Charlize Theron wanted to be a dancer

Rex Features

Charlize Theron has admitted that she wanted to be a dancer.

Speaking to OK, the 34-year-old explained that she only began acting when she discovered she couldn't dance for a living.

She said: "I remember at night, at like two in the morning, with my mum in the city in a basement on, like, 21st Street, crying my eyes out and eating four pints of ice cream because I couldn't dance anymore, and my mum saying, 'Well, why don't you try acting?'

"I mean... because of some crazy moment at 2am with Haagen-Dazs, I'm standing on a red carpet today."

However, Theron explained that she is "not a big planner".

"I try to live every day like tomorrow might not come," she said. "Not that I succeed at that every day, but I try to think that way and not too far ahead."