Cameron Diaz

Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is an American actress.

Cameron Michelle Diaz was born August 30, 1972, in San Diego, California, to Billie (née Early), an import/export agent, and Emilio Diaz, a foreman of the California oil company Unocal.

Diaz has an elder sister, Chimene.

Her father's family is Cuban, and Diaz's ancestors had originally moved from Spain to Cuba.

Later, they settled in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, before moving to the Los Angeles area, where her father was born.

Her mother has predominantly English and German ancestry.

Diaz was raised in Long Beach and attended Los Cerritos Elementary School, and then Long Beach Polytechnic High School, where she was a schoolmate of Snoop Dogg.

She recalled her upbringing as frugal, stating: "I had amazing parents, they were awesome. We weren't privileged—very much the opposite. My family would collect [soda] cans to turn in for extra money, because $20 meant something to us. But we were very happy."

While still attending high school, Diaz signed a modeling contract with Elite Model Management at age 16 and appeared in advertisements for Calvin Klein and Levi's.

During the late 1990s and continuing into the 21st century, Diaz established herself as a sex symbol and one of Hollywood's most bankable stars, and in 2013 she was named the highest-paid actress over 40.

Born in San Diego, California, Diaz was raised in Long Beach.

While still in high school, she signed a modeling contract with Elite Model Management.

The following year, at age 17, she was featured on the cover of the July 1990 issue of Seventeen magazine.

Diaz also modeled for 2 to 3 months in Australia and shot a commercial for Coca-Cola in Sydney in 1991.

In 1992, at age 19, she was photographed and videotaped topless for an S&M leather fashion lingerie editorial by John Rutter, a professional photographer.

The photographs and video were never released.

She made her film debut at age 21 opposite Jim Carrey in the comedy The Mask (1994).

The Mask became one of the top ten highest-grossing films of 1994 and launched Diaz as a sex symbol.

During this period, Diaz dated video producer Carlos de la Torre.

Diaz subsequently starred in the independent black comedy The Last Supper (1995), playing one of several liberal graduate students who invite a group of extremist conservatives to a dinner in an attempt to murder them.

Roger Ebert deemed the film "a brave effort in a timid time, a Swiftian attempt to slap us all in the face and get us to admit that our own freedoms depend precisely on those of our neighbors, our opponents and, yes, our enemies."

She then had a lead role as an ex-stripper in the dramatic comedy Feeling Minnesota (1996), in which she co-starred opposite Keanu Reeves, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Courtney Love.

Emanuel Levy of Variety noted: "Sadly, with the notable exception of the attractive Diaz, who's well cast as the sexual aggressor and romantic manipulator, there are no exciting performances in the film."

The same year, she was cast opposite Jennifer Aniston in the Edward Burns-directed comedy She's the One (1996), followed by a starring role in Head Above Water (1996), a crime-comedy in which she played an unfaithful wife implicated in her ex-lover's murder.

Following a supporting role in the romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), she starred as the titular character in the Farrelly brothers' comedy There's Something About Mary (1998), which brought her increased fame and her first Golden Globe nomination.

Her following two projects—the sports drama Any Given Sunday and Spike Jonze's fantasy film Being John Malkovich (both 1999)—lent Diaz a reputation as a dramatic actress.

Diaz had praised supporting roles in Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky (2001) and Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002) and had greater commercial success in the action comedy Charlie's Angels (2000) and its 2003 sequel, as well as for voicing Princess Fiona in the Shrek franchise (2001–present).

Rutter approached Diaz in 2003, ahead of the release of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, offering to sell the pictures and video to her for $3.5million before attempting to sell them to prospective buyers.

He stated that he was offering her first right of refusal to them; she saw it as attempted blackmail and sued him.

In July 2004, the 30-minute video of the photo shoot, entitled She's No Angel, was released on a Russian website.

Rutter denied releasing it.

Her subsequent films include the comedies In Her Shoes (2005), The Holiday (2006), What Happens in Vegas (2008), Knight and Day (2010), The Green Hornet (2011), and Bad Teacher (2011).

On September 16, 2005, Rutter was sentenced to more than three years in prison for attempted grand theft, forgery, and perjury.

At the age of 21, Diaz auditioned for The Mask, playing a jazz singer named Tina Carlyle, based on the recommendation of an agent for Elite, who met the film's producers while they were searching for the lead actress.

Having no previous acting experience, she started acting lessons after being cast.

Diaz has also written two health books: The Body Book (2013), a New York Times bestseller, and The Longevity Book (2016).

Her personal life has drawn media attention throughout the course of her career, mostly regarding her relationships and fashion choices.

After starring in three successful comedies in 2014The Other Woman, Sex Tape and AnnieDiaz retired from acting to focus on her family, but made a return to the profession in 2022.

In 2015, she married Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden; they had a daughter via surrogate in 2019.

Known for her work in both comedy and drama, her films have grossed over $3 billion in the U.S., making her the fifth-highest grossing actress in the domestic box office as of 2018.