Transformation

Charlize Theron milking a cow? Believe it. The South African star helped out on her family farm before winning the modeling competition that jumpstarted her career. "I never thought of myself as this exquisite thing," Theron has said. And even though she knows how to bring on the glamour for her red-carpet visits, the star's famous lack of vanity led to an Oscar-winning turn in Monster. Not to mention a farm-fresh beauty routine: "I feel [most] beautiful when I wake up, wash my face, and put on a little moisturizer and lip balm."

—Betony Toht

1993: After winning a modeling contest in South Africa ("My mother entered me as kind of a joke"), the statuesque beauty moves to L.A.