Biography
Zeta-Jones was born Catherine Zeta Jones in Swansea, Wales, to Patricia (née Fair), a seamstress of Irish descent, and David James Jones, a Welsh sweet factory owner. She was named after her grandmothers, Catherine Fair and Zeta Jones. She now hyphenates her name as "Catherine Zeta-Jones", accepting the mistake by the United States press early in her career.
Zeta-Jones' stage career began in childhood. She often performed at friends and family functions and was part of local dance troupe the Hazel Johnson School of Dance which rehearsed at St Alban's Church, Treboeth. Zeta-Jones made her professional acting debut when she played the lead in Annie, a production at Swansea Grand Theatre. When she was 14, Mickey Dolenz cast her as Tallulah in Bugsy Malone.[citation needed] In 1986, at age 17 she had a part in the chorus of The Pajama Game at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester starring Paul Jones and Fiona Hendley. The show subsequently toured the UK and in 1987, she starred in 42nd Street as Peggy Sawyer at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. She was cast in the leading role after both the actress playing Peggy Sawyer and her understudy fell ill. She also played Mae Jones in the Kurt Weill opera Street Scene with the English National Opera at the London Coliseum Theatre in 1989. After the show closed, she travelled to France where she played the lead role in French director Philippe de Broca's Les 1001 Nuits, her feature film debut.
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 and made her a British tabloid darling. 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 1992. It reached #36 in the UK charts. 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", reaching #38 in the UK singles chart in 1994.[citation needed] She also starred in an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles as well as in Christopher Columbus: The Discovery.
Zeta-Jones met actor Michael Douglas, with whom she shares a birthday, and is exactly 25 years her senior, at the Deauville Film Festival in France in August 1998, after being introduced by Danny DeVito. They began dating in March 1999. Zeta-Jones claims that when they met, he used the line "I'd like to father your children." They became engaged on 31 December 1999, and were married at the Plaza Hotel in New York City on 18 November 2000, just weeks after Douglas' divorce was finalized. A traditional Welsh choir (Côr Cymraeg Rehoboth) sang at their wedding. Her Welsh gold wedding ring includes a Celtic motif and was purchased in the Welsh town of Aberystwyth. They have two children. Their son, Dylan Michael Douglas (named after Dylan Thomas), was born on 8 August 2000, with Zeta Jones' pregnancy incorporated into her role in Traffic. Their daughter, Carys Zeta Douglas, was born on 20 April 2003.
Zeta-Jones has two brothers, David and Lyndon. Her younger brother, Lyndon Jones, is her personal manager and producer for Milkwood Films.
In 2004, Douglas and Zeta-Jones took legal action against stalker Dawnette Knight, who was accused of sending violent letters to the couple that contained graphic threats on Zeta-Jones' life. Testifying, Zeta-Jones said the threats left her so shaken she feared a nervous breakdown. Knight claimed she had been in love with Douglas and admitted to the offences, which took place between October 2003 and May 2004. She was sentenced to three years in prison.
In April 2011, Zeta-Jones sought treatment for bipolar II disorder, checking herself into Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut
Filmography
1990- les 101 nuits (xerazade)
1991- out of the blue (Christ)
1991.1993- the darling buds of may (Mariette)
1992- the adventures of Young Indiana Jones (Maya)
1992- Crhistopher Columbus: the discovery (Beatriz)
1993- Splitting Heirs (Kitty)
1994- The Cinder Path (Victoria Chapman)
1994- The Return of the Native (Eustacia Vye)
1995- Catherine the Great (Catherine II)
1995- Blue Juice (Chloe)
1996- Titanic (Isabella Paradine)
1998- The Mask of Zorro (Eléna De La Vega/ Montero)
1999- Entrapment (Virginia Baker)
1999- The Haunting (Theo)
2000- High Fidelity (Charlie Nicholson)
2000- Traffic (Helena Ayala)
2001- America's Sweethearts (Gwen Harrison)
2002- Chicago (Velma Kelly)
2003- Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (Marina)
2003- Intolerable Cruelty (Marylin Rexroth)
2004- The terminal (Amelia Warren)
2004- Ocean's Twelve (Isabel Lahiri)
2005- The Legend of Zorro (Eléna De La Vega/ Montero)
2007- No reservations (Kate Armstrong)
2007- Death Defying Acts (Mary McGarvie
2009- The Rebound (Sandy)
2012- Playing the Field (Denise)
2012- Lay the Favorite (Tulip Heimowitz)
2012- Rock of Ages (Patricia Whitmore)