BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Full Name: Catherine Zeta Jones
Description: Actress, Singer, Dancer, UK
Known For: The Mask Of Zorro (1998)
Location: United Kingdom
Date Born: 25th September 1969
Location Born: Swansea, United Kingdom
Photo Comments: Photo by Permission© by James G. Howes, January, 2006
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
Catherine Zeta-Jones CBE
A Welsh actress based mainly in the United States.
She began her career on stage at an early age.
After starring in a number of UK and US television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as The Phantom, The Mask of Zorro, and Entrapment in the late 1990s.
She won an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as being nominated for a Golden Globe Award for portraying Velma Kelly in the 2002 film adaptation of Chicago, making her the first and only Welsh actress to win in that category.
Catherine Zeta-Jones was born in Swansea, Wales, on 25 September 1969, to Patricia (née Fair), a seamstress, and David James Jones, a sweet factory owner. Her father is of Welsh descent, while her mother is of Welsh and Irish ancestry. Her’s middle name, Zeta, came from her Greek immigrant grandmother, who was named after a boat seen in Swansea Harbour. Zeta-Jones has two brothers.
Her younger brother, Stephen, is her personal manager and producer for Milkwood Films. Craig is a stuntman.
Zeta-Jones was educated at Dumbarton House School, a co-educational independent school in Swansea, but left early to further her acting ambitions without obtaining O-levels. While at Dumbarton, she once had her lunch money inadvertently stolen by fellow pupil, actor Rob Brydon.She then attended the independent The Arts Educational Schools in Chiswick, West London, for a full-time, three-year course in musical theatre
Zeta-Jones’s stage career began in childhood. She often performed at friends and family functions and was part of local dance troupe the Hazel Johnson School of Dance which rehearsed at St Alban’s Church, Treboeth.
Zeta-Jones made her professional acting debut when she played the lead in Annie, a production at Swansea Grand Theatre. When she was 14, Micky Dolenz cast her as Tallulah in Bugsy Malone.
In 1986, at age 17 she had a part in the chorus of The Pajama Game at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester starring Paul Jones and Fiona Hendley. The show subsequently toured the UK and in 1987, she starred in 42nd Street as Peggy Sawyer at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. She was cast in the leading role after both the actress playing Peggy Sawyer and her understudy fell ill.
She also played Mae Jones in the Kurt Weill opera Street Scene with the English National Opera at the London Coliseum Theatre in 1989. After the show closed, she travelled to France where she played the lead role in French director Philippe de Broca’s Les 1001 Nuits (1990), her feature film debut.
Her singing and dancing ability suggested a promising future but it was in a straight acting role as Mariette in the successful British television adaptation of H. E. Bates’ The Darling Buds of May (1991–1993) that brought her to public attention and made her a British tabloid darling.
She briefly flirted with a musical career, beginning with a part in the 1992 album Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of Spartacus, from which the single “For All Time” was released in 1992.
It reached No. 36 in the UK charts. She went on to release the singles “In the Arms of Love”, “I Can’t Help Myself”, and a duet with David Essex “True Love Ways”, reaching No. 38 in the UK singles chart in 1994.
She also starred in an episode of the American television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992–1993) as well as in the film Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992).
In 1990, Zeta-Jones participated in a television commercial for the German Deutsche Bahn at the age of 21, playing the part of a young woman eloping with her lover from a joyless marriage, a role which apparently helped in promoting her acting career.
She continued to find moderate success with a number of television projects, including The Return of the Native (1994) based on the novel of the same name (1878) by Thomas Hardy and the mini-series Catherine the Great (1995).
She also appeared in Splitting Heirs (1993), a comedy starring Eric Idle, Rick Moranis and John Cleese. In 1996, she was cast as the evil aviatrix Sala in the action film, The Phantom, based on the comic by Lee Falk. The following year, she co starred in the CBS mini-series Titanic (1996), which also starred Peter Gallagher, Tim Curry and George C. Scott.
Steven Spielberg, who noted her performance in the mini-series Titanic (1996), recommended her to Martin Campbell, the director of The Mask of Zorro (1998). Zeta-Jones subsequently landed a lead role in the film, alongside compatriot Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas. She learned dancing, riding, sword-fighting and took part in dialect classes to play her role as Elena.
Commenting on her performance, Variety noted, “Zeta-Jones is bewitchingly lovely as the center of everyone’s attention, and she throws herself into the often physical demands of her role with impressive grace.” She won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Female Newcomer and received an Empire Award nomination for Best British Actress and a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress.
In 2002, Zeta-Jones continued her momentum and played murderous vaudevillian Velma Kelly in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Chicago. Her performance was well received by critics; Seattle Post-Intelligencer stated, “Zeta-Jones makes a wonderfully statuesque and bitchy saloon goddess.”
Slate magazine also praised her performance, saying that she “has a smoldering confidence that takes your mind off her not – always – fluid dancing – although she’s a perfectly fine hoofer, with majestic limbs and a commanding cleavage.”
Chicago (2002) was a commercial success, grossing more than $306 million worldwide, and received universal acclaim.
In 2003, Zeta-Jones garnered an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role and as a member of Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for her performance.
In 2003, she voiced Marina in the animated film Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas opposite Brad Pitt, as well as starring as serial divorcee Marilyn Rexroth in the black comedy Intolerable Cruelty with George Clooney.
In 2005, she reprised her role as Elena in The Legend of Zorro, the sequel to The Mask of Zorro (1998). The film received negative-mixed reviews; however, the critics acclaimed the individual performances of the actors, Banderas and Zeta-Jones. The Legend of Zorro grossed over $142 million worldwide.
In 2012, she features in Lay the Favorite starring Bruce Willis, which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. In 2012, she also appeared in Playing for Keeps with Gerard Butler and Rock of Ages, alongside Tom Cruise and Alec Baldwin.
Zeta-Jones met actor Michael Douglas, with whom she shares a birthday, and who is exactly 25 years her senior, at the Deauville Film Festival in France in August 1998, after being introduced by Danny DeVito. They began dating in March 1999. Zeta-Jones claims that when they met, he used the line “I’d like to father your children.”
They became engaged on 31 December 1999, and were married at the Plaza Hotel in New York City on 18 November 2000, just weeks after Douglas’s divorce was finalised.
Her Welsh and exotic looks, along with her singing and dancing ability, suggested a promising future, but it was in a straight acting role, as Mariette in the successful British television adaptation of H. E. Bates’ The Darling Buds of May, that brought her to public attention.
Zeta-Jones lives with husband Douglas and the children in Bermuda but they are regular visitors to the new family home in Swansea, Wales, and also maintain a residence on the north shore of the Spanish island of Majorca.
In April 2011, Zeta-Jones sought treatment for bipolar II disorder, checking herself into Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut.
WORKS
Filmography
1990 1001 nuits, LesLes 1001 nuits Scheherazade English: 1001 Nights
1991 Darling Buds of May, TheThe Darling Buds of May Mariette
1992 Christopher Columbus: The Discovery Beatriz
1993 Splitting Heirs Kitty
1994 Cinder Path, TheThe Cinder Path Victoria Chapman
1994 Return of the Native, TheThe Return of the Native Eustacia Vye
1995 Catherine the Great Catherine II
1995 Blue Juice Chloe
1996 Phantom, TheThe Phantom Sala
1996 Titanic Isabella Paradine TV miniseries
1998 Mask of Zorro, TheThe Mask of Zorro Eléna (De La Vega) Montero Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Female Newcomer
Nominated—Empire Award for Best British Actress
Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
1999 Entrapment Virginia Baker Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Action
European Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple(with Sean Connery)
1999 Haunting, TheThe Haunting Theo Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Horror
Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress
Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple(with Lili Taylor)
2000 High Fidelity Charlie Nicholson
2000 Traffic Helena Ayala Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Drama
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best British Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
2001 America’s Sweethearts Gwen Harrison
2002 Chicago Velma Kelly Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2003 Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas Marina Voice role
2003 Intolerable Cruelty Marylin Hamilton Rexroth Doyle Massey
2004 Terminal, TheThe Terminal Amelia Warren
2004 Ocean’s Twelve Isabel Lahiri Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2005 Legend of Zorro, TheThe Legend of Zorro Eléna (De La Vega) Montero Nominated—People’s Choice Award for Favorite Female Action Star
2007 No Reservations Kate Armstrong
2007 Death Defying Acts Mary McGarvie
2009 Rebound, TheThe Rebound Sandy
2012 Rock of Ages Patricia Whitmore
2012 Lay the Favorite Tulip Heimowitz
2012 Playing for Keeps Denise
2013 Broken City Cathleen Hostetler
2013 Side Effects Dr. Erica Siebert
2013 RED 2 Miranda Wood Filming
Theatre credits
1981 Annie Annie
1983 Bugsy Malone Tallulah
1986 The Pajama Game Chorus
1987 42nd Street Peggy Sawyer
1989 Street Scene Mae Jones
2009 A Little Night Music Desiree Armfeldt Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Links:
- Catherine Zeta-Jones at the Internet Movie Database
- Catherine Zeta-Jones at the TCM Movie Database
- Catherine Zeta-Jones at People.com
- Catherine Zeta-Jones at AllMovie
- Works by or about Catherine Zeta-Jones in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Catherine Zeta-Jones collected news and commentary at The Guardian
- Catherine Zeta-Jones collected news and commentary at The New York Times
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia