Charlize Theron named a U.N. Messenger

UNITED NATIONS -- Charlize Theron is the newest U.N. Messenger of Peace, turning her Academy Award-winning fame to ending violence against women and girls around the globe.

Theron, 33, told reporters Monday after being inducted into the U.N. role that she was taking on her new responsibilities "very humbly, with a very excited heart." Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed her to the new role, he said, because of Theron's ability to use her "voice, compassion and special relationship with the public to create a better world."

The South African native vowed to help "get a strong message across, a message of no acceptance of this anymore" in her upcoming travels to assist Ban's campaign dubbed "UNite to End Violence against Women," which was launched in February.

Worldwide, the U.N. says one of every five women will be a victim of rape or attempted rape at some point in their lifetime, and at least one of every three women is likely to be beaten, coerced into sex or abused in some other way.

"This is something that has been very dear to me, and disturbing to me for a long time, being born and raised in a country like South Africa, living in a country where it was very evident to me that violence against women and children was something that wasn't going to go away, and as a matter of fact has just gotten worse," Theron said.

Theron, who at age 15 witnessed her mother shoot her alcoholic father to death while he was threatening the family, won an Oscar for Best Actress in 2004 for her portrayal of a domestic violence victim turned serial killer in "Monster." She also was nominated for an Oscar for playing a character in 2005's "North Country" dealing with domestic abuse and sexual harassment.

Theron joins nine other well-known people including Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein of Jordan and actors George Clooney and Michael Douglas in becoming a "messenger" for the U.N. in waging peace and conducting its humanitarian work worldwide.

Already an activist, Theron began working with a Cape Town, South Africa rape crisis center in 1999 and later founded the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project to promote HIV/AIDS education for poor children and their families in South Africa.

Thinking too much about the big picture can be "very overwhelming," she says, so Theron will try to avoid such frustration and measure her success in her new U.N. role on a person-by-person basis.

"Trust me, I've had moments with my foundation where I sat down and threw my hands up and said, 'Does any of this actually matter?' And I think every time that has happened to me, there's been one face that shows up in front of me, with tears of joy, where you can see that what you have done has affected this one singular person. That to me is success. It's the only way I can do this," she said.