Cameron Diaz Biography
Summary
"Cameron Michelle Diaz" (born August 30, 1972) is an American actress and former fashion model. She is perhaps best known for her roles in blockbuster movies such as "The Mask", "There's Something About Mary", "My Best Friend's Wedding", "Charlie's Angels", "Shrek", and "Gangs of New York". Diaz was the second of three actresses to join the coveted '$20 Million Club' after receiving this salary for "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle".
Biography
Early life
Diaz was born in San Diego, California to Emilio Diaz and Billie (née Early). Diaz's father is a second-generation Cuban-American and her mother has German, English And Native American descent, . Diaz attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School at the same time as rapper Snoop Dogg. During her school days, she was nicknamed Skeletor by her classmates because she was so thin.
Career
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 Carlo de la Torre. On her return to America, she moved in with him. For the next few years, her modeling took her around the world, working for contracts with major companies. She modelled for designers such as Calvin Klein and Levi's. She also graced the cover of the July 1990 issue of "Seventeen" magazine. During this period she also made a brief but now notorious soft pornographic film.
At 21, Diaz auditioned for the Jim Carrey film "The Mask". Even though she had no previous acting experience, she was cast as the female lead. She signed up for acting lessons right after getting the part. 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". She then regained mainstream success with her roles in "My Best Friend's Wedding" and "There's Something About Mary". 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 1999-2000 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 second actress (after "Wedding" costar Julia Roberts) to earn $20 million for a role, receiving the sum for "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle". After "Full Throttle", Diaz only appeared in three films, "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.
Future work for Diaz includes a role in "Shrek the Third" in 2007, where she co-stars with former 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 she dropped out to star in "In Her Shoes". She will also appear in "Shrek 4". She will also star in "The Box", a horror thriller which is due to start filming in November 2007.
July 7, 2007, Diaz participated at Live Earth in New York by introducing The Police. In 2007, People magazine has ranked her as the Best Dressed Female Celebrity.
Relationships
Diaz dated actor Matt Dillon from 1995 to 1998. She is also the ex-fiancée of actor, musician, and guitarist Jared Leto. They had a low-profile relationship from 1998 to 2002. There had been reports that Leto had broken up with Diaz because he was jealous of her increasing acting popularity. Other reports have said that they broke up because Diaz was concentrating more on her acting as Leto was more concerned about his band.
Most recently, Diaz dated former *NSYNC member Justin Timberlake, whom she met at the Kids' Choice Awards in 2003. The pair issued a joint statement on January 11, 2007, announcing they had broken up, following weeks of breakup rumors.
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.
Diaz and Timberlake were involved in another incident while walking out of a friend's house. A photographer jumped out of bushes and photographed them. He then entered his car and allegedly drove it towards Diaz, who had to jump out of the way. Diaz pressed charges against the photographer, whose agency supported his actions as legal and safe.
Personal life
Diaz has publicly admitted she is deeply germophobic and habitually rubs doorknobs so hard before opening doors to clean them that the original paint fades afterwards. Along with her floors, she says, she washes her hands 'many times' each day and uses her elbows to push open doors. Diaz has perhaps modified her fears somewhat, saying on May 10, 2007, 'I think I've made my peace with it.'
Diaz received 'substantial' libel damages from suing American Media Incoporated, after "The National Enquirer" had claimed she was cheating on then-boyfriend Timberlake. Diaz also sued successfully to stop the publication of bondage-themed nude photos taken of her before she became famous. Photographer John Rutter was eventually convicted and sentenced to a jail term for actions related to trying to extract money from Diaz in return for keeping the pictures from becoming public.
When Diaz was asked if she can speak Spanish she said
Diaz is currently represented by Creative Artists Agency.
Dancing
Cameron Diaz's films often include scenes of her dancing, something she obviously has a talent for. Examples of this are Charlie's Angels, Charlie's Angels Full Throttle, The Mask and The Sweetest Thing. The dancing scenes in Charlie's Angels and Charlie's Angels Full Throttle have a focus on Cameron shaking her hips, particularly in Charlie's Angels where there is a scene of her shaking her hips to Baby Got Back. This lead to her even being asked why there are so many scenes of her shaking her bottom in her films by Will Ferell in Saturday Night Live. Will then, for fun, challenged Cameron to a 'butt-off', which she won. In the director's commentary for Charlie's Angels Full Throttle, it is mentioned that Cameron wanted to do a musical number early in the film. This is granted, as there is a scene of her shaking her hips to MC Hammer's Can't Touch This.
Award nominations
1999: Golden Globe for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for "There's Something About Mary"
2000: Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for "Being John Malkovich"
2000: SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress for "Being John Malkovich"
2000: BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for "Being John Malkovich"
2002: Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for "Vanilla Sky"
2002: SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress for "Vanilla Sky"
2003: Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for "Gangs of New York"
2005: "The Hitch"
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Cameron Diaz.
