Unlike the others Theron has won the Oscar, the world's top film award, for her role playing a lesbian serial killer in 2003 film, "Monster."

She has also shown a range of talent, working in serious dramas like "The Cider House Rules," thrillers such as "The Italian Job" and special-effects filled "AEon Flux."

Beyond work, the actress is involved in charitable causes working in her home country, for instance, to put mobile health clinics in rural areas where access to care is limited.

And sorry men, this year's Sexiest Woman is taken. Theron's boyfriend is actor Stuart Townsend.