Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is a Golden Globe-, BAFTA- and SAG-Award nominated American actress and former model. As of 2008, Forbes claims Diaz to have earned $50 million last year, after receiving this salary for What Happens in Vegas making her the highest paid actress and Hispanic in Hollywood.
Biography
Early life
Diaz was born in San Diego, California, the daughter of Billie (née Early), an import-export agent, and the late Emilio Diaz, who worked for UNOCAL a California oil company as a Field Gauger and in the pipeline department for twenty plus years until he retired in 1998. Her father is a second-generation Cuban American and her mother is of English, German and Cherokee Native American ancestry. She has one older sister, Chimene (born 1970). She attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School at the same time as rapper Snoop Dogg.
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.
At 21, Diaz auditioned for The Mask. Even though she had no previous acting experience, 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. 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 for 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 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.
Diaz returned to the screen for 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 dropped out to star in In Her Shoes. She will also appear in Shrek 4 and in the romantic comedy What Happens in Vegas, opposite Ashton Kutcher. She 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.
Awards and 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
2006: Imagen Foundation Award for Best Actress for In Her Shoes (nomination)
2008: Kid’s Choice Awards- Nominated for Best Voice From An Animated Movie for Shrek the Third
2008: Kid’s Choice Awards- Wannabe Award
Filmography (selected)
Films
- Shrek Goes Fourth (2010)
My Sister’s Keeper (2009)
The Box (2009)
What Happens in Vegas (2008)
Shrek the Third (2007)
The Holiday (2006)
In Her Shoes (2005)
Far Far Away Idol (2004)
Shrek 2 (2004)
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
Shrek 4-D (2003)
Gangs of New York (2002)
Minority Report (2002)
My Father’s House (2002)
The Sweetest Thing (2002)
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Shrek (2001)
The Invisible Circus (2001)
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001) (V)
Charlie’s Angels (2000)
Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000)
Any Given Sunday (1999)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Man Woman Film (1999)
Very Bad Things (1998)
There’s Something About Mary (1998)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
A Life Less Ordinary (1997)
My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)
Keys to Tulsa (1997)
Head Above Water (1996)
Feeling Minnesota (1996)
She’s the One (1996)
The Last Supper (1995)
The Mask (1994)