CAMERON DIAZ BIOGRAPHY
Born: 30 August 1972
Where: San Diego, California, USA
Awards: 4 Golden Globe and 1 BAFTA nominations
Height: 5' 9"
Early Life
Cameron Diaz was born on the 30th of August, 1972, in San Diego, California. Her father, Emilio Diaz, was a second generation Cuban American and worked as a foreman for an oil company. Her mother, Billie, was an import/export broker of English, German and Native American descent (a complex blend of bloodlines that helps to explain Cameron's outrageous good looks). There was also an older sister, Chimene.
Many were jealous to the point of fury when Cameron Diaz made her film debut in the high-budget Jim Carrey vehicle, The Mask. Here's another good-looking bit of fluff stealing another prime role, it was said - she's all face'n'figure, no acting ability at all. There's precious few decent roles for actresses anyway, for God's sake. Now, ordinarily, you'd now read a detailed rejoinder to that attack. You'd hear how the artist under fire actually began studying under the private tutelage of Montgomery Clift at the age of 3, before winning a scholarship to the Lee Strasberg Actor's Studio. Then there was the toil and starvation of years spent struggling off-Broadway. This overnight sensation was actually over a DECADE in the making.
So the story USUALLY goes. But, in the case of Cameron Diaz, those enraged attackers were pretty much correct. Before her debut, there'd been no acting classes, no honing of her skills in repertory, no years of rejection. She was a successful model, and there can be no doubt that her looks played a huge part in winning her the role of Carrey's love, singer Tina Carlyle, in The Mask. What's incredible about Diaz is not the story we don't know - that standard tale of the building of knowledge and experience - it's the story we DO know. For this model, this complete non-actor was actually EXCELLENT in The Mask.
Beyond this, within two years she was starring opposite Harvey Keitel, within three she was alongside Julia Roberts, within five it was Al Pacino. And, miraculously, she more than held her own beside all three. Immediately, somehow, she was a world-class screen actress, a complete natural, a freak of cinematic nature.
Filmography
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.
She then regained mainstream success 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 the 1990-2000 period, 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, 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 appearances 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 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. Vegas, opposite Ashton Kutcher. She will also appear in Shrek 4 and is also set to star in The Box, a horror thriller in 2008 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 a cameo on Saturday Night Live on February 15, 2009 with guest star Alec Baldwin as a cougar named Kiki Damore on a skit called "The Cougars' Den".
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