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Early life
Diaz was born in San Diego, California to Emilio Diaz and Billie
(née Early). Diaz's father is a second-generation Cuban-American
and her mother has German, English And Native American descent.
Diaz attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School at the same
time as rapper Snoop Dogg.
Career
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 America, 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
also graced the cover of the July 1990 issue of Seventeen
magazine. During this period she also made a brief but now
notorious soft pornographic film.
At 21, Diaz auditioned for The Mask. Even though she had no
previous acting experience,she obtained the cast as the female
lead. She signed up for acting lessons right after getting the
part. 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. She won critical acclaim for her performance in Being John
Malkovich, which earned her Best Supporting Actress nominations
at the Golden Globes, the BAFTA Awards and the SAG Awards.
Cameron Diaz with Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese at the
2002 Cannes Film Festival
Cameron Diaz with Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese at the
2002 Cannes Film Festival
During the 1999-2000 period, Diaz starred in many films, such as
Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, A Life Less
Ordinary, Any Given Sunday, and the hit adaptation of Charlie's
Angels. In 2001, she won nominations for Best Supporting Actress
at the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards and the AFI Awards for
Vanilla Sky, and also voiced Princess Fiona in Shrek, for which
she earned $10 million. In 2003, Diaz received another Golden
Globe nomination for Martin Scorsese's epic Gangs of New York,
and became the second actress (after Wedding costar Julia
Roberts) to earn $20 million for a role, receiving the sum for
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. After Full Throttle, Diaz only
appeared in three films, Shrek 2, In Her Shoes and The Holiday .
During 2004 and early 2005, Diaz explored some of the planet's
environmentally unique locations while discovering ways to help
preserve them for the 10-episode MTV series Trippin' which
featured numerous celebrities and friends of Diaz, such as
Jessica Alba, Drew Barrymore, Mark Hoppus, Eva Mendes and Justin
Timberlake.
Future work for Diaz includes a role in Shrek the Third in 2007,
where she co-stars with former boyfriend Justin Timberlake. She
was set to team up again with The Mask co-star Jim Carrey in the
film Fun with Dick and Jane, but she dropped out to star in In
Her Shoes. She will also appear in Shrek 4. She will also star
in The Box, a horror thriller which is due to start filming in
November 2007.
On July 7, 2007, Diaz participated at Live Earth in New York by
introducing Bon Jovi and The Police. In 2007, People ranked her
as the Best Dressed Female Celebrity.
Relationships
Diaz dated actor Matt Dillon from 1995 to 1998. She is also the
ex-fiancée of actor, musician, and guitarist Jared Leto. They
had a low-profile relationship from 1998 to 2002. There had been
reports that Leto had broken up with Diaz because he was jealous
of her increasing acting popularity. Other reports have said
that they broke up because Diaz was concentrating more on her
acting as Leto was more concerned about his band.
Most recently, Diaz dated former *NSYNC member Justin
Timberlake, whom she met at the Kids' Choice Awards in 2003. The
pair issued a joint statement on January 11, 2007, announcing
they had broken up, following weeks of breakup rumors.
In October 2004, Diaz and Timberlake were in an altercation with
a tabloid photographer outside a hotel. When the photographer
and another man tried to photograph them, the couple snatched
the camera. Pictures of the incident appeared in US Weekly.
Representatives for the pair claimed that they were "ambushed"
and acting out of self-defense.
Diaz and Timberlake were involved in another incident while
walking out of a friend's house. A photographer jumped out of
bushes and photographed them. He then entered his car and
allegedly drove it towards Diaz, who had to jump out of the way.
Diaz pressed charges against the photographer, whose agency
supported his actions as legal and safe.
Personal life
Diaz has publicly admitted that she has OCD, is deeply
germophobic and habitually rubs doorknobs so hard before opening
doors to clean them that the original paint fades afterwards and
along with her floors, she says, she washes her hands "many
times" each day and uses her elbows to push open doors.Diaz has
perhaps modified her fears somewhat, saying on May 10, 2007, "I
think I've made my peace with it."
Diaz received "substantial" libel damages from suing American
Media Incoporated, after The National Enquirer had claimed she
was cheating on then-boyfriend Timberlake. Diaz also sued
successfully to stop the publication of bondage-themed nude
photos taken of her before she became famous. Photographer John
Rutter was eventually convicted and sentenced to a jail term for
actions related to trying to extort money from Diaz in return
for keeping the pictures from becoming public.
When Diaz was asked if she can speak Spanish she said:
“ I know what you're saying, I really do. I just cannot respond
to you back in Spanish. I can barely speak English properly. I
didn't grow up in a Cuban or Latin community. I grew up in
Southern California on the beach, basically. And I'm third
generation. I'm of Cuban descent, but I'm American.”
Diaz is currently represented by Creative Artists Agency.
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