) and Tully (2018).

Personal Quotes (67)

[on the revelation that her mother shot and killed her father while he was in a drunken rage, which was ruled self-defense] I was always Mama's girl, and I always felt like her protector.





Women have conquered the world. And with everything we go through, it's about time we had a female president. I don't think we're that far away, but it should have happened already. I wouldn't be surprised if Hillary Clinton runs - I really admire her.

I've always been very proud to be a South African and I've always been very honest to people about that. And whatever I can do in my power, I promise you, I will do. I don't think it's too much pressure. I think it's our duty as citizens of this country. You don't have to win an Oscar to do something good for your country. We all can do that. If I can be an encouragement for that I'll be glad to be that.



I'm 50-50 on glamour stuff. I'd rather put on a pair of jeans and get on my Harley and act like a guy.



I think of myself as a highly sexual creature. I have to use that. I have no choice. I like it. I didn't grow up with a mother telling me what was under my clothes was bad or evil.





[on the importance of the Toronto Film Festival for smaller films] If people, critics respond to the film there, it starts a nice little wave of chat, which for a movie like North Country (2005) is really important. It's one of those films that travels by word of mouth.

[on marriage] I'm happy for people who want to get married, but it's not my thing. I'm extremely happy in my relationship and I would love to have kids.



[on accents] At first I found it really hard using three different English accents: South African, faking the American, faking the accent required by the job. I decided to make it easier for myself and just do one. I haven't lost my culture, just my accent.



[on bad habits and guilty pleasures] Anything fried I'll take. Are you kidding me? I will fry my shoe and eat it.



Looks alone won't get you that far. It may get you in the door, but there's always somebody younger, somebody prettier. You have to rely on something else.



What kind of stories can you tell with glamor? There are very few stories of conflict you can tell, right? I look for good stories; I'm not driven by anything other than good filmmakers and good stories. And then my job as an actor is to service those stories as well as I possibly can. The physical is the last thing that drives me.



I live a very simple life. I don't have to make those giant movies. I don't have a yacht or a private plane. As long as I can maintain this life, which is pretty low-maintenance and simple, then all of a sudden you don't have to worry about all that stuff. I don't have to take a job to pay a mortgage on a house I can't afford.



I've always said that I worry about being with a man who doesn't flirt.



[on a possible biopic of her life] God, I hope not. I've been working harder than anything in my life to try and keep my life sacred. I really don't mind when I'm in front of a camera and playing a character I'm comfortable with . . . but I don't necessarily like the spotlight to be about me--not at all. The idea of sitting in Cannes and watching that . . . ugh. No.



[on playing unglamorous characters yet posing for glamorous spreads] Well, guess what? I'm a sexual creature. There's nothing wrong with that. Why do we have to be ashamed of being so many different things? Why do we have to be only one thing, a good mother or a hooker? I don't think that what's under my clothes is evil. I'm a woman, I'm feminine. And I like the way I look. And I celebrate that. And I don't make excuses for that.





People just aren't willing to see conflict, or ugliness or the more flawed side of life through a female character's eyes. I mean, can you imagine a woman playing Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976)? When Robert De Niro does it it's fine, [but] people are very uncomfortable about seeing that through a woman's eyes. We aren't allowed complexity.



[on the media's reaction to her appearance in In the Valley of Elah (2007)] It just bummed me out because I was, "What do you want? Do you want me to play a detective from Albuquerque who's a single mom in a Dior dress?". The way they focused on my appearance, I felt like it hurt [the film] and I was embarrassed because [director] Paul Haggis had worked really hard, and just because I had a ponytail that's what they were talking about.

I don't believe in charmed lives. I think that tragedy is part of the lesson you learn to lift yourself up, to pick yourself up and to move on.





[on being congratulated by Nelson Mandela and South African president Thabo Mbeki after winning a Best Actress Oscar for Monster (2003)] I don't think I want to be a pin-up for anything! The people who inspire me are the ones who just live life and live it in a way that's good-natured. Do unto others what you want done unto yourself. It's not that hard. Don't screw people over. Enjoy life, travel, adventure. Enjoy. I try to just live my life in as good and authentic a way as possible. And I just wish people would write about that and the matter-of-fact way that that is, rather than, "On a summer's day, her mother shot her father." It's like I walk around with this badge. I live my life the way I want to live my life. It's like I have chosen this life. I want to be able to go to sleep at night and feel that I'm not haunted and I'm happy and I enjoyed my day in London and that I enjoy my friends and my love, and that if this is all gone tomorrow, like that man who died so horribly in front of me when I was five, that it was good.

[on her mother shooting her father, who was in a drunken rage, which was ruled self-defense] You know, people drank. Some people drank more, but it was never considered that this might be a problem. It was just the way it was then.





[on her role in Monster (2003)] I was trying to make the correlation between Aileen Wuornos and her experiences when she was very young. And I was reminded of something that happened to me. I was five years old and we were driving . . . all the cars stopped because a truck had rolled over and was ablaze. The doors were jammed and there was a man trapped inside. In South Africa everybody carries a weapon, and the man begged for someone to shoot him because he didn't want to burn to death. Nobody could get him out of the cab, so somebody shot him. It was horrific, but definitely a moment that made me have a great value for life. Other things in life have taught me not to take a moment for granted.



[on her role in Monster (2003)] I never got offered parts like that, never. And it took a woman, a first-time female director, to offer me that role. Paul Haggis [the director of Crash (2004) and In the Valley of Elah (2007)] recently said to me, "You know, often it's the material that will define an actor, but you didn't do that. You defined yourself with what you chose to do." And I thought that was a nice compliment.



I do like the challenge of finding material that people don't want to risk a lot of money on and that studios don't necessarily jump to go, "Yeah! We want to tell that story." And how could I not after I had done something like Monster (2003)? Everybody wondered how a movie like that could be successful.



[on her role in Hancock (2008)] I keep myself guessing. I get bored so quickly. I just really liked the material. And the girl was cool. I wasn't ticking any boxes. I just try and do good material and how it gets made is secondary . . . and anyway, it's really nice to get a decent paycheck.

As you get older, you get wrinkles and your boobs sag. But you get wisdom, too. So it's not all bad!



[responding to a reporter's question as to which side of the bed she sleeps on] The side that you're not on.



[responding to a question as to why she doesn't have kids] I actually have seven children no one knows about--in a cave. They can see Russia from their house, too.





I don't avoid glamorous roles. I played Britt Ekland [in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)], who is one of the most beautiful women alive. But I don't see so many. You tell me one glamorous role that is in a good movie you have seen in the last ten years. My point is, it's not a case of wanting to be glamorous or not. It's about wanting to tell a good story. And the physical is at the bottom of the list for me. Your job, as an actor, is to be a clean canvas for your director, and you have to tell the story as authentically as possible.

I don't know if I would be who I am today if I'd grown up in a different country. In our house the news was always on, the newspaper was always on the dining room table and my parents had a real thirst for politics, and that's how I grew up. A lot of my American friends grew up in a different way, and because of what's happened in America in recent years, they are asking questions, playing catch-up. But I can understand that, because they were living in a country that was comfy and cozy. I wasn't. I want to know what is going on. I have an interest in world politics--how can you not when you live on this Earth? I'm just flabbergasted when people don't give a shit.





[on growing up in South Africa] I can remember, we'd have to travel an hour to the nearest drive-in cinema, and we'd go and never really knew what was playing. But once you got there, it was an hour's drive back, so you may as well watch whatever it was. I was about eight or nine and Fatal Attraction (1987) was playing and Mom didn't want to turn all the way around, so she was like, "Well, this is as good a way for you to learn as any".

[on her mother shooting her father] I don't think you can go through something like that and not kind of walk with it, hand in hand. But you try very hard to move on.



My mother was an incredible example to me. I can't imagine going through life without her. I think she has influenced who I am, but without intent really. She would always say, "That's how I feel, but you should figure it out for yourself." I think of my life now and I realize that the way I was brought up is why I can deal with so much now. I'm responsible for my own actions, my own decisions. So it's a weird one, because she didn't want me to be her, but I think now, at 32, I look at her and I kind of go, "Wow, I somehow aspire to be you." I think she really values me being independent and being myself.





The reason I did North Country (2005) wasn't just because of what the women were going through. I was really fascinated to understand where the men came from. But what those women suffered was appalling. Just appalling. The real lady that this happened to is still in therapy and on medication. When you meet her, you understand that this has taken a real toll on her.

Look, I can't forget I'm a woman. I love being a woman and I love being feminine, so that will always be part of my work, obviously. But I approach the material with a more humanistic approach. I think that kind of stuff can become over-earnest if you approach it with a big hammer. Personally, I've been lucky. Maybe it's the way I was raised, but I know right from wrong and I know wrong when I walk into a room--and if I feel it's wrong, I walk right out again.





There were a lot of pros to winning the Oscar, but a lot of cons, too. Suddenly, it all became about transformation. Every movie I did after Monster (2003) was jumped upon as yet another transformation. Even when I only had dirt on my face, like in North Country (2005) it was transformation.



I do all this work with Guillermo Arriaga on The Burning Plain (2008) script, we explore all these themes, and then we come on these junkets and it's like, "So you don't play a glamorous role again." Sometimes I just want to look at people and say, "Have you really thought this through?". You know, how many great stories can you tell in a Dior dress? Or is it because I've done a J'adore perfume ad that I can only be one type of woman? I don't think women are that. We are many things. One day we wake up and we want to put on jeans and T-shirt, and the next day we want to fucking have our hair done. But that doesn't mean that I don't have access to raw emotion.

[when asked if beauty is a problem for her] No. But it seems to be a problem for journalists.



I don't know how to say this without sounding strange. But I feel like having this tragedy [her mother shot her father] at such a young age has given me a leg up from other people. Because, man, from 16, I knew the value of life and I knew how quickly it could be taken away. And from that moment on, I made a choice to either swim or to drown, you know?



People want to think that I am this tortured soul, that my work is drawn only from this one well. And though I would never sit here and say that it didn't mark me, or mould me into the person that I am, my life has had many painful journeys and heartbreaks since my father died, many of which I draw on for my work.



[after becoming a United States citizen in 2007] You're stuck with me now.



I think women are way more conflicted than men, and I think we come from a society that's very comfortable with the Madonna / whore complex, you know. We're either really good hookers or really good mothers.



[on reconnecting with her roots in South Africa] I've gone back several times. The only thing that really stuck with me the first time I went back was walking through the house that I grew up in, and everything seemed so small. It was such a bizarre feeling. I was like, "My mother made me sleep in a closet.".



I've never been a fan of labels. And I'm not a big fan of overly justifying bad behavior, or why people are the way they are. I think it's a cop-out. And I don't have a lot of empathy for that.



I live a very simple life. I don't have to make these giant movies. I don't have a yacht or a private plane. As long as I can maintain this life, which is pretty low-maintenance and simple, then all of a sudden you don't have to worry about all that stuff. It's such a blessed place to be in. I don't have to take a job to pay a mortgage on a house that I can't afford. My life comes first, then my job. I'm incredibly lucky to be in a position where I don't have to work all the time to live.





It's not like I've been [offered] any great glamorous roles that had great conflict and great storytelling. But I'm not going to be picky, because they're hard to come by. If I sit around waiting for a good, glamorous story to come around, I'm probably never going to work. So if you don't consider my character [in In the Valley of Elah (2007)] beautiful, I'm sorry, but that's really me. That's my natural hair color. That's me with very little make-up. There's no prosthetics. That's what I look like. I think we're starting to live in a culture where we're so celebrity-obsessed that we're starting to believe that when we see celebrities, they're supposed to look like they do on magazine covers. But that's about people doing hair and make-up for you, and wearing big gowns. I look for roles involving good stories and good filmmakers. And it's my job as an actor to service those stories as best I possibly can. It's not about how I look physically. Physical's the last thing I think of.

All of that stuff is really nice. I do have a bit of a guilt--I don't know if it's the African in me--but I'm one person and how much makeup do I need? I have a normal-sized closet. I donate things. I don't have a nature in me to want things in excess. I actually don't like it. A lot of times, I will auction it off and have it go to charity. And my friends benefit a lot. I call it Narnia. When I see a girlfriend and say, "I like that top," she's like, "Narnia, from your closet.".



I don't really talk about my personal life and I don't really talk about my relationships. I'm not a big partier. I like the simplicity of my life, and I've chosen the kind of life I really want to live. I don't think my life is boring at all.



There's this kind of idea that someone like me would be horrible with women. That acknowledgement that if you look a certain way, you can't be a girl's girl. I have way deeper relationships with girls than I do with guys. I get along with guys. The women in my life are the ones who move me. It sounds so hokey, but I've been blessed with incredible women in my life.



If you wouldn't wear your dog, please don't wear any fur.



Fur isn't necessary. It doesn't make sense to me to let these animals suffer for fashion.



I wasn't technically the greatest, but I succeeded and got lead roles because when I died, I died, and when I was spinning into madness, I was spinning into madness.



It's great fun when you have three people coming to your house, and one's doing your nails, one's doing your hair and one's doing your makeup. Two hours later, you look gorgeous. But that's not my life.



The people who inspire me are the ones who just live life and live it in a way that's good-natured. Do unto others what you want done unto yourself.



We all understand situations where it's swim or drown. Sometimes we surprise ourselves when we start swimming and see how well we can do it.





[on Prometheus (2012) co-star Michael Fassbender ] I saw him in Shame (2011), in which he plays a sex addict, and I didn't stop thinking about that film for weeks. No disrespect to the people who were nominated for Oscars, but the fact he wasn't to me was utter bullshit. I think he's incredible. He's so effortless that I want to punch him! It just seeps out of him.

I think the reason why female directors are so successful is because they're not just telling women stories. They might be telling stories that affect women but their studies on men are done so well so that they're universal directors. So I really believe this is a talent, and just understanding the human conflict is so good that they can tell any genre, any kind of story, and that's why I think they're doing so well.



[on being cast in varying types of roles] Every time, you start something from scratch. You can't really come into the new job carrying leftovers. But for me it's somewhat easy because I've never worked with two directors that are similar. I've never worked with material that you approached the same way. I think that's what makes it fun and makes it interesting.



I'm very attracted to characters who don't necessarily make it easy to be loved.



You go through situations that don't work out, and then all of a sudden you have this baby in your hands and you forget about all of that.



[on her weak teeth in the 1980s from jaundice, during a 2012 interview] My early childhood was quite devastating. I had no teeth until I was 11. I had these fangs because I had jaundice when I was a kid and I was put on so many antibiotics that my teeth rotted. They cut them out. So I never had milk teeth. That was tough, you know, being in school having photos taken while I was pretending I had teeth. It was hideous.





[on Johnny Depp ] There is nothing about working with Johnny as an actor that . . . um . . . starts to feel really comfortable or kind of falls into a rhythm, which is what I think makes him so brilliant. He would deliver a line and every single time it would have a different rhythm or a different . . . anything. Which is so incredible to work with because, for me, acting is really listening and responding to what somebody is giving you. He is a really gorgeous man. He is also a wonderful, instinctive actor. I loved watching him work, watching him layering on the complexities of his character.



I think the greatest characters are the unlikable ones, but mainly men get to play them. Rarely do women. And they are so delicious. Like Nicole Kidman in To Die For (1995), I wanted that character to live next to me. Did I want her to be my daughter? No. But those characters are so interesting.

[in 2016, on her mother Gerda] I am the product of the mother who raised me. My mom would wake up every morning, get me ready for school, make my food, get me on the bus and then go run the third largest road construction business in South Africa--and do it in style, wearing suede boots, knee-high boots. I was so impressed by that.



[in 2016, on South Africa] I have a lot of things I should probably sort out in therapy about my relationship with my country. Because it's affected me way more than I've ever acknowledged. And it was only when I got older that I started realizing that I had a lot of anger; there was a lot of unresolved stuff--apartheid, health care, AIDS, poverty--that still very much affects me . . . It makes you realize that the circumstances of your formative years, it leaves a real scar--it marks you. It's the one thing that gets me really angry, really emotional. It's a lot of fucking suffering, and unnecessary suffering.



It bothers me that in this society, it's okay seeing a guy blow another's head off, but a child seeing Janet Jackson's boob at the Super Bowl is the worst thing that could happen. It's not the end of the world! It's just a breast!



[Looks] were never emphasized in the house I was raised in. I don't think my mom ever said, 'Isn't she a pretty girl?' She'd say, 'You should hear her sing. You should read this poem she wrote.' The praise was always about what I'd done, not how I looked.



Jobs with real gravitas go to people that are physically right for them and that's the end of the story. How many roles are out there for the gorgeous, fucking, gown-wearing 8-foot model? When meaty roles come through, I've been in the room and pretty people get turned away first.



Salary (3)