Cameron Diaz Biography

Name: Cameron Diaz
Born: 30 August 1972 (Age: 38)
Where: San Diego, California, USA
Height: 5' 9"
Awards: 4 Golden Globe and 1 BAFTA nominations

Many were jealous to the point of fury when Cameron Diaz made her film debut in the high-budget Jim Carrey vehicle, The Mask. Here’s another good-looking bit of fluff stealing another prime role, it was said - she’s all face’n’figure, no acting ability at all. Such accusations have been made about many an actress who's gone on to prove herself as a serious professional. They've even been made about actresses who were serious professionals already. Just because a performer's beautiful it doesn't mean she hasn't won a scholarship to the Actors' Studio and starved off-Broadway for fifteen years.

Thing is, in the case of Cameron Diaz, those enraged attackers were pretty much correct. Before her debut, there’d been no acting classes, no honing of her skills in repertory, no years of rejection. She was a successful model, and there can be no doubt that her looks played a huge part in winning her the role in The Mask. What’s incredible about Diaz is not the story we don’t know - that hoary old tale of the building of knowledge and experience - it’s the story we do know. For this model, this complete non-actor was actually excellent in The Mask. Beyond this, within two years she was starring opposite Harvey Keitel, within three she was alongside Julia Roberts, within five it was Al Pacino. And, miraculously, she more than held her own beside all three. Immediately, somehow, she was a world-class screen actress, a complete natural, a freak of cinematic nature.

Cameron Diaz was born on the 30th of August, 1972, in San Diego, California. Her father, Emilio Diaz, was a second generation Cuban American and worked as a foreman for an oil company. Her mother, Billie, was an import/export broker of English, German and Native American descent (a complex blend of bloodlines that helps to explain Cameron's outrageous good looks). There was also an older sister, Chimene.

The family Diaz moved up the coast when Cameron was young. She attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, former alumni including John Wayne (for one year) and Snoop Doggy Dogg. An eclectic mix, for sure, and probably not one of which the Duke would have approved. Co-incidentally, being as Cameron would go on to play the owner of an American football team in Any Given Sunday, Long Beach Poly has produced more NFL players than any other school in the nation. Also co-incidentally, part of The Insider, starring Al Pacino, Cameron's co-star in Any Given Sunday, was shot at the school (as were the classroom scenes in American Pie).

Cameron Diaz