Cameron Diaz

Cameron Diaz is a Golden Globe-, BAFTA- and SAG-Award nominated U.S. actress and former model. In 2008, Forbes estimates Diaz to have earned $50 million last year, after reportly receiving this salary for What Happens in Vegas making her the highest paid actress in Hollywood.

Biography Early life

Diaz was born in San Diego, California, the daughter of Billie , an import-export agent, and 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 was a second-generation Cuban American and her mother is of English, German and Cherokee Native American ancestry. She has one older sister, Chimene Diaz, . She attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School at the same time as rapper Snoop Dogg.

Career Cameron Diaz on the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival with Martin Scorsese and Leonardo Dicaprio for the film Gangs of New York

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 the U.S., 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 was featured on 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