Cameron Diaz is a name synonymous with Hollywood fame, but fans continue to be intrigued by the actress’ personal life. Her latest film, Back In Action, is set to grace Netflix screens on Friday, January 17, offering an action-comedy adventure where former CIA agents Emily (played by Cameron Diaz) and Matt (Jamie Foxx) find themselves “pulled back into espionage after their secret identities are exposed”.
The impressive ensemble extends beyond Diaz and Foxx, featuring talents like Kyle Chandler from Bloodline, Andrew Scott of Fleabag fame, and Tom Brittney known for his role in Grantchester. Yet, it is Diaz and Foxx who are poised to steal the spotlight in this Netflix spectacle.
But what do we know about the 52-year-old star, who is celebrated for her charming presence in rom-coms and TV sitcoms? We will look at her early life, her most well-known films and rockstar husband.
Early Life
Diaz was born in sunny San Diego in California, back in August 1972 and spent her formative years in Long Beach with her Cuban-American dad and Anglo-German mum. When talking about her childhood in the past, she described herself as a young “adventurous, independent and a tough kid”, which explained why she left home at 16 to live in various countries, including Japan, Australia and France for a span of five years.
The Mask
(Image: NEW LINE CINEMA)
When she was 21, Diaz bid farewell to her international sojourns and returned to California shores. She ventured into the world of modelling and subsequently landed an audition for the iconic 1994 flick starring Jim Carrey, The Mask, reports the Mirror.
If industry whispers are to be believed, director Chuck Russell originally had his eye on Anna Nicole Smith, another actress and model, for the part of Tina, but fate had other plans.
However, despite Smith’s “charming and bubbly” personality, she reportedly lacked the other qualities needed for the role. Cameron Diaz, despite her lack of prior acting experience, attended the audition for ‘The Mask’ and immediately caught Russell’s attention.
Speaking to Variety, he said after her first reading, she “was the only person for the part as far as I was concerned after her first reading.” He added: “And then I saw the chemistry with her and Jim. After eight callbacks, including improvs with Jim, I finally convinced producers,” she revealed.
Rock star husband
(Image: GETTY)
The actress is married to musician Benji Madden, a member of rock band Good Charlotte. They met in 2014 when she was introduced to the lead guitarist by his twin brother Joel Madden and his wife Nicole Richie at an event. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter.
Diaz and Madden hit it off and by January 2015, they were married in Beverly Hills. They welcomed their daughter Raddix in December 2019 and announced the arrival of their second child, a son named Cardinal Madden, in March of the following year.
Recently Madden has hailed his wife Cameron Diaz a “bad “a**” as she makes her acting comeback with ‘Back In Action’.
Benji – who celebrated his 10th wedding anniversary with the The Holiday star last week – has paid tribute to his “Queen” and gushed how proud he is to see her “back in action”.
He captioned a glamorous snap of his wife and a selfie of the pair on Instagram: “This is my QUEEN. I celebrate this BAD A** WOMAN . Wife, Mommy, friend, partner, Boss, and lover. We just hit 10 YEARS married on January 5th and every year only gets more fulfilling. It’s special. Never perfect- always real- always reliable. Every day getting to have my best friend with me ride or die….what a beautiful life- I am GRATEFUL!!! and ANOTHER MiLESTONE happening TOMORROW!!!
We are SO happy to see you….BACK IN ACTION!!….Congrats baby!! @camerondiaz
GO watch it on @netflix (sic)”
The Charlie’s Angels star recently praised her spouse for encouraging her to get back to work.
Speaking at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women summit in October, she said of her comeback: “It was just the right time for my family. After Covid, we were in the house for a long time, which was amazing and the problem was we would probably stay there, we would still be there right now.
“People would be like, ‘It’s over’ and I’d be like, ‘No it’s not, it’s not over for me.’
“So I had to push myself; my husband and I — my husband, who is the best — he was like, ‘You’ve been supporting us and building the family’ and supporting him in his businesses, he’s like, ‘It’s time for us to support you and let Mommy ascend and do her thing.’
“He’s like, ‘Let me see you do it girl.’ I was like, ‘Alright, here we go.'”
Stepping away from Hollywood
Over the years, Diaz has starred in numerous films such as Gangs of New York, Vanilla Sky, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Charlie’s Angels and voiced Princess Fiona in Shrek. Her last film role was in the 2014 adaptation of Annie, starring Jamie Foxx, before deciding to step away from Hollywood.
Discussing her decision to retreat from the limelight, she opened up on Kevin Hart’s Hart to Hart’
“When you do something at a really high level for a long period of time, when you’re the person that is delivering one thing, you’re the person on the screen, all parts of you that isn’t that has to sort of be handed off to other people.”
“For my personal, spiritual self, I was realising that that one part of me that functioned at a high level wasn’t enough.[This included] different parts of my life, my home, every aspect, from finance, just the management of me as a human being, not me as Cameron Diaz the machine.
(Image: NETFLIX)
“I just looked around and there were so many parts of my life that I wasn’t touching and that I wasn’t managing, and I couldn’t really manage, because everything was so massive.”
However, it was Jamie Foxx’s involvement in the film ‘Back In Action’ that ultimately drew her back into acting. Speaking to Empire, she revealed her decision-making process: “I thought that if I was going to come back and do a movie, the only person I’d come back and do it with would be this guy.
“Seriously. I had other opportunities along the way and I was always saying: ‘No. I’m not doing it, I’ve told you… What? Jamie asked? Jamie? Oh, I can do a movie with Jamie!'”.
The star is set to appear on the popular chat show The Graham Norton Show on Friday evening, January 17. While starring on the show alongside her co-star Jamie Foxx, she discussed doing her own her stunts in the film. She said: “There are so many amazing, dynamic stunts and it was so much fun. After performing so much in the past I think it is like muscle memory – it was as if I had never left.”
Other ventures
Outside of acting, the actress has launched her own wine business – Avaline, alongside entrepreneur and investor Katherine Power. Avaline is an organic wine brand said to be vegan friendly, which was launched back in 2020.
The actress is also involved in other business ventures, including Modern Acupuncture which is a chain of acupuncture clinics, as well as Autumn Adeigbo, which is a women’s ready-to-wear and accessories brand in which she invested in 2022 alongside fellow Hollywood actress Mila Kunis.
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