How good is Charlize Theron's (American) accent

Incidently Ed, I've seen the American media saying that she lived in a small town. That is not quite true, either. Benoni, where she grew up, is quite a large town, and part of the Johannesburg metropole.

Ack... Charlize is a tall blond hottie, with an equally hot fiancé, and a golden Oscar statue on her mantle...

I hate her already ;-)

Esta Terblanche

Any Americans here know her?

about Esta Terblanche :

I think I saw her in afew muvies, but I don't her name.Does she have a nick name?
She is a very beautiful woman, though.

she was in an american soapie forget which

Theron's native language is actually Afrikaans, so while she has probably spoken fluent English all her life, she has something of an outsider's perspective on the language.

Her accent of English sounds pretty much like any Southern California surfer girl.

<<<Hmm, not really, Andre. I know she's an excellent actress and very beautiful, too, but she seems cold and unfriednly.>>>

I've actually run into Charlize Theron twice, back when I was a publicist, and both times she was real sweetheart. The first time was at a fundraiser for Best Friends Sanctuary in the Knitting Factory on Hollywood Blvd., and it was her wandering blonde cocker spaniel that first approached me by sniffing up and down my leg. She came over to retrieve her dog, and joked, "She really seems to like you. I can't seem to get her attention." We then chatted briefly about our pets before she returned to her table. But I remember thinking that evening how incredibly sweet (and beautiful!) she was.

The 2nd time, I accompanied a client to the premiere of her movie, "Sweet September" and I didn't think she'd remember me, but when she saw me, she said, "Hey, how ya doing?" That woman made me feel 10 ft tall.

(Okay, yes, I'm bragging a bit, but I'm also illustrating how approachable and friendly she was to me.)

Who is Charlize Theron ?

An actress, apparently. What kind of movies ?

I didn't realize that Charlize Theron was non-American until she mentioned on some talk show that she was from South Africa.

"Theron's native language is actually Afrikaans, so while she has probably spoken fluent English all her life, she has something of an outsider's perspective on the language. "

Ben,

In an interview ( I think it was last year) given to Reggies and Kelly show, she claimed that she started learning English just 7 years ago, which I don't believe is true.
I think majority of Afrikaans speak English, or at least that is my impression.
Andre from SA, is this true?

I just listened to a several-minute long interview with her at

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/07/earlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main591961.shtml

And I have to say her accent sounds very American. If I hadn't already known she was South African she could've easily convinced me she was American. I wouldn't go so far as "Southern California surfer girl" but it sounds like a typical American 30-something accent to me (for lack of a bette term, essentially "General American"). Her accent in "Monster" was also very convincing, which surely required a lot of work, being a much different American accent from how she sounded in the interview.

*better term, that is

I didn't know she went through so much struggle back in SA.

Julian

Must say that my impression that she is rather cold has more to do with her media image. But when she was here (in SA) last year, she certainly came across the way you describe her. So your impression of her is probably closer to the truth.

Greg

>Who is Charlize Theron ?

An actress, apparently. What kind of movies ? <

Quite famous actress, actually she won the Oscar last year for Monster.

Chamonix

>In an interview ( I think it was last year) given to Reggies and Kelly show, she claimed that she started learning English just 7 years ago, which I don't believe is true.
I think majority of Afrikaans speak English, or at least that is my impression.
Andre from SA, is this true? <


You're right, she would have started to learn English from her first year in school. She did grow up in a predominantly Afrikaans town, but the town is very close to Johannesburg. What she might have meant, was that she learned American English (the accent and so on), or perhaps that she put in an effort to improve her English. She left for Milan at 16 (13 years ago) after winning a modelling competition here, and went to the USA at 18. I know she learned the American accent by singing along with songs, and watching TV programmes

<<I've actually run into Charlize Theron twice>>

Liar.