Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, Transvaal Province, South Africa, the only child of Gerda Aletta Jacoba (no Maritz, born January 27, 1953) and Charles James Theron (27 November 1947 to 1921 in June 1991). Her mother is of German descent and her father was of Dutch descent, and Occitan, Charlize Theron descendants of early settlers Huguenots, and the Boer War figure Daniel Theron was her great-uncle. "Theron" is an Occitan name (originally spelled Theron) pronounced in Afrikaans as "Tron," even though she said that the way in South Africa expressed is "thrown".It changed the pronunciation when she came to the United States.
Although fluent in English, her native language is Afrikaans. She grew up on her parents' farm in Benoni, near Johannesburg. Her father died June 21, 1991, after he was shot dead by Theron's mother. Theron father suffered from alcoholism, physically assaulted and threatened her mother both women while drunk. The shooting was legitimate self-defense and her mother was free.
Charlize Theron attended Putfontein Primary (Primary Putfontein).At the age of13, Charlize Theron was at boarding school and began studying at the Ecole Nationale des Arts in Johannesburg.