Charlize Theron Quotes on Work & Career (10 Quotes)

And I was victim to that very early in my career, where I would go into auditions, and I'd be wearing a big T shirt, a big baggy T shirt and loose jeans. You know, to try and show people that there was more to me than just that.

And I do think that earlier in my career, I did make a very conscious decision to make sure that I was doing work that wasn't necessarily given to me, and that people didn't necessarily think that I would be able to do.

Something I learned very early on in my career is that there are a lot of things that you do not have any power over.

At least I know that one film-maker in my career has had the initiative to come to me and thought of me as being capable of doing interesting and complicated work, and so I have a new-found belief that other film-makers will see me in a different way, the way that Patty did.

So how critics will perceive your film or your work, or whether your movie is going to make $100 million at the box office, or whether you are going to be winning any awards - well, you have no control over that.

I mean I tried to transform myself through characters throughout my career.

You can't control those things. When they happen, it's great, but if you put too much emphasis on that, you lose track of what you're supposed to be doing and the work itself.

Then they started telling me stories about how this abuse didn't just affect them. It affected their children when they went to school, when they went to go play hockey. It wasn't just something that happened at work and then it was done. It really bled into the community and there was just this constant fight.

So I did that for a long time in my career, and I waited for parts to play myself just physically down a little bit. But I do feel like I'm at a place in my career now where I don't necessarily fret about that too much anymore.

I like what I do, and I'm very fortunate now to be in a very nice place. Which is that I don't have to work anymore. So the work that I do now is purely because I really want to.