Charlize Theron – Big Picture

Charlize Theron has sustained a career in Hollywood for more than a quarter century because she still loves it and wants it to be better. (And because her kids are watching too.)

- By Leah Chernikoff

Charlize Theron recently threw a surprise 40th birthday party for a dear friend, someone she says is like a sister to her. The friend, she tells me, has a thing for Michael Bolton. "So I called him up," Theron recounts. "I said, 'Listen, I know you're probably going to say no, but would you mind singing a song at my friend's birthday party?' And he was like, 'Yeah,' and, oh my God, he was just so cool."

So cool, in fact, that Bolton stayed at the party, which was Vegas-themed, gambling and doing shots with the guests. Seth Rogen, who costarred with Theron in the 2019 romantic comedy Long Shot, was one of them. "It was an unexpected and wild treat, I can confidently say," Rogen recalls. "He was wearing a sparkly suit, which made perfect sense when he was singing, but then he stayed and hung out afterward."

Unexpected is a word that can be applied to a lot of Theron's life and work. Now 47, she is one of a handful of actors who are universally, unquestionably regarded as movie stars. She became famous in a pre-internet age and has, more than 25 years later, managed to maintain that status by fighting for and forging a singular path through Hollywood.