Cameron Diaz

Cameron Diaz

Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is one of the top-ten most coveted American actresses in the world. Busting onto the scene in that infamous red dress from her 1994 appearance in The Mask with Jim Carrey, this Golden Globe Award-nominated American actress and former fashion model, has staying power; going from stunning vixen to every man’s dream in There’s Something About Mary, to butt-kicking super-star in the Charlie’s Angels series with Drew Barrymore and Lucy Lui, since her inception into the limelight, Diaz is never far from the media’s eye.

After a long and low-profile with high-profile pop star Justin Timberlake, Diaz has been a darling of the supermarket tabloids for years, and since her inception into being a single woman, her romances have only gained her more notoriety.

One of the most sought after women in Hollywood, Diaz continued to rake in the big bucks, earning more than $10-million per movie.

Early Life

Born in San Diego, California, this second-generation Cuban-American’s father, Emilio Diaz, worked as a foreman for an oil company, and her mother, Billie Early (who has English, German and Cherokee Native American ancestry), worked as an exporting agent. Diaz attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, where she was called "Skeletor" by her classmates because she was so thin. She was also a member of the Polyettes at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, which was the school's dance team that performed during half-time at football games.

Early Career

By her mid-teens, Cameron began attending Hollywood parties and staying out late. It was during this party phase of her life that Cameron ended up meeting Jeff Dunas at a party, and he told her that he could sign her up with the Elite modeling agency. Although Cameron was initially sceptical of his proposition, she took his card and discussed it with her family and friends.

The proposition turned out to be worthwhile, and At age 16, Diaz began her career as a fashion model and signed with 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 modeled for the likes of Calvin Klein and Levi's Jeans hitting model success very early in her illustrious career. She even graced the cover of the July 1990 issue of Seventeen magazines. However, when she was just starting out, she also did some modeling for an sado-masochism type of spread, which came to light later in her career.

Career: Beginning with a Bang

At the age of 22, Diaz auditioned for The Mask, starring Jim Carrey in 1994. To her own surprise, and with no previous acting experience, she was cast as the female lead. Immediately after getting the part, she signed up for acting lessons. Over the next three years, she won roles in low-budget, independent films, such as The Last Supper in 1995, She's The One, starring Edward Burns, and Jennifer Aniston, and Feeling Minnesota, starring Keanu Reeves and Vincent D'Onofrio.

Early on she grabbed the attention of the world’s most sexy lists, and was named #13 by Empire magazine’s one of the "100 Sexiest Stars" in film history in 1995, and was chosen by People magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful" people in the world in 1998.

Career: Most Coveted Woman in Hollywood

She then regained mainstream success with My Best Friend's Wedding starring opposite Julia Roberts, and more notably, There's Something About Mary in 1998 where she starred opposite Ben Stiller, and became one of the most coveted actresses in Hollywood. She also went onto delve into more serious roles, with the critically acclaimed Being John Malkovich, starring John Cusack and John Malkovich, which earned her Best Supporting Actress nominations at the Golden Globes, the BAFTA Awards and the SAG Awards.

In 2001, Diaz has also starred in the hit adaptation of Charlie's Angels and its sequel, and she voiced a lead character in Shrek and its sequel, for which she earned $10 million. That same year, she won nominations for Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards and the AFI Awards for Vanilla Sky, starring Tom Cruise.

In 2002, Diaz was named by People magazine as one of the the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world, and voted the 11th "Sexiest Female Movie Star" in the Australian Empire magazine as well.

She went onto star in the American epic, Gangs of New York in 2002 with Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis, and has said that this movie marked the pinnacle of her career.

In 2003, for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, she became the second actress (after Julia Roberts) to earn $20 million for a role; though, the film underperformed at the box office.

Diaz was also mentioned regularly in British comedy series Bo' Selecta, being referred to lovingly as 'Cameron Up-Diaz', and is credited as having appeared in one episode in 2003, though in reality her appearance consisted of little more than Avid Merrion trying to give engagement rings to her and her co-stars at the London premiere of Charlie's Angels.

Maxim magazine ranked her #22 in their annual hot 100 in 2004, then she ranked #11 in 2005. In 2006 she made the top 10 by ranking in at #7.

Diaz was the host of the 2005 MTV television series Trippin'.

Future work for Diaz includes a role in Shrek the Third in 2007, where she co-stars with then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake. She was set to team up again with The Mask co-star Jim Carrey in two films Fun with Dick and Jane but she dropped out to star in In Her Shoes. She was recently set to star opposite Carrey again in A Little Game Without Consequence; however the film was shelved and filming is still yet to commence.

Personal Life and Media Attention

Diaz dated actor Matt Dillon for about three years before splitting in 1998. She then had a four-year relationship with actor/singer Jared Leto, to whom she also became engaged, from 1998 to 2002.

Diaz has been vocal in her opposition to U.S. President George W. Bush. Before 2000's election (on October 26 to be exact), Diaz (along with her Charlie's Angels co-stars, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu) wore a shirt that said "I WON'T VOTE FOR A SON OF A BUSH!" while promoting Charlie's Angels on MTV's Total Request Live. During an Oprah appearance before 2004's election, Diaz said

In 2004, a commercial S&M video of Diaz and another girl torturing a man leaked to the Internet. She made the video when she was 19. Diaz filed a suit against the Russian Internet site that distributed the video, but the video file is now distributed by many porn sites and Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. In addition, in 2003 Photographer John Rutter was ordered to stand trial for attempted extortion, attempted grand theft, perjury, and forgery after trying to blackmail her with topless shots he had of her from a 1992 shoot.

Diaz also dated singer and former *NSYNC member, and international pop star, Justin Timberlake, who she met at the Kids' Choice Awards in 2003. After nearly four years together, the pair issued a joint statement on January 11, 2007, announcing they had broken up, following weeks of break-up 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 Diaz and Timberlake, the celebrities 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 paparazzi incident while walking out of a friend's house. The paparazzi 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 paparazzi, whose agency supported his actions as legal and safe.

While still with Timberlake, Diaz publicly talked about dealing with stress and said her favorite way to relax is to have sex; adding "Sex is the most amazing stress reliever...I actually think it’s the best thing for everything".

Diaz received "substantial" libel damages from suing American Media Incoporated, after The National Enquirer had claimed she was cheating on her then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake.

After Diaz and Timberlake’s breakup, she was rumored to be dating surfing star, Kelly Slater.

She is real-life best friend’s with Charlie’s Angels co-star Drew Barrymore, who she gave a Rolex after her breakup with Timberlake, that was originally supposed to go to the SexyBack star.

Diaz has publicly admitted she is deeply germophobic and habitually rubs doorknobs so hard before opening doors to clean them that the original paint on the doorknobs fades afterwards. Along with her floors, she says, she washes her hands "many times" each day and uses her elbows to push open doors. "I'm not scared of germs. I'm just aware of them," Diaz says. "I'm not into other people's fluids unless I know them really well." Because of this she will only wash her face in Evian spring water.

Diaz is appearing in an ad campaign on Japanese television for SoftBank: October/November 2006. Diaz also supports small west London football club Brentford FC after visiting a Hollywood cafe owned by a Brentford supporter.

Charity Work and Activism

Diaz supports several charity organizations, including Act Green, Declare Yourself, Environmental Media Association, Make Poverty History, ONE Campaign and Racing for Kids.