CHARLIZE THERON
Actress, Young Adult
Prior Oscar cred: Nominated twice, Theron won the best-actress Oscar in 2004 for playing serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster, a character some moviegoers considered more sympathetic than Mavis Gary, the narcissist she portrays in Young Adult. Read next sentence, win a bar bet: Theron's Academy Award makes her the surprise correct answer to the trivia question “Who is the first African actor to win an Oscar?” (She grew up in South Africa.) Not young, not adult: Theron is a hot mess in her new film. Never undermining screenwriter Diablo Cody's heartlessly satirical vision with movie-star winks to the audience, she creates a complicated, difficult-to-root-for, flesh-and-blood anti-heroine. Degrees of separation from this year's honorary Oscar recipient James Earl Jones: Two— Theron appeared in The Italian Job, as did former San Diego Charger (and frequent movie bad guy) Gregory Scott Cummins, who had a part in Gang Related alongside Mr. Jones.
Photographed by Terry Richardson in Hollywood.