She attended Dumbarton House School (Swansea). A so-called insider alleged the actress focus has shifted towards her business which she was using as a “way out” of her marriage. [156] She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by the Monarchy of the United Kingdom in 2010 for her film and charity work. [4][16][17] Her next stage appearance was with the English National Opera at the London Coliseum in 1989 where she played Mae Jones in Kurt Weill's Street Scene. The magazine purported the actress was “desperate” to fix her marriage to the Wall Street star since they no longer had to care for his father.

While the magazine further contended Douglas feared Zeta-Jones had become “bored” of him, the actress herself offered a different depiction of their marriage. [88][89] She took on the role of a 40-year-old mother attracted to a younger man (Justin Bartha) in the romantic comedy The Rebound. Like most couples, the pair have faced some difficulties. The actress didn’t appear to be “bored” and Douglas certainly didn’t look like he was “worried” about losing his wife.

[57] For her leading role in Broadway's 2009 revival of A Little Night Music, Zeta-Jones was awarded the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The critic Roger Ebert compared the film unfavourably to the musical Singin' in the Rain (1952), but thought that Zeta-Jones was aptly "chilly and manipulative" in her part. [6], Zeta-Jones met actor Michael Douglas, with whom she shares her birthday and who is 25 years her senior, at the Deauville Film Festival in France in August 1998, after being introduced by Danny DeVito. In a mixed review, critic Lisa Nesselson of Variety found the miniseries to be "brightly colored" but "wooden and hollow", though thought that Zeta-Jones "imparts a certain grace and resolve to her sovereign-in-the-making".

[13] At the age of nine, she was selected to play one of the orphan girls in a West End production of the musical Annie, and in her early teens, she became a national tap dancing champion. [108] Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Justin Lowe remarked that Zeta-Jones "nicely pulls off Russian spy Katja's mix of allure and menace", and with a worldwide gross of US$148 million, Red 2 emerged as her most widely seen film since No Reservations.

In 1990, Zeta-Jones made her film debut in the director Philippe de Broca's film 1001 Nights. [2][6] Two years later, she played the lead role of Tallulah in a West End production of Bugsy Malone. Set 10 years after the first film, the sequel follows Eléna struggling with married life.

[141][142] They got engaged on 31 December 1999, and were married at the Plaza Hotel in New York on 18 November 2000 after Douglas' divorce was finalised. Catherine Zeta-Jones was born September 25, 1969 in Swansea, Wales (and raised in the nearby town of Mumbles), the only daughter of Patricia (nee Fair) and David James "Dai" Jones, who formerly owned a sweet factory.

[99][100] Her final release of 2012 was Playing for Keeps, a romantic comedy with Gerard Butler, which proved to be her third box office failure of the year. [33] A reviewer for Variety considered Zeta-Jones to be a standout in her part, but the film received a negative critical reception and earned little at the box office.
[63] For her performance, Zeta-Jones won the Academy Award, SAG Award, and the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress, among other awards and nominations.

[6], Zeta-Jones participated in school stage shows from a young age and gained local media attention when her rendition of a Shirley Bassey song won a Junior Star Trail talent competition. [11][14] Describing her teenage years in London, Zeta-Jones said, "I would queue up for auditions and then change my costume or put on a different leotard and audition again. During an appearance on the Today show, Catherine Zeta-Jones described the "open" nature of her 18-year marriage with husband Michael Douglas. Initially written by Soderbergh as a mother of two, he changed the part to that of a pregnant woman on Zeta-Jones's suggestion, to accommodate her own pregnancy. "[13] Zeta-Jones is protective of her public image, and the use of her likeness is carefully controlled.

[20] Greater success followed when she starred opposite David Jason and Pam Ferris in the British period comedy-drama television series The Darling Buds of May from 1991 to 1993. [70], In 2004, Spielberg approached her to play an insecure air hostess in his comedy The Terminal, a film about a man (Tom Hanks) who is trapped at the JFK International Airport when he is denied entry into the United States. [108][148] In 2010, Douglas was diagnosed with tongue cancer, and Zeta-Jones faced an emotionally turbulent time; she said, "When you get sideswiped like that [with the illness] it's an obvious trigger for your balance to be a little bit off – not sleeping, worry, stress. [124], In addition to her acting career, Zeta-Jones supports various charities and causes. [138] Also that year, she featured in a theatrical production of The Children's Monologues, in which she performed a monologue as a mathematically inclined young girl. [126] In 2005, she became the ambassador of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children charity, and launched the Full Stop appeal in Wales to raise awareness on child abuse. Gossip Cop wasn’t sure if the outlet had a vendetta against Douglas and Zeta-Jones or if it was simply trying to be hurtful.

[15], In 1987, when she was 17 years old, Zeta-Jones was picked as the second understudy to the lead actress in a West End production of 42nd Street. Records.

[6] She has an older brother, David, and a younger brother, Lyndon, who worked as a sales representative before venturing into film production. [116][117] The lawsuit was later dismissed by a California appellate court. [144][145], Douglas and Zeta-Jones have two children: a son, Dylan Michael (born August 2000),[146] and a daughter, Carys Zeta (born April 2003). [33][34] The CBS television miniseries Titanic (1996), however, was better received. "[32] She believed that the anonymity she faced in America helped her get roles on merit and not due to her public image. I couldn't go anywhere". [11] When she was 15, Zeta-Jones dropped out of school without obtaining O-levels and decided to live in London to pursue a full-time acting career; she was also engaged to perform in a touring production of The Pajama Game.

Regardless, the tabloids still made inaccurate claims about the couple, a few have been clarified by Gossip Cop. [13][22], Following a brief appearance as Beatriz Enríquez de Arana in the unsuccessful adventure film Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992),[23] Zeta-Jones featured as a belly dancer in disguise in a 1992 episode of George Lucas' television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

Catherine Zeta-Jones CBE (/ˈziːtə/; born 25 September 1969)[a] is a Welsh actress. Despite their significant age difference, the pair have managed to have a very successful marriage. [153], Zeta-Jones's beauty and sex appeal have been described by several sources, including People magazine, who ranked her first in their listing of the "Most Beautiful People" in 1998. [47][48] In a scathing review, the critic Mick LaSalle wrote that "Zeta-Jones seems less an actress and more a pretty face, and not an interesting one at that". In preparation for her part, Zeta-Jones worked in the kitchen and waited on tables at New York's Fiamma Osteria restaurant.