Charlize Theron is the queen of action right now in Hollywood, which isn’t a bad title to attain after 20 years playing mostly deeply serious character roles. Theron, who is originally from South Africa, doesn’t have as deep a resume as some of the actresses from her generation, but it’s not lack of talent that prevents her, more a tendency to take on misguided “message” projects that fall flat. Additionally, if you look for Monster among her 10 Best, you won’t find it as it is one of the few films in my life I’ve walked out of because I found it so deeply unpleasant. Doesn’t mean that she wasn’t outstanding in her acting; just means that there’s only so much hooker/serial killer I can take (and from the eventual director of Wonder Woman….who knew?). She’s on a serious career upswing in the wake of stealing Mad Max: Fury Road (where’s our Furiosa spin-off?) and re-establishing her action dominance in Atomic Blonde. She looks 20 years younger than her actual age, and can beat you up, so it’s unlikely this actress is going to fall prey to the gender wall that eats so many careers. I’d like to see her do more comedy though. She has great timing, and that’s something you can’t teach.
Charlize Theron’s Best 10
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (2014) Imperator Furiosa
2. North Country (2005) Josey Aimes
3. Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) Monkey
4. Men of Honor (2000) Gwen Sunday
5. The Italian Job (2002) Stella Bridger
6. That Thing You Do! (1996) Tina
7. Young Adult (2012) Mavis Gary
8. Dark Places (2015) Libby Day
9. Atomic Blonde (2017) Lorraine Broughton
10. Prometheus (2012) Meredith Vickers
Honorable Mention: Dark Places (2015) Libby Day
Oscars, Golden Globes & Emmys
Oscar Wins (1): Monster (2004)
Oscar Nominations (2): Monster (2004), North Country (2006)
Golden Globe Wins (1): Monster (2004)
Golden Globe Nominations (4): Monster (2004), The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2005), North Country (2006), Young Adult (2012)
Emmy Wins (0): None
Emmy Nominations (1): The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2005)
My Favorite Theron Scene:
“Max vs. Furiosa” from Mad Max: Fury Road (2014)
Next Film: Theron is only officially attached to one project currently (though an Atomic Blonde sequel is rumored). She will be starring alongside Andy Serkis and Seth Rogen in Flarsky, scheduled for a February 2019 release.
I am curious which path she’ll take in next 10 years…
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I think she rides the action train for a few more years and then transitions back to dramas, hopefully in the vein of North Country, though, she can be really funny and I’d love to see her get a good comedic vehicle. Right now though, she and Johansson have the action actress market cornered, though Alicia Vikander may change that next year if Tomb Raider ends up being as good as it looks.
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Interesting. I hope so too. TR deserves a good reboot. I haven’t seen any of the works by Roar Uthaug (the director) unfortunately, but hope he won’t finish in the same way as other Norwegian director Morten Tyldum with ‘Passengers’…
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I thought Passengers was ok; not the horrible mess it was made out to be, but not fantastic. If they stick to the game script, they have the look of the reboot game so dead-on it’s scary. It’s my new great hope for a decent video game movie.
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I felt almost cheated after watching it as I had no intention to watch a cheesy syfy melodrama… and $110 mln for what? For having Lawrence and Pratt onboard? Fishburne appearing as deus ex machina? No, thanks. I prefer 2 Sam Rockwells.
Anyway, it wasn’t the directors fault.
Well, Vikander for sure can do that role very well.
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Vikander in Ex Machina blew my mind. Between her ability and the way they took the character and made her so much more than the old D-Cup stereotype with the new games, it has huge potential.
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Absolutely!!! It felt so right that this part of character was changed. I have played Anniversary…
Everything about Ex Machina is mind-blowing:)
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I’m glad she won the Oscar, but it was for the wrong movie….but then most people win their Oscars for the wrong films
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Aha, that’s exactly right, that’s why long time ago I stopped following Oscars at all.
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After the remote throwing debacle when Shakespeare in Love beat Saving Private Ryan so did I. We have our own here on the site in February.
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Cool! I will surely have a look at it.
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I loved her in The Italian Job.
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She’s great. Even if the movie she’s in doesn’t work, you don’t walk out of the theater thinking she was the reason why.
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She needs no Furiosa spin off. Despite the title, she is the protagonist of MM:FR, don’t you think? I have an abiding fascination with movies and franchises where the star is not actually the star.
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She was certainly the protagonist of MM: FR.
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Agreed. I just want more of that character.
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Nice list. I actually forgot she was in a couple of these. Thanks for the reminder. But yeah, Monster would be my #1.
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And I can understand that and I do not for a second knock her acting in it, it’s just I rank the movies not the performances (because I’d go insane doing it the other way) and that film really just hit me wrong. I think she was actually stronger in North Country and should have been recognized for that. Thanks for commenting!
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I had forgotten that that was her in That Thing You Do. Also, was that her in Prometheus? I am actually not joking, that film is jumbled up in my head like the recollections of a fever dream, and the only part that makes a kind of sense when I look back is Micheal Fassbender. Otherwise it’s just images, floating without contexts, and I certainly cannot remember the actors’ faces. What a terrible movie. I am actually kind of stunned that Charlize Theron was in it. I usually have an incredible memory for movies. I am suddenly considering putting Prometheus on my personal list of the all time worst.
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It is and Alien Colony was much worse. Prometheus I can respect for its ambition and it looked gorgeous. Colony is a murky mess. Theron played Weylands daughter.
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