Born in South Africa, Theron was a ballerina and model until a knee injury ended her dance career. She moved to Hollywood and began acting, first grabbing attention in the Tom Hanks film That Thing You Do (1996) and then in Woody Allen's 1998 film Celebrity. She played a New England ingenue in the 1999 art house hit The Cider House Rules, and by the year 2000 she was starring in big budget pictures like Reindeer Games (with Ben Affleck) and The Legend of Bagger Vance (with Affleck's friend Matt Damon). In 2004 she won the best actress Oscar for her starring role as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003, co-starring Christina Ricci).

Theron was nearly cast to play Nomi, the role later taken by Elizabeth Berkley in the ill-fated movie Showgirls... Variety reported in February of 2004 that Theron would star as the ruthless animated assassin Aeon Flux in a new live-action film based on the animated character.

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