  In a one-on-one interview with the Toronto Sun, Charlize Theron displayed the warmth and wit that have endeared her to the world. (Alex Urosevic, SUN)
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Brains, beauty and Oscar notwithstanding, actor Charlize Theron remains singularly unimpressed with herself.
In person, she is always friendly and engaging, and we'd go so far as to say she is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.
You've seen that particular outside, so you know that's really saying something.
The down-to-earth Theron, 30, is in town for the Toronto International Film Festival -- specifically for a film called North Country, a drama about women working in the mines of Northern Minnesota.
In a one-on-one interview yesterday with the Toronto Sun, Theron conveyed the traits -- warmth, wit and candour -- that have endeared her to the world.
The film, set in the late 1980s and based on real events, concerns one woman's response to the male-dominated workplace and the verbal and physical abuse the women miners tolerated in a regular working day.
The film also stars Frances McDormand and Sissy Spacek. North Country is what you might call a quiet drama -- no rousing speeches or organizing of workers or world-altering events. This is a tough tale of gender politics told through one woman's experience.
As Theron put it yesterday, "This isn't the quintessential Norma Rae or Erin Brockovich, that personality that walks into a room and you can see that they could maybe do something historical. I liked that it was this girl who had gone through hardships that had pulled her into a shell from the time she was young, that she was the person you'd least expect to pull out this strength. But she had that strength. I was fascinated by that."
Theron's North Country role is certainly not the first time she has played a strong woman who has to fight for her rights. Asked who was her role model growing up for this kind of interior strength, Theron said at once, "My mom."
The South African-born actress sees parallels between the women of her country and the women she met in Minnesota filming North Country. What unites these women, Theron said, is the harsh landscape.
"It's a much harder life. The stakes are higher for survival in these kinds of communities. The people don't have the luxury of sitting back and wallowing in self-pity or feeling sorry for themselves, and I have enormous respect for that."
Theron's mother, Gerda, whom the actress has described in the past as her best friend, raised her only child on a farm in Benoni, South Africa. As the world now knows, Theron's parents had a troubled marriage and there was a terrible tragedy when the actress was 15. Her father came home one night drunk and abusive, and shooting a gun off in the house. He threatened to kill his wife and daughter. Theron's mother shot him dead in self-defence.
The actress rarely discusses the incident because, as she has said, it's not her story -- it's her mother's story, and her mother never asked to be in the spotlight.
It's hard to not to think of that part of Theron's life when she talks about identifying with her North Country character's struggles.
"We don't go through life with it all being smooth sailing." Theron said. "We all understand situations where you know it's swim or drown. It's a choice you have to make, and sometimes we surprise ourselves, when we actually make that choice and start swimming, with how well we can do it."
You can't really tone down Theron's physical beauty, but it is fascinating to watch her inhabit a character's body language. That's from her dance training.
"I come from a background of ballet," she said. "I feel like that was my theatre. I did that for 12 years. I told stories with my body and I feel that's a huge aspect of filmmaking."
The former Joffrey Ballet dancer is going to leap into action/adventure movies later this year with Aeon Flux, a futuristic outing directed by Karyn Kusama, who helmed Girlfight.
"I was interested in doing something that was really demanding, physically, to tell a story again. This character, the whole story is being told with her body. I was fascinated with that."
One assumes others will be likewise intrigued.
FROM SOUTH AFRICA TO LOS ANGELES
Born: Aug. 7, 1975, outside Johannesburg -- the only child of her German mother, Gerda, and French father, Charles.
Family tragedy: When Charlize was 15, her mother shot her father dead in self-defence and was not charged.
Off to America: Two years later, her mom moved her to New York. After unsatisfying stints in modelling and ballet, they relocated to Los Angeles so Charlize, then 19, could try acting.
Discovered: Within two weeks, Charlize had an agent. Within eight months she landed her first acting role.
English class: Charlize's first language was Afrikaans. She brushed up on her English by watching soap operas.
Stardom: Four years after appearing in her first film, Charlize earned wide fame in 1999 after starring alongside Tobey Maguire in The Cider House Rules.
Oscar: She won a best-acting Oscar in February, 2004, for her portrayal of serial murderer Aileen Wuornos in Monster.
Dating: Irish actor Stuart Townsend.
