Good looks were certainly a boon to the meteoric ascent of Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones. Hollywood success came to the actress when she caught the eye of Steven Spielberg during a TV mini-series, Titanic. Her performance so struck the famous producer that he immediately suggested her for the female lead in the film Mask of Zorro, which he produced. The performance was so electrifying that she then went on to star opposite Sean Connery in Entrapment and opposite Liam Neeson and Lili Taylor in The Haunting. article continued below.....

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Good looks were certainly a boon to the meteoric ascent of Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones. Hollywood success came to the actress when she caught the eye of Steven Spielberg during a TV mini-series, Titanic. Her performance so struck the famous producer that he immediately suggested her for the female lead in the film Mask of Zorro, which he produced. The performance was so electrifying that she then went on to star opposite Sean Connery in Entrapment and opposite Liam Neeson and Lili Taylor in The Haunting.

Zeta-Jones had been acting professionally for well over a decade, becoming equally reputed for her work in theater, television, and film, before Zorro made her an international sensation. Since the young age of fifteen, Zeta-Jones was acting in British television, theater and film. Her work made such a sensation that she was continually sought out by the paparazzi. An incident where she ran her car into a light post trying to flee the pursuing paparazzi prompted her to make the decision to try her luck in Hollywood. Her success in England didn't necessarily translate into success in Hollywood though. Until she caught Spielberg's attention, she was only successful in getting television work.

The only daughter of working class parents, Zeta-Jones began acting at a very young age. The bug hit her when she secured the lead in a local production of Annie. She was just eleven. Born on September 25, 1969 in a small fishing village called Mumbles, just outside Swansea in Wales. She has two brothers Lyndon and David. Zeta-Jones was named for her grandmothers Catherine and Zeta.

Success came quickly for Zeta-Jones after she moved to London at the age of fifteen to pursue an acting career. Fortune shined on her when she took over the lead in a production of 42nd Street. Originally she was the second understudy for the lead but one day both the star or the first understudy bowed out. Zeta-Jones took over and delivered a stunning performance. As luck would have it, the shows producer chose that night to see the show for the first time. He immediately insisted that Zeta-Jones be given the lead for the duration of the show. From there she went on to secure leads in such productions as The Darling Buds of May, Scheherazade, Bugsy Malone, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Street Scenes.

Zeta-Jones' appearance in Hollywood is a direct result of the British Tabloids. When the intense pressure of having the tabloids dog her every move wore down England's most eligible sex symbol, she decided it was time for a change of scenery, post haste. Now she is one of the few Hollywood actresses that is single and never been married. Currently she is engaged to Michael Douglas and formally she maintained a long term relationship with Jon Peters a producer. She broke off the relationship with Peters when he asked her to marry him. She decided she didn't want to have her career overshadowed by the status of Hollywood wife.

One word of caution, due to her successful role in the Mask of Zorro, Zeta-Jones is an accomplished sword wielder. During the filming of Mask of Zorro, Zeta-Jones got in a lot of practice with the sword.

• Is a trained singer and dancer.
• Her father was the manager of a candy factory.
• became engaged to Michael Douglas in Aspen, Colorado [31 December 1999]
• Chosen one of 1998's Most Beautiful People by People Magazine.
• Her first child with fiance Michael Douglas, a boy named Dylan Michael was born on 8th August about 6 p.m. at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre near Beverly Hills. The baby weighed in at 7 pounds and seven ounces and measured 21-1/2 inches.
• Sister of David A. Jones, an executive at Initial Entertainment group, the company that co-financed Traffic.
• Named after her grandmothers: Catherine Fair on her mother's side, and Zeta Jones on her fathers.
• While Catherine and husband Michael Douglas are not the same age, their birthdays are both on 25th of September
• Daughter-in-law of Kirk Douglas and Diana Douglas.
• Stepmother of Cameron Douglas.
• Sister-in-law of Joel Douglas, Eric Douglas and Peter Douglas.
• Her character in Traffic (2000) was changed to a pregnant woman, because Zeta-Jones herself was pregnant at the time with her son, Dylan.
• Speaks Welsh fluently.
• Measurements: 34C-25-36. (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
• Mother is Irish, father is Welsh.
• She portrayed Palene, the beautiful Thracian prophetess and woman of Spartacus, in Jeff Wayne's 1992 musical version of 'Spartacus'. The role of Spartacus was played by her future father-in-law, Kirk Douglas, in Stanley Kubrick's 1960 motion picture.
• In the June 1998 of Yahoo! internet magazine, she was listed as the number one actress being searched on Yahoo!
• Gave birth to her first daughter, named Carys Zeta Douglas, early Easter morning in New Jersey (April 20, 2003).
• A traditional Welsh choir sang at her wedding.
• Her wedding ring includes a Celtic motif and was bought in a Welsh town called Aberystwyth.
• Hired as the spokeswoman for T-Mobile cellular communications [2003]
• As a child, she was exposed to a virus that gave her breathing difficulties. This required a tracheotomy surgery, which ultimately left a surgical scar on her neck.
• Is an avid fan of musicals, paticularly the ones she saw as a child -"Mary Poppins" and "Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang."
• Thursday December 11 2003 she was a Hostess, together with husband Michael Douglas, at the 2003 annual Nobel Peace Price Concert in Oslo Spectrum in Oslo, Norway.
• "Ocean's Twelve" reunited her with previous colleagues Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Don Cheadle.
• She is a spokesperson for Elizabeth Arden Cosmetics.
• Was born in Swansea but grew up in the small seaside town of Mumbles in Wales.
• Her production company is named Milkwood films, after a play of the same name by Welsh writer Dylan Thomas. She and Thomas share the same hometown in Wales, Swansea.
• Her friend, singer Bonnie Tyler sang at her wedding. Both Zeta-Jones and Tyler come from the same region of Wales.
• She released the singles 'For All Time' in 1989, 'In the Arms of Love' and 'I Can't Help Myself' in 1995 and the David Essex duet 'True Love Ways' which was her only chart single. It appeared at #38 in the UK Top 75 singles chart in 1994
• Ranked #50 on VH1's 100 Hottest Hotties
• In addition to Michael Douglas, she also shares a birthday with Will Smith, Heather Locklear, Barbara Walters, Michael Madsen and the late Christopher Reeve.
• 21 October 2004 - Filed lawsuit against the Spice House, "Reno's Friendliest Topless Cabaret" for the unauthorized use of her photo on its website.