Charlize Theron is one of the world’s most prominent actresses and also known for her philanthropy organization: The Africa Outreach Project.

After rising to prominence in 2003’s Monster — for which she won an Academy Award — Theron has starred in several critically successful films throughout her career including 2005’s North County, 2011’s Young Adult, 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, 2018’s Tully and 2019’s Bombshell.

Throughout her career, Theron has received numerous accolades. In addition to receiving the 2004 best actress Oscar for her jaw-dropping transformation in Monster, Theron has also earned a Golden Globe and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Aside from her incredible success on the big screen, Theron has also made headlines for her personal life. She adopted daughter Jackson in 2012 followed by daughter August in April 2015.

“I do know that choosing to be a mom in my late 30s has been really great for me,” the Oscar winner shared with W magazine in 2015. “It’s given me perspective.”

The actress has also been linked to several high-profile celebrities including Stuart Townsend, Sean Penn, Alexander Skarsgård and Gabriel Aubry.

Keep scrolling for a look back at Theron’s life and career over the years:

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1975

Theron was born in August 1975 in South Africa and developed a passion for dance at an early age. She later attended the Joffrey Ballet School until suffering from a knee injury.

“Even though I was modeling, I always thought of myself as a dancer,” Theron told The New York Times in 2008. “I saw modeling like waitressing — it was a way to pay for another career, and that career was dance.”

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1996

After joining an acting class, Theron received her first speaking role in 1996’s 2 Days in the Valley. Theron’s performance landed her a breakout role the following year in The Devil’s Advocate.

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2001

Theron began dating Irish actor Stuart Townsend in 2001. The twosome parted ways in 2009.

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2003

Theron appeared as serial killer Aillen Wuornos in 2003’s Monster, which earned her the Academy Award for best actress. She was the first South African to win the honor.

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2005

The actress starred as the love interest of Jason Bateman’s character on the third season of Fox’s Arrested Development.

“I just f—king loved [Arrested Development], and this is going to sound so ‘poor me,’ but I do feel like sometimes as women, we get one shot, and I knew that [the 2005 action flick that I starred in] Aeon Flux was going to be a f—king flop,” Theron told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2022. “I knew it from the beginning. That’s why I did Arrested Development.”

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2007

In addition to her acting career, Theron created The Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project in 2007 to support youth in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The following year, she was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace.

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2012

Theron adopted daughter Jackson in 2012 right before filming Mad Max: Fury Road. That same year, she appeared as the Evil Queen Ravenna in Snow White and the Huntsman alongside Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth and appeared as a crew member in Prometheus. Both films were box office successes.

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2013

Theron began dating Sean Penn, but the pair called it quits in June 2015.

“When you leave a relationship there has to be some f–ing crazy story or some crazy drama. And the f–ing ghosting thing, like literally, I still don’t even know what it is,” Theron explained to WSJ in an April 2016 interview. “It’s just its own beast. We were in a relationship and then it didn’t work anymore. And we both decided to separate. That’s it.”

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2015

In July, Theron adopted her second daughter, August.

“I wanted to believe that somehow my child would find me in the way that we were just meant to be,” Theron shared in a December 2019 interview with NPR. “So I wasn’t specific with anything … In whatever country they would allow me as a single woman to adopt, that’s where I filed. And it just happened to be that both my children ended up being American. They were born in the United States and they both happened to be African American.”

Theron also starred as Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, which received critical acclaim. On set, Theron admitted that her and costar Tom Hardy had quite a difficult experience filming together.

“It was like two parents in the front of the car. We were either fighting or we were icing each other — I don’t know which one is worse — and they had to deal with it in the back,” she told Vanity Fair in February 2022.

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2019

Following the success of 2018’s Tully, Theron starred in 2019’s Bombshell alongside Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie. For her performance, Theron was nominated for another best actress Academy Award for her role as Megyn Kelly.

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May 2023

Us Weekly confirmed that Theron is dating Alex Dimitrijevic after the duo were spotted holding hands in Los Angeles. “Charlize and Alex have been dating for a few months now,” a source exclusively told Us. While their romance is “still in the early stages,” the pair “really like each other.”