|
The following biography
is from
Wikipedia.org
“The
Free Encyclopedia.”
Catherine Zeta-Jones (born 25 September 1969) is an
Academy Award-winning British actress. She was born in Wales and began her
career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of television films
and small roles in films, she became famous with roles in films such as The
Phantom , The Mask of Zorro and Entrapment in the mid to late 1990s.
She is married to Michael Douglas, with whom she
starred in the 2000 film Traffic. Her most recent films are Ocean's Twelve and
The Legend of Zorro. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for
her role in Chicago. She has been the spokeswoman for T-Mobile since 2003.
****
Born: 25 September 1969
Swansea, West Glamorgan
Occupation: Actress
Spouse: Michael Douglas
****
Biography
Early life
Born Catherine Jones, in Treboeth, in the parish of
Llangyfelach, a working class area of Swansea, West Glamorgan in Wales. She was
the middle child of three children born to Dai Jones, a Welsh sweet factory
owner, and Patricia Fair, who is of Irish-Catholic extraction. Her father has no
religious interests and Catherine and her siblings were raised as Roman
Catholics. After her parents won £100,000 at bingo in the 1980s, they moved to
St. Andrews Drive in Mayals, an upper class area of Swansea. She attended
Dumbarton House School, Swansea, where she was an average student.
She left school early to further her acting
ambition without obtaining O levels qualifications. Her name stems from those of
her grandmothers; one named Katherine Fair, and the other Zeta Jones, named
after a ship which her great-grandfather had sailed on.
Career
Zeta-Jones' stage career began in childhood. She
was a part of a Catholic congregation's performing troupe before she was 10. She
also starred in a London production of Annie, among other productions, such as
Bugsy Malone. By 1987 she was starring in 42nd Street as Peggy Sawyer in the
West End. Once the show closed, Zeta-Jones travelled to France, where she
received the lead role in French director Phillippe De Broca's 1001 Nights (also
known as Sheherazade), her feature film debut.
Her exotic beauty, along with her singing and
dancing ability, suggested a promising future, but it was in a straight acting
role, as Mariette in the successful television adaptation of H. E. Bates' The
Darling Buds of May (1991), that she made her name. She briefly flirted with a
musical career, having a part in Jeff Wayne's 1992 Spartacus. A single, "The
Appian Way", featured her; it was released but failed to chart. She also starred
in an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, as well as having a role in
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery.
She continued to find moderate success with a
number of television projects, namely, The Return of the Native and the
mini-series Catherine the Great. She also starred in Splitting Heirs, a comedy
starring Eric Idle, Rick Moranis and John Cleese.
In 1996, she was cast as the evil aviatrix "Sala"
in Paramount's big budget action film, The Phantom , based on the famous comic
created by Lee Falk. Her character did her best to kill Billy Zane's Phantom,
while simultaneously assisting bad guy Xander Drax (Treat Williams) in taking
over the world with a weapon of doom.
Jones starred in the CBS mini-series Titanic, which
also starred Tim Curry and Peter Gallagher. Steven Spielberg, who noted her
performance in the mini-series, recommended her to the director of an upcoming
film, The Mask of Zorro.[1] Jones landed a lead role in the film, alongside
Antonio Banderas. The film contributed to boosting her profile. The following
year she was the star of the film, Entrapment with Sean Connery. Later that year
she also starred in The Haunting, alongside Liam Neeson and Lili Taylor.
In 2000 she starred in Traffic with future husband
Michael Douglas. The following year she starred in America's Sweethearts, with
Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal and John Cusack. In 2003, she won an Academy Award
or Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 2002 film
Chicago. Chicago also won the Academy Award for Best Film that year. On 22
October 2005, she referenced her award, as guest host on the television show
Saturday Night Live, surrounded by four male dancers, mimicking the Bob
Fosse-inspired Chicago-style dancing, suggesting in song that, no matter how bad
she might be that night, "They Can't Take My Oscar Away".[2]
In 2003 she voiced a role in Sinbad: Legend of the
Seven Seas, as well as starring in Intolerable Cruelty with George Clooney. In
2004 she was in The Terminal, as well as Ocean's Twelve, the sequel to Ocean's
Eleven. In 2005 The Mask of Zorro returned to the big screen, with Catherine
reprising her role as Elena in The Legend of Zorro. She stars in and produces
the rugby-related comedy, Coming Out, which Welsh rugby star Gavin Henson will
also be in.[3]
Private life
Zeta-Jones is married to actor Michael Douglas,
with whom she has two children. They were married at the Plaza Hotel in New York
City on 18 November 2000. Their son, Dylan Michael Douglas, was born 8 August
2000. (Her American admirers like to think that he is named after Bob Dylan, a
favourite of Douglas, while her British admirers like to think that Dylan
Thomas, also born in Swansea, was the inspiration). Their daughter, Carys Zeta
Douglas, was born April 20, 2003. Zeta-Jones has decided that her children will
grow up aware of their Welsh heritage and has built a seaside home for her
parents in her hometown of Swansea. She also wants her children to know the
Welsh language (Cymraeg), although she herself is not a Welsh-speaker.
Her elder brother, David A. Jones (also known as
Cameron Jones), is VP for film company, Initial Entertainment. He was an
executive producer of Gangs of New York. Catherine's younger brother Lyndon
Jones is her personal manager and producer for Milkwood Films. Catherine's
parents recently moved from their Mayals property to a £2 million cliff top home
two miles away, built for them by Catherine. Apart from her acting career,
Zeta-Jones is also an advertising spokeswoman for the mobile phone company
T-Mobile. She is currently the global spokeswoman for cosmetics giant Elizabeth
Arden.
Trivia
Has the same birthday as her husband Michael
Douglas, who is 25 years her senior.
For her role in Chicago, she specifically requested
a 1920s-style short bob haircut, so her face could be seen and fans wouldn't
doubt she did all her dancing herself.
Her shoe size is 6(UK)/8(US)/39(EUR)
Her father's cousin is married to singer Bonnie
Tyler, who is also Welsh.
During her Darling Buds of May period, Catherine
also helped her cousin promote his "Lazerzone" business in Swansea by appearing
as a special guest at open days.
Once appeared on Welsh TV channel HTV teaching
children how to tap dance.
She is a resident of Bermuda.
Was unable to attend the funeral of her
grandfather, Billy Fair, as she was pregnant and unable to fly.
Does not attend many family functions such as
weddings as she does not want her presence to take the focus off the event.
Her uncle owns Swansea's Škoda car dealership as
well as Llanelli A.F.C. football club.
Catherine does not speak Welsh.
Is a former girlfriend of former Blue Peter
presenter John Leslie, UK actor Angus MacFadyen and Hollywood producer Jon
Peters, ex-boyfriend of Barbra Streisand
A traditional Welsh choir sang at her wedding
Her wedding ring includes a Celtic motif and was
bought in the Welsh town of Aberystwyth.
She owns the film company "Milkwood Films" that
will put out Coming Out in 2006 in which she will also act, besides having the
producer's role.
While pregnant with her second child, photos were
published of Zeta-Jones smoking cigarettes on a private balcony. Afterwards, she
became the target of anti-smoking and child health and welfare groups due to her
reckless behavior.
Catherine often performed at friends and family
functions when she was younger.
Selected filmography
Year Title Role Notes
2008 Crood Awakening
2007 Stompanato
Mostly Martha
Death Defying Acts
Artemis Fowl
2006 Coming Out Also producer.
Rachel's Holiday
2005 The Legend of Zorro Elena
2004 Ocean's Twelve Isabel Lahiri
The Terminal Amelia Warren
2003 Intolerable Cruelty Marylin Rexroth
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas Marina Voice role.
2002 Chicago Velma Kelly Academy Award for Best
Actress in a Supporting Role.
2001 America's Sweethearts Gwen Harrison
2000 Traffic Helena Ayala Also starred Michael
Douglas.
High Fidelity Charlie Nicholson
1999 The Haunting Theo
Entrapment Virginia Baker
1998 The Mask of Zorro Elena Montero/Elena
Murrieta
1996 Titanic Isabella Paradine
1996 The Phantom Sala
1995 Blue Juice Chloe
1993 Splitting Heirs Kitty
1992 Christopher Columbus: The Discovery' Beatriz
1991 The Darling Buds of May Marietta
1990 Les 1001 nuits Sheherazade
References
1 Catherine Zeta-Jones biography. tiscali.co.uk.
Retrieved on 14 August 2006.
2 Catherine Zeta-Jones. snltranscripts.jt.org.
Retrieved on 14 August 2006.
3 Catherine Zeta Jones Teams Up With Gavin Henson.
entertainmentwise.com. Retrieved on 14 August 2006.
****
The
above biography has been copied in part or in whole
from an article on
Wikipedia.org
"The Free Encyclopedia." It has been modified under
the GNU Free Document License Section 5 in the
following manner: (1) All links within the article
have been removed, including text links such as
"[#]"; (2) The "[Edit]" text and link have been
removed [if you would like to update the article,
you may do so from the original page]; (3) the table
of Contents links and text have been removed; and
(4) all of the sections of the original article have
not been copied. All of the above text is available
under the terms of the
GNU Free Document License.
URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Zeta-Jones
Date Article Copied:
September 2006
We
will try to replace this article with an original
biography in the near future, but we hope this will
be of help to our visitors in the mean time. |
