Charlize: Tom Hanks represented a different world

Charlize Theron loved Tom Hanks even before she knew his name.

The blonde actress was a big fan of the screen legend growing up, tuning into his work while living in Benoni, near Johannesburg.

It wasn't just his talents she admired though - it was the idea that he represented another world out there.

"I loved him without knowing his name. He was that guy with the dog shaking its drool all over the place in Turner & Hooch. I loved Tom Hanks as 'the guy'. South Africa then was a different culture, but I must have sensed something: I was restless," she recalled to W magazine.

"I remember the first time I saw a map and realised that South Africa was all the way at the bottom and there was a whole other world out there. Everything - not just moviemaking - felt like it was happening 'over there'. So, at a very young age, I wanted to explore that 'over there'."

Charlize had a tough upbringing, with her mother shooting and killing her alcoholic father when she was young.

She returned to her home country to film Mad Max: Fury Road, which she stars in alongside Tom Hardy, Nicholas Hoult and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Production took place in Namibia, but it wasn't always enjoyable for Charlize to be close to home.

"I was conflicted. Everybody knows that feeling of going home and being giddy and then, at the same time, wanting to projectile vomit," she laughed. "The shoot lasted an eternity - we were there for seven months."

It was when she was a teenager that the 39-year-old left South Africa and headed to New York. Despite technically being too tall to be a dancer, she says she was a "hard worker" and instead dubbed herself as an actress with good moves.