Feature Editor’s Note

While doing some research for the timeline that accompanies Margaret Gardener’s interview with Charlize Theron (by the way, Margaret is an iconic South African in her own right — she was Miss Universe in 1978, in the days when we were still very impressed by such titles), I was fascinated by the incredible story of one of SA’s most famous exports.

Most people are aware of the drama of Charlize’s teenage life, yet she got past all that and is now starring in her umpteenth Hollywood movie, this time alongside comedian Seth Rogen as US presidential hopeful.

Ridiculous as it seems, I consider myself only slightly removed from the world-famous actress in a Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon kind of way. As a teenager, roughly the same age as Charlize, I was taught by the same ballet teacher, Bernice Lloyd, who instructed the aspiring dancer until she left the country at 16. I’ve sometimes wondered if I passed Charlize in the hallways outside the dance studios

when I went to Die Kruin High School, The National School Of The Arts Theatre for my ballet classes three afternoons a week after school.

At 16, Bernice suggested, rather indelicately, that I wasn’t cut out for a life in ballet — the ex-Prima Ballerina was never one to mince her words (she still doesn’t — my daughter dances with her now). I had limited talent. Evidently Charlize has it in spades. What Charlize also has in spades is supreme intelligence (she’s come this far without finishing high school) and a rare drive and confidence that singles her out as gold in a sea of tinsel.

It’s clear, if you read the interview on pages 6 and 7, that you can’t put her success down to her looks.

But we all know that SA is full of remarkable people in many shapes and forms. Santu Mofokeng’s photographic talent was recently been recognised by a German publisher. Read that story on page 40. But to give you any more detail on this issue would be plot spoiling (read why you shouldn’t do that on p46). Have a beautiful Sunday.