In this weekend's Young Adult, Charlize Theron plays a bitter teen lit author who returns to her hometown to reclaim her high school sweetheart. (A high school sweetheart who also happens to be a perfectly happy husband and new father.) So how did the South Africa-raised Theron transform herself from a delicate ballet dancer to a Oscar-winning onscreen homewrecker?
You can always trace a direct line through a few important roles to illustrate what led to an actor's current success. As such, let's look at nine pivotal performances that track the evolution of Charlize Theron.
2 Days in the Valley (1996)
After an uncredited role in the timeless classic Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, Theron's first big break came via John Herzfeld's 2 Days in the Valley, which co-starred the South African beauty as a hitman's girlfriend who has an epic catfight with Teri Hatcher. (Epic in that she wears head-to-toe white spandex, calls Hatcher a "bitch" and then throws her through a glass coffee table.) Perhaps I should rewind though: Before manhandling the future Desperate Housewives star, Theron flew to Los Angeles after an injury derailed her dancing career at the age of 19. There, she was reportedly discovered while yelling at a teller in a Hollywood Blvd. bank who refused to cash her check. Take note, aspiring Oscar winners.
The Devil's Advocate (1997)
How do you possibly follow up a spandex catfight? If you're Charlize Theron, by lending your services for bit parts in That Thing You Do! and the forgettable Michael Richards-Jeff Daniels comedy Trial and Error before landing your first significant role in a major Hollywood film, The Devil's Advocate. For the first time, Theron explored her dramatic range by playing a woman who unravels mentally when her husband (Keanu Reeves) sells his soul to the devil.
Cider House Rules (1999)
Next up is the role which helped Theron made her first mark on critics. In Lasse Hallström's Academy Award-winning Cider House Rules, Theron plays Candy, a young woman who falls for the film's protagonist [Tobey Maguire] while her boyfriend [Paul Rudd] is away at war. Her performance won her praise and her first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. It also cemented her status as movie star enough for her to win roles in three highly publicized (but underwhelming) projects the next year -- Reindeer Games, The Legend of Bagger Vance and Men of Honor.
Sweet November (2001)
After securing her star, Theron reunited with her Devil's Advocate co-star Keanu Reeves for her most critically detested film at the time, Sweet November. About a dying woman and the man she lets love her for a month (or, as Roger Ebert described them, "two sick and twisted people playing mind games and calling it love"), the movie -- a remake of the 1968 original -- was laughably melodramatic and predictable. To paraphrase Reeves's character, this movie defies every law of nature I've ever known. It legitimately earned every Razzie nod and fan-made YouTube compilation that followed its release. Bad Movie We Love, party of one.
Monster (2003)
Then came the role that changed Theron's career. To play her first nonfictional character, a former prostitute-turned-serial killer named Aileen Wuornos, Theron gained 30 pounds and wore prosthetic teeth. Not only did she win an Academy Award for her starring role but critics like Roger Ebert praised her performance as "one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema." Monster also marked Theron's first producer credit.
Arrested Development (2005)
In 2005, Theron reached a significant milestone in her career -- her first television role (not counting TV movies) and her first legitimate comedic character. Sure, she had previously co-starred in two Woody Allen films (Celebrity, where she played a "polymorphously perverse" model and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion), but this was the first role that was intended to be funny and actually succeeded in making viewers laugh. As Rita Leeds, the beautiful Brit to whom Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) proposes before learning that she is mentally handicapped, Theron impressed Arrested Development's audience with this departure from her dramatic norm and laid the foundation for her turn in this weekend's dark-ish comedy Young Adult.
Aeon Flux (2005)
That same year, after earning more rave reviews for her work in North Country -- a fictionalized spin on the first major successful sexual harassment case in the U.S. -- Theron also became one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood with Æon Flux, her first sci-fi action film, which reportedly earned the Oscar winner a $10 million paycheck. Loosely adapted from the animated series of the same name, the Karyn Kusama film stars Theron as a mysterious raven-tressed assassin in the post-apocalyptic future. Unfortunately, the film was deemed a financial bomb when it failed to earn more than its $62 million budget worldwide.
Hancock (2008)
A year after starring with Tommy Lee Jones in Paul Haggis's crime drama In the Valley of Elah, Theron took part in the most lucrative project of her career, Hancock. The Peter Berg superhero film stars Will Smith as an alcoholic with superpowers, Jason Bateman as a PR spokesperson and Theron as his superpower-blessed wife. Although it only received mixed reviews from critics, it grossed over $600 million worldwide.
Young Adult (2011)
Following her first foray in feature narration with Astro Boy, Theron returns to live action this weekend in the Diablo Cody-written, Jason Reitman-directed Young Adult. As a dissatisfied former "it girl," Theron's teen lit author returns home to rekindle her romance with her happily married high school sweetheart. Here, Theron juggles her dramatic abilities with an award-winning glare and killer punchlines for her first leading role in a dark comedy. It's a lovely milestone for the Oscar-winning actress -- one that will hopefully be followed by many more.