Born in Benoni, near Johannesburg in South Africa, to African parents of German (mother) and French (father) descent on August 7 1975, Charlize always had a thing for glamour.
The leggy girl was a professional model by age 16, and was besotted by the movies. One of the first films she saw in a theatre was Splash!, which led to envy towards leading lady Daryl Hannah and a huge crush on the film's young leading man, Tom Hanks.
Which is why it was only fair that Hanks give her a breakthrough opportunity in his directorial debut, That Thing You Do, a dozen years later, even if it was a smaller role.
1997 was her first big year, when she starred opposite Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino (centre) in Taylor Hackford's The Devil's Advocate. The film generated a loyal fan following, and men began to drool over the tall woman.