The South African actress overcame a troubled childhood on her road to success
南非女星克服童年的困扰迈向成功
In Monster, Charlize Theron plays Aileen Wuornos, a woman facing the dea th penalty for murdering seven men. It seemed like a strange and dark role for such a beautiful, young actress to take. But Charlize is no stranger to violence: when she was 15 years old, she watched her mother shoot down her father.
在《女魔头》一片中，莎莉赛隆饰演艾莲·吴尔诺，她是个因谋杀7个男人而被判死刑的女人。对这位年轻漂亮的女演员来说，这似乎是个古怪而又阴暗的角色。但是莎莉对暴力并不陌生：她在15岁时目睹她的母亲枪杀她的父亲。
“My father and my uncle drank before they came home,”she remembered.“He phoned and warned us he was on his way home.”
“我父亲和我叔叔在回家前都喝醉了。”她回忆道，“他打电话警告我们，说他正在回家的路上。”
“Nature gives you instincts and, that day, I knew something was going to happen.”Charlize’s mother locked the door, but her father had a gun and shot through the lock.“He threatened to kill all of us,”she said. Instead, her mother picked up her own gun and shot him.
“人天生就有直觉，那天我知道会有事情发生。”莎莉的母亲锁了门，但是她父亲有一把枪，他射穿了门锁。“他威胁要把我们全杀掉。”她说。结果相反，她的母亲拿起自己的枪朝他射击。
“I wish I could change it, but I can’t. I would have done the same as my mother if it were my daughter. You think something like this will not happen to you, but it does.”
“我希望我能改变这件事，但我不能。如果我是我妈妈，可能会做一样的事。你觉得这样的事不会发生在你身上，但它就是会。”
The memory of that night must have stayed with Charlize as she transformed herself into Wuornos. She did extensive research on her subject but was unable to interview Wuornos: she was executed days before filming began. The process was not only mental: she also had to put on 12 kilograms, and a makeup artist turned her nearly flawless face into a mask of tragedy.
莎莉把自己变成吴尔诺时一定还记得那天晚上的事。她对她的主题做了广泛的研究，却无法去跟吴尔诺谈谈：吴尔诺在影片开拍前几天被处决了。这个过程不只是精神上的：她还必须增加12公斤体重，一位化妆师将她几近无瑕的脸变成了一张悲剧的面孔。
In part, her motivation was to prove herself as a serious actress:“I think it’s a bit like climbing Mount Everest,”she said.“Why do people do that? I think in life we want to challenge ourselves to see what we are capable of. How far can I push myself?”
她有一部分的动机是为了证明自己是个认真的女演员。“我觉得这有一点像攀登珠穆朗玛峰。”她说，“大家为什么要那样做？我认为在一生中我们想挑战自己，看看我们的能力可以到哪里，我们可以鞭策自己达到什么样的境地？”
She pushed herself far enough to win the Best Actress Oscar for her performance. And in her acceptance speech, she had a message for her mother:“You’ve sacrificed so much for me to be able to make my dreams come true. There are no words to describe how much I love you.”
她如此努力地鞭策自己，以她的表演赢得了奥斯卡最佳女主角奖。她在领奖时致谢词感言中给了她母亲一段话。“你为我牺牲了这么多，让我的梦想得以成真。言语无法形容我爱你有多深。”
