While her teen contemporaries were struggling with mundane things like school and dating, Southern California native Cameron Diaz was employed by the Elite Modeling agency appearing on magazine covers and in campaigns for clients like Calvin Klein and Levi's. And just like many women in the modeling industry, she harbored dreams of an acting career. Diaz, of Cuban and Native American descent, burst onto the big screen as the torch-singing moll in 1994's Jim Carrey blockbuster "The Mask".
Riding the buzz on her performance in "The Mask", Diaz was courted by virtually every producer scrambling to cast "this year's blonde". In a series of shrewd moves, she opted to take roles in low-budget films which stretched her acting abilities. Diaz joined a cast of other rising players (including Courtney B. Vance Ron Eldard and Annabeth Gish as liberal college students who invite right-wingers to "The Last Supper" (1995) before tackling the role of a confused bride-to-be who finds herself attracted to her brother-in-law in "Feeling Minnesota" (1996).
Having proven her comedic abilities as a supporting player, Diaz graduated to star in one of 1998's highest grossing (in both senses of the word) feature, the Farrelly brothers' "There's Something About Mary". As Ben Stiller's dream girl, she is eternally optimistic and a paragon of beauty. Yet she is also a fine comedic performer, especially in bizarre or outrageous situations (like the now famous "hair gel" scene), in part, as Charles Taylor pointed out in the July 18, 1998 issue of Salon, because of "the crazed gleam that sneaks into her eyes, her big toothy smile and the manic trill you can sometimes hear in her voice." In a surprise move, the New York Film Critics voted her their Best Actress award.
Although virtually wasted in a cameo as a TV reporter in Terry Gilliam's attempt to capture the oddball universe of Hunter S. Thompson in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", Diaz delved into the dark side, downplaying her usually bubbly screen persona to play yet another bride-to-be in Peter Berg's black comedy "Very Bad Things" (both 1998). Here, she essayed a manipulative, cunning almost psychopathic woman determined at all costs to march down the aisle. (The writer-director envisioned the character as "a young Martha Stewart with a bad case of rabies.") Alternately seductive and bullying to her intended (Jon Favreau), she crafted a comic creation that bordered on the grotesque, yet through her skills managed to make her understandable.
In 1999's inventive, if not wholly satisfying "Being John Malkovich", Diaz adopted a dowdy look and mane of frizzy brown hair as Lotte Schwartz, the pet store employee wife of a puppeteer (John Cusack). When her husband discovers a mysterious portal that allows anyone to spend 15 minutes inside the mind and body of the titular actor, she has an epiphany, experiencing a connection to her husband's brittle co-worker (Catherine Keener that transcends sex and spins off into a complicated and surprising adventure. Once again, Diaz built a funny persona out of seemingly contradictory parts and proved her versatility.
Although the light-as-a-feather film was not entirely satisfying, certin scenes nearly bubbled over with Diaz's inherently loopy charm, infectious grin and freewheeling approach. It also further solidified her on-screen status as the girl-next-door who doesn't mind the occasional raunchy joke. Diaz shifted gears entirely for the next release, Scorsese's long-awaited drama "Gangs of New York" (2002), in which she played the comely street pickpocket Jenny Everdeane, the love interest of Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio).
