Catherine Zeta-Jones

Catherine Zeta-Jones mini-bio: Zeta-Jones' stage career began in childhood. She was a part of a Catholic congregation's performing troupe before she was 10. She also starred in a London production of Annie, among other productions, such as Bugsy Malone. By 1987 she was starring in 42nd Street as Peggy Sawyer in the West End. Once the show closed, Zeta-Jones travelled to France, where she received the lead role in French director Phillippe De Broca's 1001 Nights (also known as Sheherazade), her feature film debut.

Her exotic beauty, along with her singing and dancing ability, suggested a promising future, but it was in a straight acting role, as Mariette in the successful television adaptation of H. E. Bates' The Darling Buds of May (1991), that she made her name. She briefly flirted with a musical career, having a part in Jeff Wayne's 1992 Spartacus. A single, "The Appian Way", featured her; it was released but failed to chart. She also starred in an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, as well as having a role in Christopher Columbus: The Discovery.

She continued to find moderate success with a number of television projects, namely, The Return of the Native and the mini-series Catherine the Great. She also starred in Splitting Heirs, a comedy starring Eric Idle, Rick Moranis and John Cleese.

n 1996, she was cast as the evil aviatrix "Sala" in Paramount's big budget action film, The Phantom , based on the famous comic created by Lee Falk. Her character did her best to kill Billy Zane's Phantom, while simultaneously assisting bad guy Xander Drax (Treat Williams) in taking over the world with a weapon of doom.

Jones starred in the CBS mini-series Titanic, which also starred Tim Curry and Peter Gallagher. Steven Spielberg, who noted her performance in the mini-series, recommended her to the director of an upcoming film, The Mask of Zorro. Jones landed a lead role in the film, alongside Antonio Banderas. The film contributed to boosting her profile. The following year she was the star of the film, Entrapment with Sean Connery. Later that year she also starred in The Haunting, alongside Liam Neeson and Lili Taylor.

In 2000 she starred in Traffic with future husband Michael Douglas. The following year she starred in America's Sweethearts, with Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal and John Cusack. In 2003, she won an Academy Award or Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Velma Kelly in the 2002 film Chicago. Chicago also won the Academy Award for Best Film that year. On 22 October 2005, she referenced her award, as guest host on the television show Saturday Night Live, surrounded by four male dancers, mimicking the Bob Fosse-inspired Chicago-style dancing, suggesting in song that, no matter how bad she might be that night, "They Can't Take My Oscar Away".

In 2003 she voiced a role in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, as well as starring in Intolerable Cruelty with George Clooney. In 2004 she was in The Terminal, as well as Ocean's Twelve, the sequel to Ocean's Eleven. In 2005 The Mask of Zorro returned to the big screen, with Catherine reprising her role as Elena in The Legend of Zorro. She stars in and produces the rugby-related comedy, Coming Out, which Welsh rugby star Gavin Henson will also be in.

Catherine Zeta-Jones Information: