BBC ON THIS DAY | 18 | 2000: Hollywood meets Wales in 'wedding of year' About This Site | Text Only 2000: Hollywood meets Wales in 'wedding of year' The film world has celebrated the celebrity wedding of the year in New York, as Hollywood leading man Michael Douglas married Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Jones. The lavish ceremony took place in New York's Plaza Hotel and cost an estimated �1.5 million. Crowds of well-wishers and photographers lined the street outside and guests waved before walking into the Plaza ballroom where the ceremony was to be held. Catherine Zeta Jones, 31, exchanged vows with Michael Douglas, 56, in a ceremony shrouded in secrecy due to a reputed �1m exclusive deal with OK! Magazine. Security was so tight guests had to show their hologrammed invitations before being allowed in and private photographs were banned. Welsh connection The Welsh dragon fluttered alongside the American stars and stripes above the hotel entrance, and the wedding feast featured Welsh lamb. Even the wedding ring came from a family jeweller in Aberystwyth.

The best man was Cameron Douglas, Michael Douglas's 21-year-old son from his first marriage. Also taking a starring role was Dylan, the couple's three-month-old son, who spent most of the ceremony asleep. Star-studded A party of 30 family and friends were flown to the US from the Welsh valleys, including Miss Zeta Jones's mother, Pat, and her father, Dai, a retired sweet salesman. Her grandmother, from whom she gets the name Zeta, was also flown to New York although the 85-year-old is still recovering from two recent operations. The family rubbed shoulders with the groom's father, veteran actor Kirk Douglas, 83, as well as film stars Sir Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, Sharon Stone, Sir Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve and Danny DeVito. As he arrived, Mr Douglas senior gave his blessing to the marriage, remarking, "I'd marry her myself, but my wife won't let me." Catherine Zeta Jones was born on a housing estate in the Welsh seaside town of Mumbles. She first hit the headlines as a TV star in the ITV drama The Darling Buds of May, before heading to America to star in films such as The Mask of Zorro.

Her new husband, Michael Douglas, is one of Hollywood's most bankable stars, from one of its oldest acting dynasties. He has starred in hit films such as Romancing the Stone and Wall Street. Michael Douglas - Film Actor, Filmmaker, Activist - Biography.com Michael Douglas Michael Douglas is an American actor best known for his roles on TV's 'Streets of San Francisco' and in the films 'Wall Street,' 'Fatal Attraction' and 'Wonder Boys.' IN THESE GROUPS » quotes “For an actor, it's great fun to play one of these hungry white sharks. Audiences love to hate them.” “The one thing that men and women have in common—they both like the company of men.” “All of a sudden the affection from my family, from my friends, and from my fans hit me at a much deeper level than I would have ever imagined before.

And it gave me a really new appreciation of just how valuable, how precious good friends are and family.” “I never expected to become a poster boy for head and neck cancer, but, if after what started out as trying to answer a couple of questions about the suspected sources of this disease results in opening up discussion and furthering public awareness, then I'll stand by that.” “What I'm most proud of is that you forget about Matt and me pretty quickly, because the story sucks you in so much that you forget it's about two guys, and you’re just watching a relationship between two people who really love each other.” “In the past, on purpose, I've never known what movie I'm going to do next. I never knew how I would feel when I finished a picture. Now it feels great to be back at work.” “I was conscious of my father's fame from the time I was six.” “When we finally got [One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest] going, my father's career had changed. He'd become a little older, and our director, Milos Forman, did not think he was right for the lead role.

That was probably the most difficult moment in the history of my life with my father.” “Every time I'm out, a drunken Wall Street guy comes up to me to say, 'You're the man.'?It's depressing. Gordon Gekko was not a hero.” “My father is 96, and he's still a really competitive guy. I tease him and say, 'Let the legacy go on!' Fathers and sons: They may want to beat you, but they still love you. Who else can you say that about?” Michael Douglas Synopsis Michael Douglas, son of movie star Kirk Douglas , was born in New Jersey in 1944. He gained fame after starring in the cop show Streets of San Francisco (1972–77). His film career took off shortly after, with starring roles in The China Syndrome (1979), Romancing the Stone (1984) and Wall Street (1987), for which he won an Academy Award. Later films include Fatal Attraction (1987), Basic Instinct (1992) and Wonder Boys (2000).

He he still finds prominent parts later in his career, starring in films such as the Emmy Award-winning Behind the Candelabra (2013), Last Vegas (2013) and Ant-Man (2015). Douglas married actress Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2000. Early Life Michael Kirk Douglas was born on September 25, 1944, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to actor Kirk Douglas and his wife, Diana Dill. Michael grew up with three brothers: Joel, Peter and Eric. As the son of a famed actor, Michael Douglas grew up with a strained relationship with his father, which developed more as he progressed through life. He studied drama at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and in New York at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and the American Place Theatre. Early Career Douglas began his Hollywood career as an assistant director on some of father Kirk Douglas's 1960s films. After roles in several television dramas, he gained notoriety by co-starring with Karl Malden in the 1970s TV series The Streets of San Francisco (ABC, 1972-77).

He also directed two episodes of the show. In 1975, Douglas served as executive producer for Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which went on to win five Academy Awards, including one for Best Picture. He got involved in the film after his father, who owned the rights to Ken Kesey's novel of the same name, couldn't successfully develop it into a film. Despite the success of the film, it was difficult for Michael Douglas to find work as an actor, having received so much recognition as a producer. In 1979, he starred with Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon in the film The China Syndrome, which he also co-produced. Acclaimed Film Actor Douglas landed his first leading man role in Romancing the Stone (1984), portraying Jack Colton, an Indiana Jones-type adventurer. This successful teaming of Douglas with Danny DeVito and Kathleen Turner led to a sequel, The Jewel of the Nile (1985). The three worked again in The War of the Roses (1989), a dark comedy about an ugly divorce.

Michael Douglas on marriage rumours, Catherine Zeta Jones' illness and why kissing Matt Damon was too much for Tinseltown | Daily Mail Online * What I told our children about Catherine and me ‘splitting up’. * My tears for the drug-dealing son who broke my heart. * And Matt Damon’s weird obsession with body-waxing… 'I tried out a few imitations (of Liberace). Just to myself. Then I forgot all about it,' said Michael Douglas of his role in Behind The Candelabra (opposite Matt Damon) High up in the architectural gods, overlooking the trees of New York’s Central Park, Michael Douglas is pacing the polished wood floor of his vast apartment, slowly unravelling a story about himself. He is talking about how he came to play Liberace in Steven Soderbergh’s highly anticipated (and possibly last-ever) movie, Behind The Candelabra. Douglas, alongside Matt Damon as the flamboyant pianist’s young, corrupted lover, puts in a performance that is jaw-dropping and brilliant. But his telling of how he got the part is interesting in what it reveals about him.

‘Steven and I were doing Traffic (released in 2000, the film won four Oscars) and I was playing a drug tsar. One day he said, ‘‘Have you ever thought of playing Liberace?’’ On Liberace: 'One of his thighs was the size of my two together. And I can't play the piano' ‘I thought, “Is this a directorial trick?” I looked at him like a paranoid actor. “WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? Am I mincing too much? Am I too soft?” And I say to him (he effects a wounded tone), “No, Steve. It’s never really crossed my mind.” ’ It is a revelation that twice Oscar-winning Douglas, son of Kirk, Hollywood royalty, whose movies defined generations – Wall Street, Fatal Attraction, Falling Down, Wonder Boys – would question his own abilities. His debut as a producer was the classic One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975. He is also married to beautiful Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones (though there was renewed speculation about their marriage after she returned to a clinic last month for a bipolar condition). He shrugs: ‘We are happy.

I know that.’ Recently, he defeated stage four throat cancer. ‘My kids are relieved I’m out of the house,’ he says. ‘They had enough of me lying on a sofa all day.’ And if success is measured in material terms, Douglas has hit the peak. He owns homes around the world, and his New York apartment is accessed by a gated lift complete with a leather banquette – and a uniformed attendant called Harold. So it says something that within days he was compelled by the challenge. ‘I tried out a few imitations (of Liberace). Just to myself. Then I forgot all about it.’ In the film, Douglas looks uncannily like Liberace. ‘Except he was a big barrel-chested Polak. One of his thighs was the size of my two together. And I can’t play the piano.’ It is a gay love story that is graphic, touching, hilarious and dark – a huge risk of a role. Hollywood refused to finance it, and in the States it was on TV rather than in cinemas as in Europe. Behind The Candelabra is a gay love story that is graphic, touching, hilarious and dark - a huge risk of a role.

Hollywood refused to finance it, and in the States it was on TV rather than in cinemas as in Europe The plot revolves around Liberace’s mid-life relationship with Scott Thorson, just 17 when they met. Liberace, whose homosexuality was kept ‘secret’ until his death from AIDS-related pneumonia in 1987, rained furs, diamonds and gold on Thorson and made him undergo plastic surgery to resemble a young Liberace. He even tried to adopt him. Thorson, increasingly addicted to drugs, was eventually dumped for a younger model. Douglas shakes his head: ‘When Steven told me Matt wanted to play Scott I thought, “Wow, that’s brave.” It’s my time to do what I want, but he is Mr Bourne Identity, in the prime of his leading-man career. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share 'Matt’s in a group of really impressive actors – Brad, George, Matt and Ben – willing to take chances. It surprised me – in a good way.’ He cracks a few jokes about chapstick and body waxing. ‘Matt got a bit too obsessed – there was one point I was getting worried about him. ‘Matt says when he kissed me, he thought of Catherine.

She was very pleased by that.’ So who did he think of? He pauses and sounds ever so slightly hurt: ‘I thought of Matt. There was a tenderness about him. The way he kissed.’ Of any actor, Douglas has probably clocked up Hollywood’s most memorable sex scenes, with Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction. Still, sex with a man must have been entirely different? He screws up his face. 'Matt got a bit too obsessed - there was one point I was getting worried about him. Matt says when he kissed me, he thought of Catherine. She was very pleased by that,' Michael said ‘People try to lock you in this sex thing. For me it’s about commitment. I don’t know if I could have done those scenes with anyone else. ‘You have to talk about it. Matt and I had the conversation. We looked at each other and said, “I’m game if you’re game.” What I see when I look at those scenes is commitment. Raw. Nobody winked. Nobody tried to play it safe. ‘It was very similar to a sex scene with a leading lady.

What you don’t want is for her all of a sudden to turn into a prude on you, and you’re going, “Hello! This is what we are doing. Actors committing.” When I watch it back I forget it is me.’ Douglas is rather surprising. Take his New York home, where he lives with his two young children – Dylan (12), Carys (ten) – and Catherine after relocating from Bermuda four years ago. It’s all dark wood, faded brocades, Old Masters, an antique-looking pool table and well-used library. More European gentlemen’s club than the glossy home of a superstar. There are silver-framed photographs cramming every surface, with snaps of his three children (his eldest son Cameron is in prison on drug charges), of his wife, his father, his mother (Diana Dill) and a whole slew of friends and relatives. In the evenings he and Catherine sit here with the children and watch The Big Bang Theory and Deadliest Catch on Discovery. ‘That is,’ he says, ‘if they aren’t on their iPads. Or Dylan is playing with Lego and Carys is playing with Barbie or punching in questions on the internet about nine-year-old singers . . .

or wandering around the house in Catherine’s shoes.’ Behind The Candelabra revolves around Liberace's mid-life relationship with Scott Thorson, just 17 when they met. Liberace rained furs, diamonds and gold on his young lover The real couple in 1982. Scott Thorson (pictured left), increasingly addicted to drugs, was eventually dumped by Liberace for a younger model He says he will let his children watch Behind The Candelabra, gay sex scenes and all. ‘There are very few of my films they can watch. For a long time they thought their mum worked and I was the guy who made pancakes. I even did a Disney picture so they could see me in something. ‘And this film, well, they’ve seen photos all over the net. We’ve talked about the whole phenomenon in their generation about the acceptance of being gay. They are savvy kids.’ Nor do he and Catherine try to shield them from the reality of their lives, and the speculation about their marriage. They are subject to many stories about them rowing, splitting up or hating each other. In 2011, she sought treatment for a bipolar condition and her recent return to follow the programme led to more headlines.

But Michael was quick to state that he was proud of her and was looking forward to his wife coming home. After Behind The Candelabra lost its studio funding - 'too gay' for Hollywood - it was taken up by HBO ‘We talk. I was trying to explain to the kids recently about some National Enquirer story about Catherine and me splitting up. 'I said, “Guys. You might hear this story, it isn’t true but maybe some parents or kids at school will say something and I don’t want you to be caught out. It’s just not true.” 'Dylan looked at me and said, “You mean like that story that you were going to die in three weeks, Dad?” I said, “Yeah, like that one. It’s as true as that story.” ’ In mid-interview Catherine calls his mobile. They have a brief conversation so flecked with humdrum domestic minutiae (something about shirts) that I believe him. ‘We’re happy. I never thought I’d get this chance to have a second family, this joy. Catherine isn’t just a beautiful woman. She has balance, she understands this business. 'I’m very grateful I met her.

I was married once for 18 years but this time around it has been great. It really has.’ He talks with unflinching honesty about his first child. In 2010, 34-year-old Cameron was given five years in prison for possessing heroin and dealing crystal meth. A year later he was given another four-and-a-half years for admitting to drug possession in prison. In April this year, Douglas lost an appeal to have his son’s sentence reduced. It is unlikely he will now be released until 2018. He shakes his head: ‘I cried. It is the last time I cried. I don’t know how else to say this other than it broke my heart. 'You have a vision of someone you love and care about and it feels unfair and you are helpless.’ Michael and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones in Monaco in 2002 (left). The couple with their children Dylan and Carys (right) after Catherine collected her CBE He looks desolate: ‘It’s been my trial, my tragedy. We’ve struggled together since he was 13.

And (since losing the appeal) I have an issue with the court and prison system, about how we treat non-violent drug addicts. ‘His punishment is too harsh. I want to get involved in working out reforms. I know a lot about it now. 'Cameron got the most severe sentence in the history of the U.S. penal system. It’s just unrealistic. 'My son deserved to get arrested but not to be harshly punished for obtaining drugs in prison.’ He believes there is an element of being made an example of. ‘A large part of it was his name but a large part was the (way the) system is designed. We have four-and-a-half times more prisons than any other country. 'We incarcerate a larger portion of our citizens than (at any time in the) history of civilisation, in part for profit. It is profitable to keep guys in prison.’ There is grim comfort in the fact that he is closer than ever to Cameron – his only son by his first marriage, to Diandra Luker. They divorced in 1995 and she was awarded a then-record £45 million.

'We've struggled together since he was 13,' said Michael of his son Cameron, who is in prison He married Zeta-Jones in 2000 after they met at the Cannes Film Festival. He shrugs: ‘My relationship was difficult. We’ve been distanced because he was an addict for so long. He didn’t want to be around. I love my son. My kids love their brother. We go to see him in jail.’ He shrugs: ‘Rightly or wrongly they’ve been introduced to a lot of stuff. But they love their brother and their brother loves them. 'He’s a wonderful kid. He’s got a great heart. He certainly paid his price to society.’ Douglas is expensively dressed and his face remains handsome, but there are faint lines around the blue eyes and mouth. The family’s apartment is two blocks up from the Dakota Building, where John Lennon was shot. ‘I went down there, joined the vigil on that day,’ he says. He continues to campaign against the U.S. gun laws. In his late teens and early 20s, he smoked marijuana and rode around his New York drama school on a motorbike.

In 1966 at a playwrights’ conference in Connecticut, he met his best friend (to this day) Danny DeVito. ‘We both had long hair. I was a hippy and so was he. We were the only ones. We bonded over pot. He’s still that hippy at heart.’ After the Liberace film lost its studio funding – ‘too gay’ for Hollywood – it was taken up by HBO. ‘The movie business is nasty now. Working with HBO reminded me of how nice it was 20 years ago. 'It sounds like sour grapes but hardly any of the movies I did would get made now: The China Syndrome or Wonder Boys or Traffic or Falling Down, even Fatal Attraction. They are into remakes and sequels and larger-than-life Marvel films.’ Michael with his father Kirk on the set of Big Sky in 1952. 'Kirk's great, he's wonderful,' he said He shakes his head. He is known for playing ‘sonsofbitches, guys that are not necessarily likeable. But I like the risk of trying to seduce an audience. I don’t often get to play nice’.

‘Nice’ is a strange word to apply to a man who had dozens of affairs with very young men and refused to admit his sexuality. ‘I remember seeing Liberace as a kid. I was staying with my dad. It was outside his house in Palm Springs and he pulled over in his Rolls-Royce convertible. ‘He didn’t like friction. He wanted everything to be nice. I used to see him on TV and he’d look right at you. 'Elton John, Lady Gaga, Madonna; they all owe something to him. He wanted to make people smile.’ Douglas grew up the son of divorced parents in New York, with his mother, who remarried. He says this saved him from being smashed by the Hollywood machine. In the past he has said that children of famous actors wanting to act terrify him. ‘Both Dylan and Carys want to be actors,’ he says. ‘I had no desire for this. But this week Dylan is playing the Artful Dodger in Oliver and he said, “Dad, can I ask a favour? You know I’m doing really well in school?

And I’m doing the show and working hard.” I said, “I know, son.” ‘Dylan says, “So do you think you can throw me a bone, in a movie?” ’ He sighs. ‘So there are a couple of kid parts coming up and they are going for auditions. I’d worry if we lived in Hollywood, but New York is different. This industry is a tiny part of it.’ As a young actor, he was terrified of failing because of his formidable father. ‘I’d throw up in wastepaper baskets in theatres and on sets. My dad was a movie star. Having that name was good and bad. People think it’s a silver spoon. It’s not.’ There’s no grudge that his father had little time for him. ‘Kirk’s great, he’s wonderful. He made, what, 95 movies when I was growing up? We didn’t see each other, he was working his ass off. Like I did. Michael's films include Wall Street, Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct (pictured) ‘But in his seventies he had a helicopter crash (a helicopter flew into a plane in 1991, killing two people) and he survived.

'Then he had a stroke, got a pacemaker and went into his third act, returning to his Jewish roots and reading the Old Testament, studying with a rabbi. ‘He’s an incredibly spiritual, loving, wonderful man. I admire everything he’s done in his life, but particularly his third act. And he’s always given me a pat on the back. 'He didn’t get love from his father, so even in his roaring days there was love.’ He tells two touching stories about the legendary 96-year-old. When scare stories said Michael had weeks to live, he called his father to say he was OK. ‘A few hours later Kirk arrived. He just wanted to see me. He looked at me, nodded, went home. He’d come and look at me every now and again. He just needed to see his son.’ It’s clear there was a point at which Kirk thought he’d lost him. ‘When he watched the dying scene in the Liberace film, he cried. It shook him up when I died on screen.’ The younger Douglas is, he says, back on form. ‘I’m good.

I feel well.’ He talks about films he’s doing – Last Vegas alongside Robert De Niro and Morgan Freeman (‘a sort of Hangover for old men’) and a Ronald Reagan movie (‘It’s been shelved for a while because of financing but I’ve got other stuff on.’) The award-winning director of Behind The Candelabra, Soderbergh, has retired at 50, disillusioned with Hollywood. Would Douglas follow suit? He shakes his head: ‘When I was ill, there was nothing I could do. After I recovered, acting was all I wanted to do. 'My illness has reinvigorated my joy as an actor, to do work I want to do... I’m not going to stop.’ ‘Behind The Candelabra’ is released on June 7 His’n’his facelifts for Liberace and the blond Adonis Rolls-Royces, lavish homes and dozens of pet dogs were not the only things Liberace and his lover, Scott Thorson, enjoyed during their happier days together.

Cosmetic surgery also played a major role in their relationship, as Thorson recalls in his book Candelabra: My Life With Liberace, published in 1988, a year after Liberace’s death. According to Thorson, after Liberace glimpsed his ageing face on a Tonight Show interview in 1979, when he was 59, he decided he needed a second facelift. ‘I look like hell. Why hasn’t anyone told me how old I look?’ he said. Cosmetic surgery played a major role in the relationship between Liberace and Scott Thorson. The pianist hired Jack Startz to not only surgically rework his face, but that also of his younger lover's On the advice of Guy Richard, the hairdresser who styled Liberace’s wigs, the entertainer contacted Jack Startz, a Hollywood ear, nose and throat specialist.

Played in the movie by Rob Lowe (pictured above), in high-camp hair and make-up, and bearing no resemblance to his suave, real-life appearance, Startz was a brilliant surgeon brought down by drugs and alcohol, financial problems and the consequences of doling out silicone injections that left the face of at least one movie star looking like a melting candle. In the words of his eldest son, Jon Startz: ‘He was charismatic, skilled, innovative – and tragic.’ Liberace wanted not just his own face reworked: he hired Startz to surgically remake Thorson, too, into a younger version of himself. The pianist was planning to adopt his boyfriend, Thorson writes, and wanted him to look like his son. Startz outlined an operative plan for the 20-year-old Thorson: a nose job, restructured cheekbones, a chin implant, and, at Thorson’s request, a cleft in his chin. When Liberace complained that his ‘blond Adonis’ was gaining weight, Startz also prescribed what he called the Hollywood Diet: ‘cocaine, amphetamines and quaaludes’, Thorson writes.

Liberace wanted to have his operation performed first ‘so that Scott could take care of him’. The surgery included a lower facelift, upper and lower eyelifts, and a face peel performed by Helene Ballas, an aesthetician who managed Startz’s office for nearly two decades. She relates how the entertainer, who was nearly bald, refused at first to remove his wig in the operating theatre. He had to be persuaded to do so before surgery could begin. Afterwards, Thorson wheeled the bandaged Liberace across the street to a three-bedroom apartment rented for the occasion. Ballas remembers sprucing it up for him. ‘I brought sheets and towels, a lace tablecloth, fancy tea cups, and a silver candelabra from my home,’ she says. Ballas stayed at the apartment with the recovering star for several nights, and Startz arrived every day to change his bandages. ‘Liberace was the nicest man. He never complained,’ she says. For later follow-up visits, Liberace would fly back from Las Vegas, and Ballas would pick him up in her Cadillac. Liberace was solicitous to the people he needed.

Ballas often went to his house to check his progress and bring the face creams she had blended for him. Over the years, he gave her small gifts, including a brooch in the shape of a piano. He liked to cook and invited her to stay for Italian dinners. And his costume designer made a wedding dress for one of Ballas’s daughters. Thorson’s operation took place a month later, giving him time to lose 20lb. After the his-and-his procedures, ‘Scott looked pretty good’, says Ballas. But for Liberace, it was another story. In his book, which the Douglas movie is based on, Thorson writes that the entertainer could barely close his eyes after his second facelift and had to sleep with them slightly open. Thorson, meanwhile, stayed on his ‘diet’, and blamed Startz for his drug dependence. After six months the surgeon refused to give his patient any more pills. As Ballas says: ‘Startz controlled people with drugs.’ But he couldn’t control his own drug use, she says. In about 1975, Startz asked her to drive him to a rehab centre in Arizona.

But within a few days, she claims, he called to say: ‘Come and get me.’ By Joan Kron Catherine Zeta-Jones - Biography - IMDb 5' 7" (1.7 m) Mini Bio (1) Catherine Zeta-Jones was born September 25, 1969 in Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales, UK. She is the daughter of Patricia (Fair) and David James "Dai" Jones, who formerly owned a candy factory. Her father is of Welsh descent and her mother is of English, Irish, and Welsh ancestry. Her brothers are David Jones (born 1967), a development executive, and Lyndon Jones (born 1972), who works at her production company. Catherine showed an interest early on in entertainment. She starred on stage in "Annie", "Bugsy Malone" and "The Pajama Game". At age 15, she had the lead in the British revival of "42nd Street".

She was originally cast as the second understudy for the lead role in the musical but when the star and first understudy became sick the night the play's producer was in the audience, she was given the lead for the rest of the musical's production. She first made a name for herself in the early 1990s when she starred in the Yorkshire Television comedy/drama series The Darling Buds of May (1991). The series was a success and made her one of the United Kingdom's most popular television actresses. She subsequently played supporting roles in several films including Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), the miniseries Catherine the Great (1996) and a larger role as the seductive Sala in The Phantom (1996) before landing her breakthrough role playing the fiery Elena opposite Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro (1998). She starred in many big-budget blockbusters like Entrapment (1999), The Haunting (1999) and Traffic (2000), for which many believed she was robbed of an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as murderous vaudevillian Velma Kelly in the musical comedy Chicago (2002). She then appeared opposite George Clooney in Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Ocean's Twelve (2004) and reprised her starring role in the sequel The Legend of Zorro (2005). In November 2000, she married actor Michael Douglas . She gave birth to their son Dylan Michael in August 2000 followed by daughter, Carys, in April 2003. She was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama. - IMDb Mini Biography By: TrendEkiD@aol.com Spouse (1) ( 18 November 2000 - present) (2 children) Trade Mark (4) Sister-in-law of Joel Douglas , Peter Douglas and the late Eric 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 English, French, Spanish and Welsh.

Her father is of Welsh ancestry, and her mother is of Irish, English, and Welsh ancestry. 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 motion picture Spartacus (1960). In the June 1998 of Yahoo! Internet magazine, she was listed as the number one actress being searched on Yahoo!. A traditional Welsh choir sang at her wedding. Her wedding ring includes a Celtic motif and was bought in a Welsh town called Aberystwyth. 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, particularly the ones she saw as a child: Mary Poppins (1964) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968).

On 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. Celebrity 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 Milkwood Films, named after the play "Under Milkwood" by Welsh writer Dylan Thomas . She and Thomas are both from the same Welsh town, 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 a duet with David Essex , "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".

(October 21, 2004) Filed lawsuit against the Spice House, "Reno's Friendliest Topless Cabaret" for the unauthorized use of her photo on its website. On an awards show, speaking of her role of Velma Kelly in the movie Chicago (2002), she stated that while it was as exciting, it was almost as painful as giving birth to her son. In 1992, the Columbia single "For All Time" peaked at #36 in the UK charts; In 1995, she spent a week on the UK chart at #72 with "In the Arms of Love". Ranked #68 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. Ranked #82 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" special supplement. Was once engaged to Angus Macfadyen . Was considered for the role of Jane Smith in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), which went to Angelina Jolie .

Was originally approached to play Roxie Hart in Chicago (2002), but wanted to play Velma Kelly because of the song "All That Jazz". Renée Zellweger ended up winning the role of Roxie Hart. In 2004, she began a two year $20 million contract as the spokeswoman of T-Mobile. Turned down the role of Claudia Nardi in the musical Nine (2009) when Rob Marshall refused to expand the role for the film. Nicole Kidman was later cast instead. Was considered for the role of Satine in the musical Moulin Rouge! (2001) but Nicole Kidman , who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead. Born at 2:40 PM (MET). The 2009 Sunday Times estimates her and husband Michael Douglas ' net worth at $278 million. She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama.

Won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical in 2010 for her portrayal of Desiree in "A Little Night Music". Was seven months pregnant with her son Dylan when she completed filming on Traffic (2000). Returned to work four months after giving birth to her son Dylan in order to begin filming America's Sweethearts (2001). Admitted herself into Silver Hills Hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut on April 6, 2011 for a five-day treatment of her Bipolar II Disorder before leaving the hospital on April 11, 2011. Her wedding dress was designed by Christian Lacroix . Met her husband, Michael Douglas , at the Deauville Film Festival in September 1998, while she was promoting her upcoming film, The Mask of Zorro (1998). She moved to London, England, from Wales, at age 15. She acquired her first actor's guild card at age 15. When she was 14, former Monkees star Micky Dolenz was touring Britain in a musical that required the participation of local teens in each city it visited.

She auditioned for the Welsh version of the show and won a chorus spot. She so impressed the producers that they whisked her off to London to star in a production of "The Pyjama Game". She began singing and dancing at the age of four, largely as a result of her involvement with the local Catholic congregation's amateur performing troupe. She began acting at age 11, playing the lean in a production of "Annie", and at age 13, starred in a West End production of the musical "Bugsy Malone". Before moving to Los Angeles, California, she had a house in Fulham, London, England. Her birth name is Catherine Jones, but she took her grandmother's name (on her father's side) because there were many other Catherine Jones, especially in her school class. Listed on Ask men.com as one of the 99 "most desirable" women (2002 #57) (2001 #5) (2003 #36). The British press gave her the nickname "Catherine Zeta, The Maneater" due to her busy love life at the time. Attended Dumbarton House School in Swansea, Wales.

In the 1980s, her parents won £100.000 at the game of Bingo and moved to St. Andrews Drive in Mayals, uptown Swansea. Ranked #11 on Rateitall.com as one of people's favorite actresses. [April 2005] Likes listening to soul music. Is a huge fan of Gladys Knight . She also likes Elvis Presley and Van Morrison . Every Sunday morning for 15 years, her father woke her up to Elvis Presley singing "American Trilogy" or Van Morrison's "Moondance". Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas took legal action against stalker Dawnette Knight, who was accused of sending violent letters to the couple that contained graphic threats on Zeta-Jones's 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 offenses, which took place between October 2003 and May 2004. She was sentenced to three years in prison. (April 20, 2013) Entered a rehabilitation facility to treat her bipolar disorder.

Gave birth to her 1st child at age 30, a son Dylan Michael Douglas on August 8, 2000. Child's father is her fiancé (now husband), Michael Douglas . (November 18, 2000) Married her boyfriend of 20 months and father of her 3-month-old son Dylan Michael Douglas following a 11-month-long engagement. Gave birth to her 2nd child at age 33, a daughter Carys Zeta Douglas on April 20, 2003. Child's father is her husband, Michael Douglas . Friends with Pam Ferris and Bonnie Tyler , the latter of whom attended her wedding. Was separated from her husband of 12 years Michael Douglas . [May 2013] Was on the winning European team of "The All Star Cup", a celebrity version of golf's Ryder Cup. Michael Douglas was on the losing American team. [August 2005] Is one of 6 actresses to have been pregnant at the time of winning the Academy Award; the others are Eva Marie Saint , Patricia Neal , Meryl Streep , Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman .

Neal is the only to have not accepted her award in person as a result of her pregnancy. Zeta-Jones was 8 months pregnant with her daughter Carys when she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Chicago (2002). Was the 122nd actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Chicago (2002) at The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003) on March 23, 2003. Hundreds of actresses were interviewed for Mariette on The Darling Buds of May (1991) before Jones was cast in the role at age 22. Much of her career had been in musical theatre up till then, but playing Mariette was her big break. Jones was inexperienced with television, and very nervous in the beginning; David Jason advised her to keep her eyes still while doing dialogue in close-up, something he used to do. Is one of 13 actresses who won their Best Supporting Actress Oscars in a movie that also won the Best Picture Oscar (she won for Chicago (2002)). The others are Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind (1939), Teresa Wright for Mrs.

Miniver (1942), Celeste Holm for Gentleman's Agreement (1947), Mercedes McCambridge for All the King's Men (1949), Donna Reed for From Here to Eternity (1953), Eva Marie Saint for On the Waterfront (1954), Rita Moreno for West Side Story (1961), Meryl Streep for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Juliette Binoche for The English Patient (1996), Judi Dench for Shakespeare in Love (1998), Jennifer Connelly for A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Lupita Nyong'o for 12 Years a Slave (2013). In 2011, she invited David Jason , her former co-star from The Darling Buds of May (1991), to a rented house in Richmond to have Sunday lunch with her and husband Michael Douglas . Her voice in Les 1001 nuits (1990) was dubbed.

Zeta-Jones performed the song "I Move On" from Chicago (2002) with co-star Queen Latifah at the Oscars in 2003. At the Oscars 2013, during the "Celebration of Musicals of the Last Decade", she performed "All That Jazz" from Chicago (2002). Personal Quotes (24) I used to go around looking as frumpy as possible because it was inconceivable you could be attractive as well as be smart. It wasn't until I started being myself, the way I like to turn out to meet people, that I started to get any work. I like women who look like women. I hated grunge. No one's more feminist than me, but you don't have to look as if you don't give a - you know. You can be smart, bright and attractive aesthetically to others - and to yourself. In Wales it's brilliant. I go to the pub and see everybody who I went to school with. And everybody goes "So what you doing now?".

And I go, "Oh, I'm doing a film with Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins ." And they go, "Ooh, good." And that's it. After Scottish actor Sean Connery presented her with the Oscar: A Scotsman giving a Welsh girl an Oscar - oh my God! After The Mask of Zorro (1998), people spoke Spanish to me for ages. I'm Welsh but that movie instantly gave me a new ethnicity. For marriage to be a success, every woman and every man should have her and his own bathroom. The end. [on her duel/strip scene from The Mask of Zorro (1998)]: I kept thinking "Thank God, I have long hair in this movie.". [on The Mask of Zorro (1998)] This film holds a lot of meaning to me, both professionally and personally. I actually met my husband when I was promoting the film in Deauville, France, and it was such an amazing time for me, being completely unknown, really, in America or in Mexico, where I shot the first one. It's a very important film for me and it's very close to my heart.

I wish I was born in that era: by dancing with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly , going to work at the studio dressed in beautiful pants, head scarves and sunglasses. [on landing the role of Velma Kelly in Chicago (2002)] Did I want this role? That's like saying did I want to wake up in the morning wanting to breathe! I do think I'm lucky I met Michael. Not just Michael Douglas the actor and producer with two Oscars on the shelf, but Michael Douglas , the love of my life. I really do think it was meant to happen. I like to feel sexy. I know my husband thinks I'm sexy. I think he is too. But I don't go out half-naked with 'sex' written across my back. [on what makes a man irresistable] Humor and that wonderful word called 'charisma'. You cannot translate it. I can't nail it on the head, other than to just say that I'm completely over the top about my husband. Yes, I was in love with my husband at first sight and still am. We have the most solid relationship. [on the Internet and its fascination with celebrities and pornography] I don't go into the triple-X sites.

I'm certainly not going to pay money to see myself naked, when I can just go into the bathroom and whip it off for free. I'm more insecure than I ever let anyone know, sometimes you protect yourself with this kind of armor that people see more than they see you. I was a chorus girl. That's all I ever wanted - to be onstage. I would queue up for auditions and then change my costume or put on a different leotard and audition again. It might take me two tries, but I always got the job. I figured out what they wanted. [on playing Desiree Armfeldt in "A Little Night Music" on Broadway in 2010]: There's no jazzy hands, no high kicks, no fishnet stockings, but really that's what excited me. With most musicals you have to fill in the gaps, but here you have what's already a beautiful Chekhovian play, and the music is a bonus. The characterization is everything. It's not one of those shows where you can dig about three inches and come out the other end. You can keep digging and digging and digging.

[on singing "Send in the Clowns" in "A Little Night Music" on Broadway in 2010]: As an actor what do you do? You try to make it your own. It was never supposed to be a big song. It's very intimate, about a woman being told that she's not going to be with the love of her life. How are you supposed to sing when you're that deflated? [on playing Desiree Armfeldt in "A Little Night Music" on Broadway in 2010]: I'd read the phone book with the people here, people of this caliber. I feel at this point in my life I'm in my second chapter. You have to be quite frank with yourself. There's that wonderful curve, and then this is the way it is: the second act. It's great that now I can go back to my roots but in a completely different way. [on being awarded the CBE in June 2010] As a British subject, I feel incredibly proud, at the same time it is overwhelming and humbling. And my mum and dad are delighted beyond belief. I didn't even think about movies where I came from.

I wanted to be on the stage. When I was 10, I did Annie in the West End. I did Bugsy Malone when I was 11 and 12. And then at 16, David Merrick saw me in 42nd Street. I took over the lead and he cast me. I was there for two and a half years. Right now, these young kids are going crazy. I never had that because I had a work ethic. I had to turn up and be there six nights a week. [1996] I could never see myself living in Hollywood unless I really had to, it's not really my kind of place. Being happy is the real key to beauty. It shows from the inside out. Everything else is a bonus. Salary (3) Catherine Zeta Jones | Biography, News, Photos and Videos | Contactmusic.com Catherine Zeta Jones Biography Catherine Zeta Jones (born 25.9.1969) Catherine Zeta Jones is a Welsh actress who first came to prominence when she starred in the UK TV series The Darling Buds of May. She currently lives in Bermuda with her husband, the actor Michael Douglas and their two children.

Childhood: Catherine Zeta Jones was born in Swansea, Wales, to Patricia (a seamstress) and David, the owner of a sweet factory. The singer Bonnie Tyler is married to David's cousin and her uncle owns the Llanelli A.F.C. football club. Catherine attended Dumbarton House School but left before gaining any O-Levels, in order to pursue her dream of acting. She went on to join the Arts Educational Schools in Chiswick, West London, to study musical theatre for three years. Acting Career: Catherine Zeta Jones began performing as a child, joining the performance troupe of her local Catholic congregation. Her professional debut came when she took the lead role in Annie at the Grand Theatre in Swansea. At the age of 14, Mickey Dolenz auditioned her for a role in The Pyjama Game and offered her the chance of joining the show for the remainder of the tour. By the age of 18, Catherine Zeta Jones was performing in 42nd Street, playing Peggy Sawyer and she also landed a role in Kurt Weill's Street Scene, playing Mae Jones, at the London Coliseum.

Zeta Jones' film debut came when she traveled to France and starred in Philippe de Broca's 1001 Nights. Catherine Zeta Jones' big break came when she was selected to play Mariette in The Darling Buds of May. The series was a TV adaptation of an H.E. Bates novel and also starred the actor Sir David Jason. Zeta Jones continued to work in TV; never quite matching the success of Darling Buds, but maintaining a steady stream of approval from the press. She appeared in The Return of the Native, Catherine The Great and Splitting Heirs, which starred comedy greats John Cleese, Eric Idle and Rick Moranis. Catherine went on to star in the action feature film The Phantom, which was based on Lee Falk's comic. Following her performance in a CBS-commissioned series of Titanic, Steven Spielberg recommended her to Martin Campbell, who was about to direct The Mask of Zorro. Zeta Jones landed a role in the film, alongside Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins. She had to learn to ride a horse and sword fight in order to take on the role.

She followed up her performance in The Mask of Zorro with roles in Entrapment (starring Sean Connery) and The Haunting, with Liam Neeson. In 2000, Catherine Zeta Jones starred in Traffic. The film was a huge commercial and critical success and also starred her future husband, Michael Douglas. Two years later, Zeta Jones returned to the world of musicals in 2002 when she was selected to play Velma Kelly in the film production of Chicago. She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film. The following year, Catherine provided the voice for Marine in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, alongside Brad Pitt. She also starred opposite George Clooney in Intolerable Cruelty. 2004 saw Zeta Jones appearing in The Terminal, with Tom Hanks and Ocean's Twelve. In 2005, Zeta Jones starred in the Zorro sequel, The Legend of Zorro. This was followed by performances in No Reservations and Death Defying Acts, a biopic about Harry Houdini. Musical Career: Catherine Zeta Jones had a brief musical career in the 1990s.

She appeared in Jeff Wayne's Spartacus (a musical version). A single from the show, 'For All Time' was released in 1992. Zeta Jones then went on to release 'In the Arms of Love', 'I Can't Help Myself' and 'True Love Ways', which was a duet with David Essex. Personal Life: Catherine Zeta Jones married Michael Douglas in New York in November 2000. Douglas is 25 years older than Zeta Jones. In 2001, they had a son together, named Dylan Michael Douglas and in 2003, they had a daughter, Carys Zeta Douglas. Biography by Contactmusic.com Marriage: Michael Douglas & Catherine Zeta Jones | UK news | The Observer The Observer , Sunday 19 November 2000 It's a long way from Mumbles... and Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Jones looks suitably radiant as she steps into New York's historic Russian Tea Rooms for a final run-through before last night's wedding to actor and producer Michael Douglas. The wedding, at Donald Trump's Plaza Hotel, cost well over $1m.

But don't worry: the couple have asked for cash gifts, not presents, and have sold the picture rights to OK! magazine for a seven-figure sum. BBC News | WALES | Zeta Jones wants second child Friday, 10 May, 2002, 07:01 GMT 08:01 UK Zeta Jones wants second child Zeta Jones married Michael Douglas in 2000 Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Jones has revealed she is hoping for another child next year. Zeta Jones married Michael Douglas in November 2000 - three months after giving birth to her son Dylan I'm one of three, so I have it in my head that three is the perfect number Catherine Zeta Jones The Swansea-born star, 32, is now keen to try for a second child. "I'd like to try next year, because Dylan is two in August and I'd like as many as I can," Zeta Jones told Elle magazine. "I'm one of three, so I have it in my head that three is the perfect number," she added. "But Michael is one of two, so he wants one more.

But I'd like to have three, or as many as I can!" Catherine also revealed that she was playing Tom Jones records whilst giving birth to Dylan. "I had Tom Jones playing when I gave birth. I had this surreal moment I thought my doctor was singing `Pussycat, pussycat, I love you'." 'Sweatpants girl' Speaking about her relationship with Douglas, who is 25 years her senior, Zeta Jones said that younger men simply did not compare. Describing herself as "an old-fashioned romantic", she also said she was "getting more like Liz Taylor by the day". Zeta Jones starred in Traffic whilst carrying Dylan But she pointed out that the glamorous couple do not live always live up to their public image. "People imagine I live in an apartment like the one Michael had in A Perfect Murder and I swan around in mules and a kimono," said the star of Traffic and Entrapment. "But it's not like that. I'm a big sweatpants girl too". Zeta Jones has completed work on the movie of the musical Chicago, alongside Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere.

Future projects include Intolerable Cruelty, with George Clooney, Geoffrey Rush and Billy Bob Thornton. See also: Catherine Zeta Jones Husband, Married and Divorce Home » Articles » Catherine Zeta Jones Husband, Married and Divorce Catherine Zeta Jones Husband, Married and Divorce Posted On: 19 Jun, 2014 Quick Facts 5 feet 7 inches(170 cm) Weight Children/Kids Carys Zeta Douglas, Dylan Michael Douglas "I may be the first actress to admit that beauty doesn't hold you back. I think beauty is a gift that you have to make the most of. I've worked hard at trying to look my best." - Catherine Zeta-Jones Catherine Zeta Jones, is a Welsh actress especially known for her roles in reputed movies such as The Darling Birds of May, The Mask of Zorro, Entrapment, Traffic, Chicago, Intolerable cruelty, Ocean’s Twelve, The Legend of Zoro, Death Defying Acts, Side Effects and in theatrical musical A Little Night Music. Sizzling Catherine Zeta-Jones gets easily noticed in public because of her distinct appearance.

Her dark eyes, dark hair, curvaceous hourglass shaped body and charming face are major magnetic part of her physical sex appeal. She is a confident and hot woman who lives her life in her terms. She has straight-forward personality, dazzling eyes and an awesome physique. Her distinct looks derives from her mixed ethnicity. Her father is of Welsh descent, while her mother is of Welsh and Irish descent. Catherine got back with her ex-husband in late 2013. Catherine wedding with Michael Douglas took place on 18 November 2000 in New York City. When they got married, Michael got lot of criticism because his divorce with her first wife Diandra Luker has just been 2 weeks. The divorce of Micheal and Diandra was one of the most talk-about topics in American show-biz media in late 1990's and early 2000's. It is said that the divorce case settled after Diandra got $45 million from Michael. Diandra is 13 years smaller than Douglas and Catherine is 25 years smaller than Douglas. It is no secret that Michael and Catherine are crazy in love with each other.

They first met in August 1998 in Deauville Film Festival in France. They were introduced by Danny DeVito. They started dating in March 1999 and they got engaged on 31 December, 1999. But in August 2013, their more than a decade long marriage ends. Many popular rumors then mentioned the major reason for separation of Catherine and Michael to be their busy time schedule. In November 1, 2013, Michael and Catherine get back together and since then, the couple is residing together in New York. Moreover, the divorce of Michael and Catherine in "August 2013" can't be verified officially. “After Zorro, People spoke Spanish to me for ages, I am Welsh but that movie gave me a new ethnicity” - Catherine Zeta-Jones She is an actress who is known for choosing intelligent scripts. Oscar, BAFTA and SAG awards winner Catherine’s more than 14 years of professional career shines as bright as the sun with lots of achievements like working with many reputed directors and actors. It’s no wonder her net worth is currently valued in the range of 50 million to 100 million dollars.

Talking about numbers, her body measurements are equally persuasive like her net-worth. With fit body measurements of 37-24-36 inches and tall height of 5 feet and 5 inches, Catherine is regarded as a queen of beauty. As of 2014, her age is 44. But, she doesn’t look like someone on her 40’s; instead she looks like someone who is young, a beautiful woman on her 30’s. Her real age is 44 as of 2014. Her legs are nicely shaped and toned. She has hot physique because she likes to take care of her body. On top of that, she knows to appreciate her body and take a good care of it. She is considered one of the sexiest actresses of her times; still, she can take your breath away. There are nude scenes and hot pictures of the talented actress, which one can definitely view online. It’s still not revealed whether she has gone through any plastic surgery or not. Anyway, it is believed that she is a frequent user of Botox, but the rumor can’t be verified as well.

Even after being mother of two children, she has managed to get a fit physique. To know more about sexy Catherine, one can always visit Wikipedia’s biography on her. You May Like BIOGRAPHY: Catherine Zeta Jones Lifetime twitter BIOGRAPHY Doting mother of two and queen of the red carpet, this Oscar winner looks set to outshine her husband. Catherine Zeta Jones' acting career has been meteoric considering that it was as recent as 1991 when the A-list movie star was only a fresh young face on the popular British TV drama The Darling Buds of May. Making her prime time debut as the demure and sweet Mariette, very few would have predicted then that the pretty actress would eventually become one of the most bankable faces in the movie world. Jones' marriage to actor Michael Douglas in 2000 enshrined her in one of Hollywood's most famous movie families and cemented her status as Superstar. Born in a working class area of Swansea, West Glamorgan, Zeta-Jones' interest in performing began early when a pre-teen Catherine would invite friends and family to watch her sing and dance on the living room table.

Like a Welsh version of Bonnie Langford, she high-kicked and sang favourite Broadway tunes for the amusement of neighbours and proud family members. The fortunes of the Catholic Jones' family itself took an upturn when her parents won £100,000 on Bingo, prompting a move to a more middle-class neighbourhood. Catherine was an unremarkable student, leaving her school years behind without any qualifications. But what she lacked in academic proficiency she made up for in talent and ruthless determination to become a star. She changed her name, deciding to make herself sound more glamorous by taking her great-grandmother's name Zeta as a middle-moniker. Early stage beginnings were humble as a 10-year-old Zeta Jones performed as part of a Catholic congregation-performing troupe. But it wasn't long before the adolescent would-be actress was appearing in West End shows such as Annie and Bugsy Malone. There is little doubt that her exotic beauty brought her the attention she needed to win parts. In 1987 she starred in a London production of 42nd Street and shortly afterwards she made her first feature film 1001 Nights for French film director Phillippe De Broca.

Despite a brief hiccup in the form of a misjudged singing career, Zeta-Jones' career trajectory continued steadily upwards in a series of low budget and unmemorable films. A testament to her talent was that no matter how bad or pedestrian the productions were, the young actress was able to make an impression on the screen, if not with scintillating dialogue then certainly with her radiant beauty. Two of Zeta-Jones' less accomplished movies - Eric Idle's Splitting Heirs (1993) and the British surfing drama Blue Juice (1995) - at least brought her to the attention of US casting directors and a major vamp-like role as the evil Sala in the blockbuster The Phantom (1996) starring Billy Zane. This high-camp comic-strip caper, which saw Zeta-Jones' character trying to kill Zane's lycra clad Phantom, opened up Hollywood's golden gates to the young Welsh actress. Her next role as a glamorous passenger in a TV production about the doomed Titanic caught the eye of Steven Spielberg. The movie mogul then suggested the actress to New Zealand born film director Martin Campbell for his forthcoming swashbuckler – The Mask of Zorro.

The hugely successful 1998 movie starring Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins was the breakthrough movie for Zeta-Jones and her entry into A-list land. It was while watching Catherine's performance as the feisty vengeful Elena that actor Michael Douglas, 25 years Zeta-Jones' senior, insisted on an introduction to the new British starlet. The rest, as they say, is history. The following year Zeta-Jones starred in the high-tech thriller Entrapment, which saw her hot on the heels of an art thief played by Sean Connery. Also in 1999, Zeta-Jones appeared among a starry ensemble of Hollywood names, including Liam Neeson and Lili Taylor, in The Haunting - a UK-filmed remake of the classic 1963 Robert Wise creeper. This latest offering, relying on CGI effects and over-the-top set pieces, was not well received by critics and did little to make use of Zeta-Jones' acting talents. A more suitable vehicle was around the corner, however, with the starry Hollywood remake of Channel Four's mini-series masterpiece Traffic.

Appearing with future husband Michael Douglas, Jones played the wife of a major drug baron with great gusto, and also while she was several months pregnant in real life. That following year, on 18 November 2000, Zeta Jones tied the knot with Michael Douglas at the Plaza Hotel, New York. The couple's son, Dylan, was born three months earlier. The couple also signed a pre-nuptial agreement, which states Zeta Jones will receive $3 million for every year of their marriage if Douglas cheats on her. The wedding, despite being a happy and glamorous affair, was to become the centrepiece of a controversial court case relating to charges of unauthorised photographs of the married couple in Hello! magazine after the couple had previously agreed exclusive rights to the UK published OK magazine. After co-starring with Julia Roberts and John Cusack in America's Sweethearts, an acerbic parody of Hollywood celebrity, Zeta-Jones' crowning glory was about to emerge with the eagerly awaited film version of Broadway showstopper Chicago. Her mesmerising performance as the devious and ruthless Roxie Hart in the 2003 blockbuster won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She also took home the Bafta for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for her portrayal of Velma. If any one moment acted as a benchmark showing how far Zeta-Jones had come since her tap dancing days on her mother's table, this was it. 2003 was a busy year for the Hollywood star as she gave birth to her second child, daughter Carys Zeta Jones, and also starred in two movies. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas saw ZJ playing love interest Marina to Brad Pitt's Sinbad. A less 2D on-screen partner for the actress was George Clooney in the dark-romantic comedy Intolerable Cruelty by the Cohen brothers. Zeta-Jones played a feisty serial divorcee to Clooney's divorce attorney and the two were to meet up again in Ocean's Twelve, the 2004 sequel to mega-hit Ocean's Eleven. She also appeared alongside Tom Hanks as air hostess Amelia Warren in 2004 film The Terminal.

Away from the movie cameras, Catherine and husband Michael were performing a more serious role in London's Royal Courts of Justice as they eventually fought a victory over the unauthorised use of their wedding snaps that were printed in rival magazine Hello! The Douglases initially failed to obtain an injunction against the magazine to stop publication, but were later awarded damages. During the trial much publicity was given over to Zeta-Jones' utterance that a million pounds meant very little to the Hollywood couple. In 2005, Zeta-Jones teamed up once again with director Martin Campbell and actor Antonio Banderas to reprise her role of Elena in The Legend of Zorro. The film was less commercially successful than the original 1998 box office hit. Zeta-Jones has been kept busy with her own production company Milkwood, which plans to make several feature films in her beloved Wales and home town of Swansea. As well as her acting and producing commitments Zeta-Jones is also an advertising spokesperson for mobile phone company T-Mobile. In 2007, the actress starred opposite Aaron Eckhart in the romantic comedy No Reservations, receiving a People's Choice Award nomination for her role as chef Kate.

The following year Zeta-Jones appeared opposite Guy Pearce in the film Death Defying Acts, based on the life of Harry Houdini. The film was received well by critics. In December 2009, the actress returned to Broadway to star alongside Angela Lansbury in A Little Night Music. Zeta Jones' performance was widely praised, with the actress receiving an Outer Critics Circle Award, Tony Award for best leading actress in a musical and a Drama Desk Award. Zeta-Jones was awarded a CBE in 2010, the same year that her husband Michael Douglas was diagnosed with throat cancer. Although Douglas' treatment was successful, the stress of dealing with the illness took its toll on the actress. In 2011, it was announced that Zeta-Jones was receiving treatment for bipolar disorder II. The actress checked herself into the Silver Hill Hospital in Connecticut for five nights. She left the hospital on 11 April 2011 and appears to be dealing with the condition successfully. In 2012 she starred in Lay the Favourite alongside Bruce Willis. Also that year, Zeta Jones returned to her singing and dancing training in the film adaptation of Broadway show Rock of Ages.

She plays Patricia Whitmore who plans to 'tidy up' the strip in 1980's Los Angeles. Other stars in the film include Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand.

Question: Who married Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Jones in 2000?
Answer: Michael Douglas