Cameron Diaz Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Cameron Diaz
OCCUPATION: Actress
BIRTH DATE: August 30, 1972 (Age: 40)
PLACE OF BIRTH: San Diego, California
ZODIAC SIGN: Virgo

Best Known For

Cameron Diaz is a former model turned actress known for her comedic roles and girl-next-door charisma.

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Cameron Diaz

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Cameron Diaz. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 10:39, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/cameron-diaz-9273866.

Harvard Style

Cameron Diaz. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/cameron-diaz-9273866 [Accessed 23 May 2013].

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"Cameron Diaz." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 23 2013, 10:39 http://www.biography.com/people/cameron-diaz-9273866.

MHRA Style

"Cameron Diaz," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/cameron-diaz-9273866 [accessed May 23, 2013].

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"Cameron Diaz," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/cameron-diaz-9273866 (accessed May 23, 2013).

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Cameron Diaz [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/cameron-diaz-9273866.

Bluebook Style

Cameron Diaz, http://www.biography.com/people/cameron-diaz-9273866 (last visited May 23, 2013).

AMA Style

Cameron Diaz. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/cameron-diaz-9273866. Accessed May 23, 2013.

Synopsis

Cameron Diaz was born August 30, 1972, in San Diego,

California. She began modeling at age 16 and worked in ad campaigns for Calvin Klein and Coca-Cola. Her first film role was in "The Mask" with Jim Carrey and she's starred in a number of acclaimed smaller films including the existential black comedy "Being John Malkovich." Diaz also provides the voice of Princess Fiona in the Shrek films.

Early Life

Actress. Born August 30, 1972, in San Diego, California. The daughter of Emilio Diaz, a second-generation Cuban-American oil company foreman, and his wife Billie, who is of Native American, Italian, and German descent, Diaz began modeling when she was 16 years old. Her successful modeling career took her to Japan, Australia, Morocco, and Paris, among other locales, landed her in such magazines as Mademoiselle and Seventeen, and in advertising campaigns for such companies as Calvin Klein, Coca-Cola, and Levi's.

Breakthrough Roles

In 1994, Diaz won her first film role in the blockbuster action-comedy The Mask, starring rubber-faced comic Jim Carrey. With no previous acting experience, she had originally auditioned for a supporting character in the film. Twelve callbacks later, however, she was hired to play torch-singing mob moll Tina Carlyle, the female lead. After the success of The Mask, Diaz was touted as the next big thing in Hollywood and wooed by a number of prominent filmmakers to appear in their projects.

While training to star in the live-action film version of the popular martial-arts video game Mortal Kombat, Diaz sustained a wrist injury, which caused her to back out of the film. Instead she made a string of smaller, independent films, including The Last Supper (1995); Feeling Minnesota (1996), costarring Keanu Reeves; She's the One (1996), costarring Ed Burns and Jennifer Aniston; and Head Above Water (1996), costarring Harvey Keitel. She made a successful return to mainstream movies in 1997, winning raves for her portrayal of a sweet bride-to-be opposite Julia Roberts in the playful comedy hit My Best Friend's Wedding.

After starring opposite Ewan McGregor in the uneven romantic comedy A Life Less Ordinary (1997), Diaz made the leap to A-list Hollywood stardom with her savvy comic turn in the unapologetically crude surprise summer blockbuster There's Something About Mary, costarring Ben Stiller and Matt Dillon, and written and directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly. In 1999, audiences saw two very different sides of Diaz first, she camouflaged her blond beauty to play a dowdy pet-shop worker and puppeteer's wife in the much talked-about existential comedy Being John Malkovich, directed by Spike Jonze and costarring John Cusack, Catherine Keener, and Malkovich. Later that year, she turned in a brazen performance as the glamorous, hard-nosed new owner of a professional football team in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday, costarring Al Pacino and Dennis Quaid.

Big Screen Star

Despite her undeniable box office appeal, Diaz continued to appear in relatively low-budget independent film - including the black comedy Very Bad Things (1998), Malkovich, and the ensemble film Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000), which aired on Showtime cable television in 2001 and costarred Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, and Calista Flockhart-as well as more mainstream projects.