Charlize Theron Channels Emotion  1/26/06

Charlize Theron channels the pain behind the death of her abusive father to help her act with emotion.

When the OSCAR winner was 15 she watched her mother shoot and kill her alcoholic father in self-defense.

She insists, despite the media's obsession with her past, it doesn't occupy her - and she is now able to use it to her advantage.

Theron, 30, says, "Every time I work, I deal with my demons.

"When I feel safe with a director, I can go to that corner and turn the light on in that dark place.

"I can put myself there; I can feel all those things I felt 15 years ago. And then switch it off because it doesn't control me, because I know that I'm not consumed by it."