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Catherine Zeta-Jones
Birth Date: January 25, 1969
Birth Place: Swansea, Wales
Catherine Zeta-Jones hails from Mumbles, Wales (a tiny fishing village just outside Swansea in the UK), where she was born September 25, 1969. Her name stems from two different grandmothers; one grandmother is named Catherine, while the other is "Zeta", named after a ship Catherine's grandfather sailed on.
Although Zeta- Jones was not known in the U.S. until her role in The Mask of Zorro in 1998, she was a well-known star in her native U.K. Zeta-Jones played the lead in a production of the musical Annie at 11 years of age, and starred in a West End production of Bugsy Malone two years later. At age 17, Zeta-Jones nabbed the lead role in 42nd Street after having moved to London in order to pursue an acting career. Once the show closed, Zeta-Jones traveled to France, where she received the lead role in French director Phillippe De Broca's Scheherazade, her feature film debut.
Zeta-Jones' big break came upon her return to England in 1991, when she became a regular on the hugely popular British television series The Darling Buds of May. Her role as the eldest daughter of a farm family increased her star status in the U.K. The price celebrities must pay is being featured in the tabloids, and Zeta-Jones became a tabloid favorite, constantly hounded by the paparazzi. Once the intrusiveness of the media became unbearable, she decided to take her life and career across the Atlantic.
Although a sex symbol and celebrity in the U.K. , it took a while for Zeta-Jones to break into the Hollywood scene. In 1994, she landed the lead role in CBS's Return of the Native, and gave a remarkable performance in her role as Catherine in the miniseries Catherine the Great. It wasn't until Zeta-Jones' role in the four-hour television docudrama Titanic that Americans would soon learn why she was famous across the pond, one year before Leo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet came along.
Steven Spielberg noticed her in the mini-series and thought she would be perfect for the female lead in The Mask of Zorro, which Spielberg was producing. Spielberg knew what he was talking about, and he wasn't the only one who was impressed; audiences and critics liked what they saw in the role opposite Antonio Banderas. Audiences probably wondered where this beauty popped up from, since they had never before heard of the Welsh star, who was often mistaken for Spanish.
At the 1998 Oscars, Zeta-Jones stood out on the red carpet, looking ravishing. If she wasn't yet noticed after The Mask of Zorro, her appearance at the Oscars made head turns.
The summer of 1999, Zeta-Jones appeared opposite Sean Connery in the summer action film Entrapment. The same summer, Zeta-Jones took on the role of Theo in The Haunting, Dreamworks' adaptation of the 1963 horror of the same name, joining cast members Liam Neeson and Lili Taylor.
Actor Michael Douglas first met Zeta-Jones at a Film Festival, and apparently told her that he wants to father her children during their first date. As if a premonition, Zeta-Jones married Douglas in November 2000, and had their first child, Dylan Michael. The married couple actually share the same birthdate, albeit not the same year.
Zeta-Jones was recently seen in the comedy High Fidelity, starring John Cusack, and the Oscar-winning movie Traffic. She was also seen with Julia Roberts in America's Sweethearts.
Her role in the musical Chicago brought her an Oscar (this makes the Douglas family the only couple in entertainment where both husband and wife have won an Oscar). She was 9 months pregnant with their second child at the Oscar's, so soon we'll see the new member of the family.
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