Everything about Catherine Zeta-jones totally explained
Catherine Zeta-Jones (
"zeeta"; born
September 25,
1969) is an
Academy Award-winning
Welsh actress based predominantly 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 for Best Supporting Actress for portraying Velma Kelly in the 2002 film adaptation of
Chicago, making her the first and only Welsh actress to win in that category. Zeta-Jones is married to
Michael Douglas, with whom she shares a birthday. They have two children – Dylan (named after
Dylan Thomas) and Carys.
Early life
Zeta-Jones was born
Catherine Zeta Jones in
Swansea, a maritime city located on the southern coast of
Wales. Her mother, Patricia (
née Fair), was an
Irish seamstress, and her father, David "Dai" Jones, was a Welsh sweet factory owner. Zeta-Jones had one older brother, David A Jones, and one younger, Lyndon. Her father's cousin is married to singer
Bonnie Tyler, who is also from Swansea, Wales. Her uncle owns Swansea's
Škoda car dealership as well as
Llanelli A.F.C. football club. Her name stems from those of her grandmothers — her maternal grandmother, Katherine Fair, and her paternal grandmother, Zeta Jones (the name "Zeta" is of Greek origin). 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. Zeta-Jones attended Dumbarton House School in Swansea. Welsh comedian and actor
Rob Brydon also went there. She left school early to further her acting ambitions without obtaining
O levels and went on to attend
The Arts Educational Schools in
Chiswick for a full-time three year course in
musical theatre.
Career
Zeta-Jones' stage career began in childhood. She 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. During this time Zeta-Jones made her professional acting debut when she played the lead in
Annie, a production at Swansea's Grand Theater. She also starred in a version of
Bugsy Malone. At 14, Mickey Dolenz (of "
The Monkees" fame) was visiting Wales and stopped by the Grand Theater to audition her for
The Pyjama Game. He was so impressed with her performance that she was offered the opportunity to join his show for the rest of the tour. By 1987 Zeta-Jones was starring in
42nd Street as Peggy Sawyer in the
West End. She also played Mae Jones in a Kurt Weill opera called Street Scene with English National Opera at the London Coliseum in 1989 . Once the show closed, the actress travelled to France, where she received the lead role in French director
Philippe de Broca's
1001 Nights (also known as
Sheherazade), her
feature film debut.
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. 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 1989. It failed to chart. 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." The duet was her only chart single, reaching #38 in the
UK singles chart in 1994. She also starred in an episode of
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, as well as in .
She continued to find moderate success with a number of television projects, including
The Return of the Native (1994) 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 created by
Lee Falk. Her character did her best to kill
Billy Zane's Phantom, while assisting villain Xander Drax (
Treat Williams) in taking over the world with a weapon of doom. The following year, she 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
Martin Campbell, the director of
The Mask of Zorro. Zeta-Jones subsequently landed a lead role in the film, alongside fellow Welsh compatriot
Anthony Hopkins and
Antonio Banderas. She learned dancing, riding, sword-fighting and took part in dialect classes in order to play her role as Elena. In 1999, she co-starred with
Sean Connery in the film
Entrapment, and alongside
Liam Neeson and
Lili Taylor in
The Haunting.
In 2000, she starred in the critically-acclaimed
Traffic with future husband
Michael Douglas.
Traffic earned praise from the wide press, and the
Dallas Observer called the movie "a remarkable achievement in filmmaking, a beautiful and brutal work". Zeta-Jones' performance earned her her first
Golden Globe nomination, as
Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.
In 2003, Zeta-Jones played Velma Kelly in the film
Chicago. Velma Kelly, her character, is a glamorous Chicago jazz stage performer who has to do time after killing her sister and her husband. Her performance was praised by the press, among them were the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which wrote, "Zeta-Jones makes a wonderfully statuesque and bitchy saloon goddess." Subsequently, she won an
Academy Award for
Best Supporting Actress for her performance. 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." For her role in
Chicago, she specifically requested a 1920s-style short
bob wig, so her face could be seen and fans wouldn't doubt she did all her dancing herself.
In 2003, she voiced Marina in opposite
Brad Pitt, 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, she reprised her role as Elena in
The Legend of Zorro, the sequel to
The Mask of Zorro. In 2007, she starred in the romantic comedy
No Reservations, a remake of the
German film
Mostly Martha. She stars in and produces the
rugby union-related comedy,
Coming Out. The film is produced by her company
Milkwood Films.
Personal life
Zeta-Jones is married to actor
Michael Douglas. She claims that when they met, he used the line "I'd like to father your children". They were married at the
Plaza Hotel in
New York City on
18 November,
2000. A traditional Welsh choir (
Côr Cymraeg Rehoboth) sang at her wedding. Her Welsh gold wedding ring includes a Celtic motif and was purchased in the Welsh town of
Aberystwyth. Their son, Dylan Michael Douglas, was born
8 August,
2000. Their daughter, Carys Zeta Douglas, was born
April 20,
2003.
Her elder brother, David A. Jones (also known as Cameron Jones), is Vice President of the film company, Initial Entertainment. He was an executive producer of
Gangs of New York. Her younger brother, Lyndon Jones, is her personal manager and producer for
Milkwood Films. Zeta-Jones's parents recently moved from their Mayals property to a £2 million home two miles further west along the Swansea coast, paid for by their daughter.
Apart from her acting career, Zeta-Jones is also an advertising spokeswoman, currently the global spokeswoman for cosmetics giant
Elizabeth Arden. She has appeared in numerous TV commercials, as well, for the mobile phone company
T-Mobile.
Zeta-Jones lives predominantly with Douglas and the children in
Bermuda but they're regular visitors to the new family home in
Swansea,
Wales, they also maintain a residence on the north shore of the
Spanish island of
Majorca.
In the media
Dawn French and
Jennifer Saunders parodied Zeta-Jones as a vacuous über-celebrity named Catherine Spartacus-Zeta-Douglas-Jones on their show
French & Saunders in the series
Back With a Vengeance. Catherine Spartacus-Zeta-Douglas-Jones alternates between a strong Welsh accent and a strong American accent and uses
Welsh-language phrases when she speaks.
Filmography
Further Information
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