Charlize Theron
Josey Aimes, North Country
Age: 30
Birthplace: Benoni, South Africa
Essential filmography: The Devil’s Advocate (1997), Celebrity (1998), The Astronaut’s Wife (1999), The Cider House Rules (1999), Monster (2003)

PREMIERE: Who are your idols?
Tom Hanks, lately Shirley MacLaine—I’m just madly in love with her. Nelson Mandela. This is a guy who had twenty-seven years of his life taken away from him, yet he is just the most unbitter, peaceful human being I’ve ever met.

What was your first acting job?
I was an extra in Children of the Corn III. I was one of the kids running through the cornfield getting [chased] by the corn monster.

If you weren’t acting, you would be . . . ?
Living on a farm somewhere very far, far away, with cows to milk and grapes to pick and wine and cheese to make.

Why did you take this part?
I think a lot of women can relate to Josey. The thing that I loved about Aileen Wuornos and Josey was that they were very flawed human beings, and by social standards they should have been kicked to the curb.

What was the toughest scene to play?
Where I go into the union hall meeting, and the four hundred extras in there are all real miners. It was a matter of “Trust us” and “We’re not here to judge you.” It became this big therapy session, but I was kind of like the dartboard in the center.

What’s your most humiliating rejection story?
When I was a model, I went out for a cream ad. It was basically like, “Oh, look how dry the back of my heel is, and now it’s all smooth!” Yeah, well, they rejected my heel. Not that it destroyed me or anything.