Early life

Diaz was born in San Diego, California. Her mother, Billie (née Early; born August 11, 1950), was an import/export agent, and her father, Emilio Diaz (July 3, 1949 - April 15, 2008), worked for the California oil company Unocal as a foreman. Diaz has an elder sister, Chimene (born June 5, 1970). Her father's family is Cuban, and Diaz's ancestors had originally moved from Spain to Cuba. Later they settled in Ybor City, Tampa, before moving to California, where Emilio was born. Her mother has English, Scots-Irish, German and Cherokee ancestry. Diaz grew up in Long Beach and attended Los Cerritos Elementary School, and then Long Beach Polytechnic High School; where she attended school with rapper Snoop Dogg.

Career

Early work

She began her career as a fashion model at the age of 16, and did contract work with a modeling agency, Elite Model Management. For the next months, she worked all over the world on contracts for companies including Calvin Klein and Levi's. When she was 17, she was featured on the front cover of the July 1990 issue of Seventeen. Diaz also modeled for 2-3 months in Australia and shot a commercial for Coca-Cola in Sydney in 1991.

At the age of 21, Diaz auditioned for The Mask, 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. The Mask became one of the top ten highest grossing films of 1994 and launched Diaz as a sex symbol.

1995-2004

For the next three years, Diaz played roles in the independent films The Last Supper (1996), Feeling Minnesota (1996), She's the One (1996), and Head Above Water (1996). She was scheduled to perform in the film Mortal Kombat, but had to resign after breaking her hand while training for the role. Diaz returned to mainstream films with My Best Friend's Wedding and A Life Less Ordinary, both released in 1997. The following year, she played the title role in There's Something About Mary (1998), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the category of Best Actress - Musical or Comedy.

She received critical acclaim for her performance in Being John Malkovich (1999), which earned her Best Supporting Actress nominations at the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and SAG Awards. Between 1998 and 2000, Diaz was featured in many movies, such as Very Bad Things, Any Given Sunday, Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, and the successful adaptation of Charlie's Angels. In 2001, she won nominations for Best Supporting Actress for the Golden Globe Awards, the SAG Awards, the Critics' Choice Awards, and the American Film Institute Awards for Vanilla Sky, and also voiced Princess Fiona in the movie Shrek, for which she earned $10 million. In 2002 she starred in Gangs of New York.

2005-2009

In 2005, Diaz played opposite Toni Collette and Shirley MacLaine in In Her Shoes (2005), a comedy-drama film based on the novel of the same name by Jennifer Weiner, which focuses on the relationship between two sisters and their grandmother. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, and Diaz garnered acclaim for her performance of a dyslectic wild child engaged in a love-hate struggle with her plain, sensible sister (Collette), with USA Today calling it "her best work" then. She followed In Her Shoes with a role in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy The Holiday, also starring Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black. In it she played Amanda, an American movie trailer producer who temporarily exchanges homes with a British woman (Winslet). Released to a mixed reception by critics, the film became one of the biggest commercial successes of the year, grossing more than $205 million worldwide.

Diaz's only film of 2007 was Shrek the Third, the third installment in the Shrek franchise. Although the film was met with mixed reviews from critics, it grossed $798 million worldwide. The same year, Diaz also voiced Princess Fiona in a thirty-minute Christmas special, directed by Gary Trousdale. Diaz earned an estimated $50 million during the period of a year ending June 2008, for her roles in the Shrek sequel and her next film What Happens in Vegas opposite Ashton Kutcher. A romantic comedy by Tom Vaughan, Diaz and Kutcher portrayed two strangers who awaken together to discover they have gotten married following a night in which they won a huge jackpot after playing the other's quarter. While audiences reacted positively to the film, reviews were negative.

In 2009, she starred in My Sister's Keeper and The Box. Based on Jodi Picoult's novel of the same name, My Sister's Keeper was released to mixed reviews in June 2009. In the drama, Diaz plays a former lawyer and mother of two, one of whom is dying of leukemia. A moderate commercial success, it grossed $95 million worldwide, mostly from its domestic run. Set in 1976, The Box, written and directed by Richard Kelly, stars Diaz and James Marsden as a couple who receive a box from a mysterious man who offers them one million dollars if they press the button sealed within the dome on top of a box, knowing that someone, somewhere, will die from it. Critical response towards the psychological horror film was mixed, and, though having grossed its budget back, was considered a financial disappointment.

2010-2015

In 2010, Forbes ranked Diaz as the richest female celebrity, ranking her number 60 among the wealthiest 100. Also that year, Diaz reprised her voice role of Princess Fiona in Shrek Forever After, the fourth installment in the Shrek series. Although the film opened to mixed reviews from critics, it grossed a worldwide total of over $752 million and became the fifth top grossing films released that year. Also in 2010, Diaz reunited with her Vanilla Sky co-star Tom Cruise in the action comedy film Knight and Day. In it, Diaz plays a classic car restorer who unwittingly gets caught up with the eccentric secret agent Roy Miller, played by Cruise, who is on the run from the Secret Service. Knight and Day received mixed reviews, and while the comedy performed poorly at the box office in its debut, it became a sleeper hit at the box office at a worldwide gross of $262 million.

In 2011, she played Lenore Case, a journalist, in the remake of the 1940s film The Green Hornet. Directed by Michel Gondry, Diaz starred alongside Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, and Christoph Waltz in the superhero action comedy film. Released to mixed to negative reviews from critics, who called it an "overblown, interminable and unfunny update", the film ended its theatrical run on April 21, 2011, with a worldwide gross total of $228 million. The same year, she played opposite Justin Timberlake and Jason Segel in Jake Kasdan's adult comedy Bad Teacher. In the film, Diaz plays an immoral, gold-digging Chicago-area middle school teacher at the fictional John Adams Middle School who curses at her students, drinks heavily, and smokes marijuana. Again, it received mostly negative reviews from critics who felt that "in spite of a promising concept and a charmingly brazen performance from Diaz, Bad Teacher is never as funny as it should be." A commercial hit however, the R-rated comedy grossed $216 million worldwide. Also in 2011, Diaz was listed among CEOWorld Magazine's Top Accomplished Women Entertainers.

In 2012, Diaz was cast in What to Expect When You're Expecting, directed by Kirk Jones and based on the pregnancy guide of the same name. Diaz, who filmed her scenes in a two-week period, portrays Jules Baxer, a contestant on a celebrity dance show and a host to a weight-loss fitness show, who becomes pregnant with her dance partner's baby. Upon release, the ensemble comedy received mostly negative reviews, but became a moderate commercial success with a worldwide gross of $84.4 million. Diaz's other film that year was Gambit, a remake of the 1966 film of the same name directed by Michael Hoffman and scripted by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews, and performed poorly at the box office, grossing only $10 million internationally. Diaz also voiced Sigmund Freud in A Liar's Autobiography (2012), a 2012 British animated comedy film that is a completely inaccurate portrayal of the life of Monty Python alumnus Graham Chapman.

In Ridley Scott's The Counselor, Diaz's only film project of 2013, a thriller film about greed, death, the primal instincts of humans and their consequences, she starred along with Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Brad Pitt. Diaz plays a pathological liar and a sociopath, an immigrant who is now living the high-life after escaping a sordid past as an exotic dancer. While Diaz earned positive reviews for her performance, the film was largely panned by critics.

Diaz's first film of 2014 was the romantic revenge comedy The Other Woman opposite Leslie Mann and Kate Upton. Filmed in Downtown Manhattan, New York City, it depicts Diaz as a successful, strong-minded lawyer, who discovers her boyfriend is married, only to bond with his wife and another woman she discovers he has been cheating with. While The Other Woman received mostly negative reviews from critics, who felt that it settled for cheap laughs, it opened atop the US weekend box office with earnings of $24.7 million across the three days. Also in 2014, Diaz starred in the comedy Sex Tape, with Jason Segel, and co-starred in another adaptation of the musical, Annie, playing Miss Colleen Hannigan.

In late 2013, she published a health book, The Body Book: Feed, Move, Understand and Love Your Amazing Body, co-written with Sandra Bark. It was no. 2 on The New York Times Best Seller list in March 2014.

Personal life

Diaz has had long-term relationships with video producer Carlos de la Torre, actor Matt Dillon, actor/singer Jared Leto, singer/actor Justin Timberlake, and New York Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez. She married musician Benji Madden at her home in Beverly Hills, California, on January 5, 2015, after a 17-day engagement, having been introduced seven months earlier by her close friend and now sister-in-law, Nicole Richie. The marriage came as a reversal for Diaz, who had previously referred to the custom as a "dying institution" that doesn't "suit our world any longer".

Diaz received substantial defamation damages from suing American Media Incorporated, after the National Enquirer posted an article and pictures with the headline “Cameron Caught Cheating” on their website in May 2005. The photos claimed to show Diaz cheating on her boyfriend of the time, Justin Timberlake, with the married MTV producer of her show Trippin', Shane Nickerson. After Diaz complained, the article and pictures were removed from the web and the hard copy did not contain any of the content. The magazine apologized to Diaz, Timberlake, Nickerson and his wife for the distress caused and said the story was untrue and the picture showed no more than a goodbye hug between friends.

She endorsed Al Gore publicly during the United States presidential election, 2000. Known for her environmental activism, she is an early adopter of the Prius electric car and worked to promote Gore's Live Earth campaign, raising awareness of climate change. Diaz wore a T-shirt that read "I won't vote for a son of a Bush!" while making publicity visits for Charlie's Angels.

Diaz has been involved with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the first and largest nonprofit organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has spoken as an advocate for military families. Although she was quoted by a 1997 Time article as saying she was germophobic, in 2009, Diaz specifically stated that a small comment she made 12 years earlier regarding public-bathroom doorknobs was distorted.

On April 15, 2008, Diaz's father, Emilio Diaz, died at the age of 58 from pneumonia.

In February 2015, Diaz spoke of the effect of practicing Transcendental Meditation, saying, "To have that tool now and to be able to go inside to the deepest part of myself and to access that and to recharge my battery internally, within myself, I feel so badass. I really do. I think it's so awesome. I feel so empowered that I actually possess that."

As of 2010, Diaz lives in Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	The Mask	Tina Carlyle
1995	The Last Supper	Jude
1996	She's the One	Heather Davis
1996	Feeling Minnesota	Freddie Clayton
1996	Head Above Water	Nathalie
1997	Keys to Tulsa	Trudy
1997	My Best Friend's Wedding	Kimmy Wallace
1997	A Life Less Ordinary	Celine Naville
1998	Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas	TV reporter
1998	There's Something About Mary	Mary Jensen
1998	Very Bad Things	Laura Garrety
1999	Being John Malkovich	Lotte Schwartz
1999	Any Given Sunday	Christina Pagniacci
2000	Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her	Carol Faber
2000	Charlie's Angels	Natalie Cook
2001	The Invisible Circus	Faith
2001	Shrek	Princess Fiona	Voice
2001	Vanilla Sky	Julie Gianni
2002	The Sweetest Thing	Christina Walters
2002	Gangs of New York	Jenny Everdeane
2003	Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle	Natalie Cook
2004	Shrek 2	Princess Fiona	Voice
2005	In Her Shoes	Maggie Feller
2006	The Holiday	Amanda Woods
2007	Shrek the Third	Princess Fiona	Voice
2007	Shrek the Halls	Princess Fiona	Voice
2008	What Happens in Vegas	Joy McNally
2009	My Sister's Keeper	Sara Fitzgerald
2009	The Box	Norma Lewis
2010	Shrek Forever After	Princess Fiona	Voice
2010	Scared Shrekless	Princess Fiona	Voice
2010	Knight and Day	June Havens
2011	The Green Hornet	Lenore Case
2011	Bad Teacher	Elizabeth Halsey
2012	What to Expect When You're Expecting	Jules
2012	Gambit	PJ Puznowski
2012	A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman	Sigmund Freud	Voice
2013	The Counselor	Malkina
2013	The Unbelievers	Herself
2013	In a World...	Herself in trailer for The Amazon Games (uncredited)
2014	The Other Woman	Carly Whitten
2014	Sex Tape	Annie Hargrove
2014	Annie	Hannigan

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Space Ghost Coast to Coast	Herself	Episode: Surprise
1998	Saturday Night Live	Herself (host)	Episode: "Cameron Diaz/The Smashing Pumpkins"
2002	Saturday Night Live	Herself (host)	Episode: "Cameron Diaz/Jimmy Eat World"
2005	Saturday Night Live	Herself (host)	Episode: "Cameron Diaz/Green Day"
2005	Trippin'	Herself (host)	10 episodes; also executive producer
2009	Sesame Street	Herself	3 episodes
2010	Top Gear	Episode: "15.5"
2014	Saturday Night Live	Herself (host)	Episode: "Cameron Diaz/Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars"
2015	Yo Gabba Gabba!	China Gabbas	Episode: "The Yo Gabba Gabba! Movie 2"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Charlie's Angels	Natalie Cook	Voice

As producer

Year	Title	Notes
2014	Bad Teacher	13 episodes

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Cameron Diaz

Year	Nominated work	Award	Result
1997	My Best Friend's Wedding	Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture	Nominated
1998	My Best Friend's Wedding	ALMA Awards Outstanding Individual Performance in a Role Crossover in a Feature Film	Won
1998	There's Something About Mary	American Comedy Award for Funniest Leading Actress in a Motion Picture	Won
1998	There's Something About Mary	New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress	Won
1998	There's Something About Mary	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	Nominated
1999	There's Something About Mary	MTV Movie Awards Best Female Performance	Won
1999	There's Something About Mary	MTV Movie Awards Best Comedic Performance	Nominated
1999	There's Something About Mary	MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss	Nominated
1999	There's Something About Mary	Teen Choice Awards Most Disgusting Scene in a Movie	Won
1999	Being John Malkovich	American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Nominated
1999	Being John Malkovich	BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Nominated
1999	Being John Malkovich	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture	Nominated
1999	Being John Malkovich	Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
1999	Being John Malkovich	Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Acting Ensemble	Nominated
1999	Being John Malkovich	Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture	Nominated
1999	Being John Malkovich	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role	Nominated
1999	Being John Malkovich	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Nominated
2000	Any Given Sunday	ALMA Awards Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film	Won
2000	Charlie's Angels	Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
2000	Charlie's Angels	Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	Nominated
2001	Charlie's Angels	MTV Movie Awards Best Dance Sequence	Won
2001	Charlie's Angels	Kids Choice Awards Favorite Movie Actress	Nominated
2001	Charlie's Angels	Kids Choice Awards Best Burp	Won
2001	Vanilla Sky	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress	Won
2001	Vanilla Sky	Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress	Won
2001	Vanilla Sky	American Film Institute Award for Supporting Actress of the Year	Nominated
2001	Vanilla Sky	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
2001	Vanilla Sky	Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
2001	Vanilla Sky	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture	Nominated
2001	Vanilla Sky	Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
2001	Vanilla Sky	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role	Nominated
2001	Vanilla Sky	ALMA Awards Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Nominated
2002	Gangs of New York	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture	Nominated
2002	Gangs of New York	Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Acting Ensemble	Nominated
2007	The Holiday	ALMA Awards Outstanding Actress - Motion Picture	Nominated
2007	The Holiday	NRJ Ciné Awards Meilleur baiser ("Best Kiss")	Nominated
2007	The Holiday	Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie: Hissy Fit	Nominated
2008	Shrek the Third	Kids Choice Awards Favorite Voice From an Animated Movie	Nominated
2008	Shrek the Third	Kids Choice Awards Wannabe Award	Won
2009	My Sister's Keeper	ALMA Awards Outstanding Actress in Motion Picture	Nominated
2010	Shrek Forever After	Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production	Nominated
2011	Bad Teacher	ALMA Awards Favorite Movie Actress - Comedy/Musical	Nominated
2011	Bad Teacher	Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie Actress - Comedy	Won
2011	Bad Teacher	CinemaCon Awards Female Star of the Year Award	Won
2012	What to Expect When You're Expecting	ALMA Awards Favorite Movie Actress - Comedy/Musical	Nominated
2012	What to Expect When You're Expecting	Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Actress: Comedy	Nominated
2013	What to Expect When You're Expecting	People's Choice Awards Favorite Comedic Movie Actress	Nominated
2014	The Counselor	MTV Movie Awards Best WTF Moment	Nominated
2014	The Other Woman	Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie Actress: Comedy	Nominated
2014	The Other Woman	Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie: Chemistry	Nominated
2015	The Other Woman	People's Choice Awards Favorite Comedic Movie Actres	Nominated
2015	Annie	Kids Choice Awards Favorite Movie Actress	Nominated
2015	Annie	Kids Choice Awards Favorite Villain	Nominated

Charities

Cameron Diaz supports the following charitable causes: AIDS, Animals, Environment, Leukemia, Cancer, Homeless.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]