But before the fame and fortune, her life was marked by an unthinkable tragedy.

Charlize Theron was born on August 7, 1975, in Benoni, South Africa, into a prominent Afrikaner family. Her ancestry traces back to Dutch, French, and German settlers, with her French ancestors being among the early Huguenots in South Africa.

Her father, Charles Theron, and mother, Gerda Maritz, worked in road construction, but her family history goes far beyond that — she is even related to Danie Theron, a well-known military leader from the Second Boer War.

While Theron is fluent in English today, her first language is Afrikaans. And though she would one day take Hollywood by storm, her early life in South Africa was shaped by both privilege and unimaginable hardship.