Charlize Theron added the Berlin Film Festival's best actress award today to her growing collection of prizes for her performance as a homeless prostitute serial killer in the US independent film "Monster'.
Theron has already won a Golden Globe as well as a best actress nomination for the February 29th Academy Awards for her stirring portrayal of Florida streetwalker Aileen Wuornos, who was executed in 2002 for the murder of seven men.
South Africa-born Theron was awarded the prestigious Silver Bear best actress award at the conclusion of the Berlinale while a German film, 'Head-On' (Gegen die Wand) by German-Turkish director Fatih Akin, won the Golden Bear prize for best film.
Theron's Silver Bear certainly won't hurt her Academy Award chances. Last year Nicole Kidman first shared the Silver Bear award with Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore for 'The Hours'.
Kidman then went on to win the best actress Oscar. The Berlinale, ranked just behind Cannes and alongside Venice among the world's leading film festivals, also awarded a best actor Silver Bear to Uruguay's Daniel Hendler for the
low-budget Argentine film 'Lost Embrace' (El Abrazo Partido).