Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is an American actress and former model. She broke out in the 1990s with her roles in
The Mask,
My Best Friend's Wedding and
There's Something About Mary, and subsequently appeared in
Charlie's Angels,
Shrek,
Vanilla Sky,
Gangs of New York,
What Happens in Vegas and several other Hollywood films.
Early life
Diaz was born in
San Diego, California, the daughter of Billie (née Early), an import-export agent, and Emilio Diaz (1949–2008), born in
Los Angeles County, who worked for the California oil company
UNOCAL for more than 20 years as a field gauger, and in the pipeline department, until he retired in 1998. Her father was a second-generation
Cuban American. Her grandparents settled in
Tampa's
Ybor City. Her mother is of
English,
German and
Cherokee ancestry.
She has one older sister, Chimene Diaz. She attended
Long Beach Polytechnic High School at the same time as
rapper
Snoop Dogg.
Career
Modeling
thumb|upright=1.3|Cameron Diaz on the red carpet of the 2002 [[Cannes Film Festival with
Martin Scorsese and
Leonardo DiCaprio for the film
Gangs of New York]]
At 16, she began her career as a fashion model. Diaz signed with top modeling agency
Elite Model Management. After graduating from high school, she went to work in Japan and met video director Carlos de la Torre. On her return to the U.S., she moved in with him and had a five-year relationship from the time she was 17 until she was about 21. For the next few years, her modeling took her around the world, working for contracts with major companies. She modeled for designers such as
Calvin Klein and
Levi's. She was featured on the cover of the July 1990 issue of
Seventeen magazine.
Acting
At 21, Diaz auditioned for
The Mask, even though she had no previous acting experience, based on the recommendation of an agent for Elite who met the film's producers while they were searching for the female lead. After obtaining the lead female role, she immediately started acting lessons. Over the next three years, she won roles in low-budget,
independent films, such as
The Last Supper,
Feeling Minnesota, and
She's the One, preferring to feel her way effectively into the business. Her breakthrough began with her roles in
My Best Friend's Wedding and
There's Something About Mary, a film for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe in the category of
Best Actress - Musical or Comedy. She won critical acclaim for her performance in
Being John Malkovich, which earned her Best Supporting Actress nominations at the
Golden Globes, the
BAFTA Awards, and the
SAG Awards.
During 1990–2000, Diaz starred in many films, such as
Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her,
A Life Less Ordinary,
Any Given Sunday, and the hit
adaptation of
Charlie's Angels. In 2001, she won nominations for Best Supporting Actress at the
Golden Globes, the
SAG Awards, the
Critics' Choice Awards, and the
AFI Awards for
Vanilla Sky, and also voiced
Princess Fiona in
Shrek, for which she earned $10 million. In 2003, Diaz received another Golden Globe nomination for
Martin Scorsese's epic
Gangs of New York, and became the third actress (after
Wedding costar
Julia Roberts and
Reese Witherspoon) to earn $20 million for a role, receiving the sum for
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Her next film performances were in
Shrek 2,
In Her Shoes, and
The Holiday. During 2004 and early 2005, Diaz explored some of the planet's environmentally unique locations while discovering ways to help preserve them for the 10-episode
MTV series
Trippin' which featured numerous celebrities and friends of Diaz, such as
Jessica Alba,
Drew Barrymore,
Mark Hoppus,
Eva Mendes, and
Justin Timberlake.
Diaz returned to the screen for
Shrek the Third in 2007, in which she co-starred with her then boyfriend
Justin Timberlake. She was set to team up again with
The Mask co-star
Jim Carrey in the film
Fun with Dick and Jane, but dropped out to star in
In Her Shoes. She also appeared in the romantic comedy
What Happens in Vegas, opposite
Ashton Kutcher. Diaz will again voice Princess Fiona in
Shrek 4 and is set to star in
The Box, a
horror thriller, as well, scheduled to be released October 30, 2009, co-starring
James Marsden.
On July 7, 2007, Diaz participated at
Live Earth in New York by introducing
Bon Jovi and
The Police. In 2007,
People ranked her as the Best Dressed Female Celebrity. In August 2008,
Forbes Magazine listed Diaz as the highest paid actress in
Hollywood. She reportedly earned $50 million in the period of a year ending June 2008, for her roles in
What Happens in Vegas and the
Shrek films.
She made an uncredited guest appearance on
Saturday Night Live on February 14, 2009 with guest star
Alec Baldwin on a skit called "The Cougars' Den".
Personal life
right|150px|thumb|Diaz in 2005Diaz received "substantial"
defamation damages from suing
American Media Incoporated, after
The National Enquirer had claimed she was cheating on then-boyfriend Timberlake.
In 1992 Diaz appeared in a
soft-core S&M video entitled "She's No Angel" shot by photographer John Rutter. In 2003 she won an injunction against Rutter preventing him from distributing the video or accompanying photographs, however in 2004 the video began being distributed online through a Russian website.
When Diaz was asked if she can speak
Spanish she said:
The actress was vocal in her support for
Al Gore in
2000. Diaz went so far as sporting a t-shirt that read "I won't vote for a son of a Bush!" while making the publicity rounds for
Charlie's Angels.
Diaz has also been involved with the
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the first and largest nonprofit for veterans of
Iraq and
Afghanistan, and has spoken as an advocate for military families.
Although she was quoted in a 1997
Time Magazine article saying she was
germophobic, Diaz specifically denied this on the June 26, 2009 edition of
Real Time with Bill Maher, saying that a small comment she made 12 years earlier regarding public bathroom doorknobs was blown out of proportion.
On April 15, 2008, her father, Emilio Diaz, died of
pneumonia, aged 58.
Relationships
Diaz dated former
*NSYNC member
Justin Timberlake, whom she met at the
2003 Kids' Choice Awards. In October 2004, Diaz and Timberlake were in an altercation with a
tabloid photographer outside a hotel. When the photographer and another man tried to photograph them, the couple snatched the camera. Pictures of the incident appeared in
Us Weekly. Representatives for the pair claimed that they were "ambushed" and acting out of self-defense. The pair issued a joint statement on January 11, 2007, announcing they had broken up, following weeks of breakup rumors.
Awards and nominations
thumb|right|Diaz in June 2007- 2002: Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for Vanilla Sky (nomination)
- 2002: SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress for Vanilla Sky (nomination)
- 2003: Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for Gangs of New York (nomination)
Filmography
Television
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