Incredibly, it’s over 20 years since Theron made her big-screen debut but her career continues to go from strength to strength, despite Hollywood’s aversion to female stars over the age of 40. This is largely due to a philosophy that sees her change the type of role she pursues every few years – in the late '90s she was the stunning romantic interest of a number of leading men in films such as The Devil’s Advocate, The Cider House Rules and Reindeer Games. In the early 2000s, however, she altered her own image dramatically to play Aileen Wuornos in Monster, one of the most startling performances of the decade, earning her a Best Actress Oscar and cementing her as a performer capable of far more than she was being offered. Theron would go on to mix hard-hitting drama (In the Valley of Elah, The Road) with more commercial fare (Hancock, Snow White and The Huntsman) and even find a knack for dark comedy in the critically lauded Young Adult.