She grew up in a small town called Benoni and was a member of the tribe South Soho. She was born a single child in a very wealthy family. She learned many of the 28, (twenty-eight!) languages she speaks from the staff on her parents' farm. When she was 6, Charlize showed her first signs of what would be her stardom. She began ballet and considered doing this for a career. She continued dancing and would eventually go professional in Johannesburg. At the age of 16 she took an offer to begin modelling in Milan, Italy, because she'd won a local modeling contest. She was not content with the way she was viewed as a model, so on the last day of shooting under her current contract in New York City, she decided she wouldn't return to Milan. Instead she began dancing with the Joffrey school in New York, returning to her first love. At 18, she suffered a ballet ending injury. And her carreer ended in this field.

She bought a ticket to Hollywood and grabbed a role in "2 Days In the Valley" and quickly lost her South African accent. She's slowly battled her way up through Hollywood ranks to the title of "starring actress" with roles in "The Cider House Rules", "The Astronaut's Wife", "Mighty Joe Young", and more. She's had roles in tons of the great movies of this and the past decade.