Catherine Zeta-Jones

Date of Birth

25 September 1969, Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales, UK

Birth Name

Catherine Jones

Height

5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Mini Biography

Catherine Zeta-Jones was born on September 25, 1969 in Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales, UK, the daughter of Dai Jones, who formerly owned a candy factory, and Pat Jones. Her brother David Jones (b. 1967) is a development executive and brother Lyndon Jones (b. 1972) works at her production company. Catherine showed an interest early on in entertainment. She starred on stage in "Annie", "Bugsy Malone" and "The Pajama Game". At age 15, she had the lead in the British revival of "42nd Street". She was originally cast as the second understudy for the lead role in the musical but when the star and first understudy became sick the night the play's producer was in the audience, she was given the lead for the rest of the musical's production. She first made a name for herself in the early 1990s when she starred in the Yorkshire Television comedy/drama series "The Darling Buds of May" (1991). The series was a smash hit and made her one of the United Kingdom's most popular television actresses. She subsequently played supporting roles in several films including Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), the miniseries Catherine the Great (1996) (TV) and a larger part as the seductive Sala in The Phantom (1996) before landing her breakthrough role playing the fiery Elena opposite Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro (1998). She starred in many big-budget blockbusters like Entrapment (1999), The Haunting (1999) and Traffic (2000), for which many believed she was robbed of an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. In November 2000, she married actor Michael Douglas. She gave birth to their son Dylan Michael in August 2000 followed by daughter, Carys, in April 2003. She was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her accomplishments in film and television.