Cameron Diaz

Cameron Diaz (born August 30, 1972, San Diego, California, U.S.) is an American actress best known for her roles in blockbuster comedies, notably The Mask (1994), There’s Something About Mary (1998), and the Shrek series.

Early life

Diaz grew up in Long Beach, California, the daughter of Billie (née Early) Diaz and Emilio Diaz. Her father, an oil company foreman, was a second-generation Cuban American, and her mother, who worked as an import broker, was of Italian and German ancestry. Cameron Diaz attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, where future rapper and actor Snoop Dogg was a classmate.

Diaz began modeling when she was 16 and later appeared on the cover of such magazines as Seventeen and Mademoiselle. She was also in advertisements for Levi’s, Calvin Klein, and Coca-Cola. Diaz’s work frequently took her abroad, and for a time she lived in Paris.

Stardom: The Mask and There’s Something About Mary

After returning to California, the 21-year-old Diaz auditioned for a small part in The Mask (1994). Following a dozen callbacks, she landed the female lead role, Tina Carlyle, opposite Jim Carrey. The movie centers on a timid bank clerk (Carrey) who becomes a superhero when he dons a magical mask. The comedy was a huge hit, and Diaz was catapulted into stardom.

Over the next few years, Diaz appeared in several low-budgets movies, including The Last Supper (1995) and Feeling Minnesota (1996). In 1997 she had another box-office hit with My Best Friend’s Wedding, in which she played the fiancée of a man (Dermot Mulroney) whose ex-girlfriend (Julia Roberts) tries to stop their wedding. Diaz’s star status was cemented with the blockbuster comedy There’s Something About Mary (1998). The film, noted for its vulgar humor, features two men (played by Matt Dillon and Ben Stiller) who vie for the affection of Diaz’s character, Mary.

In 1999 Diaz showcased her versatility with a much different role in Spike Jonze’s Being John Malkovich. In the innovative comedy she portrayed Lotte Schwartz, a frumpy pet shop employee who enters the mind of actor John Malkovich. That year she also appeared in the Oliver Stone film Any Given Sunday, playing Christina Pagniacci, the ruthless owner of the fictional Miami Sharks football team; her costars included Al Pacino and Jamie Foxx.

Writing for The New York Times in 2000, Dave Kehr praised Diaz’s acting, saying:

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[She’s] a natural, one of those actors who, innocent of any apparent technique, go from film to film “playing themselves,” projecting such ease and grace that they don’t appear to be performing at all.…Ms. Diaz is a great American type, a game, outdoorsy girl in the tradition of Carole Lombard, Jean Arthur, Jane Russell and Angie Dickinson.

Later films: Charlie’s Angels, Shrek, and Gangs of New York

The hits continued for Diaz in the early 21st century. In 2000 she teamed up with Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu in a film adaptation of the 1970s TV show Charlie’s Angels, about three female detectives. The next year she lent her voice to the animated Shrek, which also featured Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy. The comedy, about an ogre who unexpectedly falls in love with a princess, was a box-office blockbuster, and Diaz later worked on numerous Shrek projects, including three big-screen sequels (2004, 2007, and 2010). Her other credits from 2001 include the mind-bending Vanilla Sky, which also starred Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz.

Further showing her range, in 2002 Diaz starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. The acclaimed crime drama centers on a brutal fight between rival gangs in the 1860s. After appearing in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Diaz starred in the romantic comedies The Holiday (2006), which also featured Kate Winslet, and What Happens in Vegas (2008). In 2010 Diaz reteamed with Cruise on the action-comedy Knight and Day. She later switched gears with Ridley Scott’s crime thriller The Counselor (2013), about drug trafficking. Her credits from 2014 include the comedy The Other Woman and Annie, an adaptation of the Broadway musical.

Retirement and comeback

Diaz subsequently took a break from acting. In 2015 she married musician Benji Madden, and the couple had a daughter in 2019. Three years later Diaz announced that she had accepted a role in the Netflix movie Back in Action. She was persuaded to join the project by Foxx, who also starring in the upcoming action comedy.

In addition to acting, Diaz wrote (with Sandra Bark) two health books: The Body Book: The Law of Hunger, the Science of Strength, and Other Ways to Love Your Amazing Body (2013) and The Longevity Book: The Science of Aging, the Biology of Strength, and the Privilege of Time (2016). She also cofounded (2020) a “clean” wine brand, Avaline.