Catherine Zeta-Jones Main

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Biography

Born Catherine Jones, in Treboeth, in the parish of Llangyfelach, a working class area of Swansea, West Glamorgan in Wales. She was the middle child of three children born to Dai Jones, a Welsh sweet factory owner, and Patricia Fair. Her father's cousin is married to singer Bonnie Tyler, who is also Welsh. Her uncle owns Swansea's Škoda car dealership as well as Llanelli A.F.C. football club.

After her parents won £100,000 at bingo in the 1980s they moved to St. Andrews Drive in Mayals, an upper class area of Swansea. She attended the moderately priced private school Dumbarton House School in Swansea where she was an average student. Comedian and actor Rob Brydon also went there.

She left school early to further her acting ambition without obtaining O levels. Her name stems from those of her grandmothers, one named Katherine Fair, the other Zeta Jones, named after a ship which her great grandfather had sailed on.

Zeta-Jones' stage career began in childhood. Catherine often performed at friends and family functions when she was younger. She was a part of a Catholic congregation's performing troupe before she was 10. She also starred in a London production of Annie, among other productions, such as Bugsy Malone. By 1987 she was starring in 42nd Street as Peggy Sawyer in the West End. Once the show closed, Zeta-Jones travelled to France, where she received the lead role in French director Phillippe De Broca's 1001 Nights (also known as Sheherazade), her feature film debut.

Her exotic beauty, along with her singing and dancing ability, suggested a promising future, but it was in a straight acting role, as Mariette in the successful television adaptation of H. E. Bates' The Darling Buds of May (1991), that she made her name. She briefly flirted with a musical career, having a part in Jeff Wayne's 1992 Spartacus. A single, "The Appian Way", featured her; it was released but failed to chart. She also starred in an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, as well as having a role in Christopher Columbus: The Discovery.

She continued to find moderate success with a number of television projects, namely, The Return of the Native and the mini-series Catherine the Great. She also starred in Splitting Heirs, a comedy starring Eric Idle, Rick Moranis and John Cleese.

In 1996, she was cast as the evil aviatrix "Sala" in Paramount's big budget action film, The Phantom , based on the famous comic created by Lee Falk. Her character did her best to kill Billy Zane's Phantom, while simultaneously assisting bad guy Xander Drax (Treat Williams) in taking over the world with a weapon of doom.

Jones starred in the CBS mini-series Titanic, which also starred Tim Curry and Peter Gallagher. Steven Spielberg, who noted her performance in the mini-series, recommended her to the director of an upcoming film, The Mask of Zorro. Jones landed a lead role in the film, alongside Antonio Banderas. The film contributed to boosting her profile. The following year she was the star of the film, Entrapment with Sean Connery. Later that year she also starred in The Haunting, alongside Liam Neeson and Lili Taylor.

In 2000 she starred in Traffic with future husband Michael Douglas. The following year she starred in America's Sweethearts, with Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal and John Cusack.

In 2003, she won an Academy Award or Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Velma Kelly in the 2002 film Chicago. Chicago also won the Academy Award for Best Film that year. On 22 October 2005, she referenced her award, as guest host on the television show Saturday Night Live, surrounded by four male dancers, mimicking the Bob Fosse-inspired Chicago-style dancing, suggesting in song that, no matter how bad she might be that night, "They Can't Take My Oscar Away". Indeed for her role in Chicago, she specifically requested a 1920s-style short bob haircut, so her face could be seen and fans wouldn't doubt she did all her dancing herself.

In 2003 she voiced a role in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, as well as starring in Intolerable Cruelty with George Clooney. In 2004 she was in The Terminal, as well as Ocean's Twelve, the sequel to Ocean's Eleven. In 2005 The Mask of Zorro returned to the big screen, with Catherine reprising her role as Elena in The Legend of Zorro. She stars in and produces the rugby-related comedy, Coming Out, which Welsh rugby star Gavin Henson will also be in.

She owns the film company Milkwood Films that will put out Coming Out in 2006 in which she will also act, besides having the producer's role.

Zeta-Jones is married to actor Michael Douglas, with whom she has two children. She has the same birthday as him, but he is older by 25 years. They were married at the Plaza Hotel in New York City on 18 November 2000. A traditional Welsh choir sang at her wedding; her wedding ring includes a Celtic motif and was bought in the Welsh town of Aberystwyth. Their son, Dylan Michael Douglas, was born 8 August 2000. (Her American admirers like to think that he is named after Bob Dylan, a favourite of Douglas, while her British admirers like to think that Dylan Thomas, also born in Swansea, was the inspiration). Their daughter, Carys Zeta Douglas, was born April 20, 2003. While pregnant with Carys, photos were published of Zeta-Jones smoking cigarettes on a private balcony; afterwards, she became the target of anti-smoking and child health and welfare groups due to her reckless behavior. Zeta-Jones has decided that her children will grow up aware of their Welsh heritage and has built a seaside home for her parents in her hometown of Swansea. She also wants her children to know the Welsh language (Cymraeg), although she herself is not a Welsh-speaker. She is a resident of Bermuda.

Her elder brother, David A. Jones (also known as Cameron Jones), is VP for film company, Initial Entertainment. He was an executive producer of Gangs of New York. Catherine's younger brother Lyndon Jones is her personal manager and producer for Milkwood Films. Catherine's parents recently moved from their Mayals property to a £2 million cliff top home two miles away, built for them by Catherine. Apart from her acting career, Zeta-Jones is also an advertising spokeswoman. In 2003 she became the spokeswoman for the mobile phone company T-Mobile. However, in September 2006, T-Mobile dropped Zeta-Jones for a more “man on the street” advertising campaign. She is currently the global spokeswoman for cosmetics giant Elizabeth Arden.


––Wikipedia
Filmography
Legend of Zorro, The
Ocean's Twelve
Terminal, The