Charlize vs Charlize: 6 movies featuring South Africa’s biggest star

Charlize Theron has earned her Hollywood star many times over with fine performances, finding her place in the sun after winning an Oscar for her role as street prostitute turned serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. With this transformative performance, Theron has become a force to be reckoned with, continually reinventing herself to stave off becoming typecast.

Having avoided sequels for 21 years, Theron eventually caved when she reprised the role of Ravenna in The Huntsman: Winter’s War before joining The Fate of the Furious as Cipher. Who can blame Theron for taking a few big payday roles? She’s bought the t-shirt, won the Oscar and deserves to have some fun. Having played Aeon Flux some 17 years ago, it seems like a good time for her to be breaching the runaway success of Marvel’s cinematic universe as Dr Clea Strange opposite Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange.

Showmax now has a wide array of Charlize Theron films available to stream, covering action, comedy, drama, sci-fi and fantasy, all ranked according to her performance. While she’s become known for her dramatic range, Theron continues to prove she’s an all-rounder… just as adept with action and comedy.

Tully as Marlo

Charlize Theron’s hard edge makes her more suited to drama but it’s always refreshing to see her tackle comedy to keep us guessing. Written by Diablo Cody, who also wrote the wisecracking delight that was Juno, Tully is the perfect vehicle for Theron to play Marlo, a mother of three who forms an unexpected bond with her night nanny. Gaining weight for the part, Theron’s transformative performance demonstrates just how committed to her craft she is and gives the actor a welcome opportunity to be funny.

Playing opposite Hollywood comedy icons Ron Livingston and Mark Duplass, she flexes her comic timing offering a well-balanced performance to usher in the arrival of the enigmatic Mackenzie Davis. Counterbalancing offbeat humour with the real struggles of being a mom, Tully is a bittersweet comedy drama mystery and features one of Theron’s finest and most underrated performances.

Bombshell as Megyn Kelly

Charlize has won an Oscar and been nominated for North Country and Bombshell. An Oscar can represent the pinnacle of one’s career but for an actor as accomplished and talented as Theron, it should be one of several high points. Bowing to the idea that Theron needs to look completely unlike herself in order for the Academy to take notice, is where she finds herself as Fox News correspondent Megyn Kelly in Bombshell.

Playing opposite Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and John Lithgow in this star-studded biographical drama, the story centres on a group of women who spearhead an explosive expose of the toxic atmosphere of Fox News during the reign of Roger Ailes. Wearing prosthetics to offset facial recognition, she commands an equally transformative performance with her usual strength and presence. It’s her pedestal essence and deep voice that shines through in this role, probably confusing a lot of audiences in the process.

Atomic Blonde as Lorraine Broughton

Growing up in South Africa, Charlize probably read syndicated British action-adventure espionage comic strips like Modesty Blaise. In Atomic Blonde, she gets a chance to channel pure wish fulfilment by creating her own version of the sultry tough-as-nails spy. Playing a blonde in Lorraine Broughton, the MI6 agent is dispatched to Cold War Berlin to find a stolen list of secret agents.

Directed by John Wick and Deadpool 2’s David Leitch, Atomic Blonde has a James Bond element to its action, car chases, cold-blooded precision and stylish panache. As much as Theron’s action-orientated role oozes cool, it’s demanding and one particularly kick-ass continuous shot in a stairwell demonstrates Theron’s commitment, an actor who’s more than up to the task.

Gringo as Elaine Markinson

Charlize Theron is typically a headline act but sometimes shares the stage in ensemble films like the dark comedy drama Gringo. The movie follows David Oyelowo as the high-strung Harold, a struggling businessman, who crosses the line from law-abiding citizen to wanted criminal in Mexico.

Playing the complex corporate bigwig Elaine Markinson, Charlize attempts to bridge her two typical film dispositions, in a state of flux between the dimensions of hard-edged shark and vulnerable poodle. Much like her South African co-star Sharlto Copley, she’s having a blast with the role… constantly entertaining in her character’s funk of bad attitude and neediness.

The Devil’s Advocate as Mary Ann Lomax

Charlize was only just getting discovered by the time she racked up her fifth official screen credit in The Devil’s Advocate. Having landed parts in That Thing You Do! and 2 Days in the Valley, her scene-stealing as a minor supporting character in Trial and Error preceded her supporting role as Mary Ann Lomax in The Devil’s Advocate.

Playing opposite Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino must have been intimidating but to Theron’s credit, she owns the role as a young, innocent woman who takes hair tips from the devil himself. It’s rare to see Theron playing such an impressionable character.

Fast & Furious 9: The Fast Saga as Cipher

Much like Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Jason Statham, the Fast and Furious franchise managed to harness the star power of yet another Hollywood heavyweight in Charlize Theron. This casting decision underlines Theron’s credibility as an action star and simultaneously adds more dramatic heft to a series that has been more concerned with action, car chases and explosions.

Playing Cipher in The Fate of the Furious, Theron’s presence is felt as the technologically savvy super villain but this cyberpunk performance rests on her prowess rather than stretching her acting abilities. Sharing the screen with an ever-burgeoning cast of action stars now including John Cena, this character becomes a riff on Hannibal Lecter and sports a “magnet plane” in the ninth instalment.