Catherine Zeta-Jones was born on 25 September 1969, in Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales, UK, the daughter of Dai Jones, who formerly worked for a candy factory, and Pat Jones. Her brother David Jones (b. 1967) is a development executive and brother Lyndon Jones (b.1972) 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 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 show was a smash hit and made her one of the United Kingdom's most popular television actresses. She subsequently played supporting roles in several films including Christopher Columbus - Der Entdecker (1992), the miniseries Katharina die Große (2000) (TV) and a larger part as the seductive Sala in Das Phantom (1996) before landing her breakthrough role playing the fiery Elena opposite Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas in Die Maske des Zorro (1998). She starred in many big-budget blockbusters like Verlockende Falle (1999), Das Geisterschloß (1999) and Traffic - Die Macht des Kartells (2000), for which many believed she was robbed of an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. In November 2000 she married actor Michael Douglas. She gave birth to their son Dylan Michael in August 2000.
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