Catherine Zeta-Jones

b. 25 September 1969, Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales. Arriving in 1995 in predictable ‘I’ve always loved singing’ press interview schlock, and with a stunningly out of date grunge image with para boots and fishnets, this well-known television star (principally of Darling Buds Of May fame) turned singer was received by critics with the sort of welcome usually afforded nettles in a nudist colony. Her PR company, meanwhile, contested that she had first made her name in West End musicals, and that her voice had a powerful edge comparable to Cher. However, there was little in her debut single, ‘In The Arms Of Love’, released on Jeff Wayne’s Wow! Records in March 1995, to distinguish her from the herd. Zeta Jones rapidly abandoned her music career and went on to land her breakthrough film role playing Elena opposite Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas in The Mask Of Zorro. Further leading roles in Entrapment, The Haunting and Traffic ensued. She was elevated to superstar status by her marriage to actor Michael Douglas in November 2000, and received excellent reviews for her role as Velma Kelly in Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of Chicago.