Detailed Biography

Cameron Michelle Diaz 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, and several other Hollywood films. Diaz has received Golden Globe nominations for her performances in There's Something About Mary, Being John Malkovich, Vanilla Sky, and Gangs of New York.

Early life

Diaz was born in San Diego, California, the daughter of Billie , an import-export agent, and Emilio Diaz , 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 and 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

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 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 starred in The Box, a horror thriller released November 6, 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

Diaz 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 , 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