Washington, Jan 15: South African actress Charlize Theron credits her smoking for turning her into a Hollywood success.

The 32-year-old ‘Monster’ star does agree that cigarettes are "filthy", however she claims that it was because of the unhealthy habit that she landed a role in ‘The Valley Of Elah’.

"I still smoke, occasionally. But it led to a role in my new film. I kept on running into writer and director Paul Haggis when we were at an awards event. He was there for his film Crash and I was there for North Country,” Contactmusic quoted her as saying.

"We were the only two losers in an alley, smoking. He said, 'I'm going to write a film for you.' And he did," she added. (ANI)