Catherine Zeta Jones

Catherine Zeta-Jones was born in Mumbles, a small fishing village near Swansea, Wales on 25th September 1969. Her name stems from two different grandmothers; one grandmother is named Catherine, while the other is Zeta, named after a ship Catherine's grandfather sailed on. Her Irish mother was a seamstress and her Welsh father managed a candy factory. She became an accomplished singer and dancer at a young age due to her involvement with the local Catholic's congregation amateur dramatic society. At the age of 14 she went to London to audition for a part in the musical Bugsy Malone and there they recruited her for the touring production of the Pajama Game and took her off to London. At 17, Zeta-Jones nabbed the lead role in 42nd Street and once the show closed, Zeta-Jones traveled to France, where she received the lead role in French director Phillippe De Broca's Scheherazade, her feature film debut.

In 1991 Catherine returned to England having been offered a role as Mariette Larkin in the new Yorkshire TV series The Darling Buds of May, an adaption of the H.E. Bates novel. The series also starred David Jason and was an immediate hit, turning Catherine into a U.K. superstar. Zeta-Jones became a tabloid favorite, constantly hounded by the paparazzi. Once the intrusiveness of the media became unbearable, she decided to take her life and career across the Atlantic.

Catherine Zeta Jones Gallery