My favorite actors/actresses (name start with Z)
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Catherine Zeta-Jones was born September 25, 1969 in Swansea, Wales (and raised in the nearby town of Mumbles), the only daughter of Patricia (nee Fair) and David James "Dai" Jones, who formerly owned a sweet factory. She attended Dumbarton House School (Swansea). Her father (the son of Bertram (1912-1970) and Zeta Davies Jones (1917-2008)) is of Welsh descent and her mother (the daughter of William (1921-2000) and Catherine O'Callaghan Fair (1920-2001) ) 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. Her birth name was simply Catherine Jones, but she added her paternal grandmother's name ("Zeta") so as to stand out from the many other young women with the exact same name.
She 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 (1995) 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.1 - Titanic (1996)
2 - The Mask of Zorro (1998)
3 - Entrapment (1999)
4 - The Haunting (1999)
5 - Traffic (2000)
6 - America's Sweethearts (2001)
7 - Chicago (2002)
8 - Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
9 - The Terminal (2004)
10 - Ocean's Twelve (2004)
11 - The Legend of Zorro (2005)
12 - No Reservations (2007)
13 - The Rebound (2009)
14 - Playing for Keeps (2012)
15 - RED 2 (2013)
16 - Wednesday S1E1&5 (2022)- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Madeline Zima was born in New Haven, Connecticut, to parents Dennis and Marie, and is the sister of actresses Vanessa Zima and Yvonne Zima. "Zima", a Polish surname, is her mother's maiden name; Madeline's maternal grandfather was of Polish descent, while her other ancestry is Italian, German, and Irish.
She and her sister Vanessa were discovered by Woody Allen for his movie, Alice (1990). She actually quit show business, the week when she was urged to come in for her sixth call back for The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992). She came back for one more audition and booked the role of "Emma". She booked the movie and has never stopped working since. It was both Madeline and Julianne Moore's first film and was directed by Academy Award-winning director and writer, Curtis Hanson. Madeline won critical notice for her first film role.
Madeline followed that dramatic thriller with a short film that Daryl Hannah directed. It was a Sundance favorite called The Last Supper (1995), where Madeline, as a tiny wily child, scared away her mother's abusive boyfriend by convincing him that she and her mother were cannibals. She followed that with the comedies, Mr. Nanny (1993), Our Song, a pilot with George Hamilton, and finally The Nanny (1993). By this time, the pilot of The Nanny (1993) was picked up and Madeline moved from New York to L.A., when The Nanny (1993) became a hit show.
She has starred in TV films: The Secret Path (1999). Her sister, Yvonne Zima played the seven-year-old counterpart to her characters. She played the daughter of the late John Ritter and Marg Helgenberger on Lethal Vows (1999).
After a worldwide search in all English-speaking countries, Madeline was the choice to play Lucille Ball as a teenager, in the CBS mini-series, Lucy (2003) (aka "Redhead"). She followed that up playing the wicked stepsister of Hilary Duff in A Cinderella Story (2004).
In a return to television, she agreed to play the mysterious and destructive character "Mia" on the hit Showtime series, Californication (2007).1 - The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)
2 - The Nanny season 1 (1993/94)
3 - The Nanny season 2 (1994/95)
4 - The Nanny season 3 (1995/96)
5 - JAG S1E11 Sightings (1996)
6 - 'Til There Was You (1997)
7 - Gilmore Girls S2E7 Like Mother, Like Daughter (2001)
8 - A Cinderella Story (2004)
9 - Ghost Whisperer S2E15 Mean Ghost (2007)
10 - Grey's Anatomy S4E8 Forever Young (2007)
11 - Heroes season 4 (2009/10)
12 - Bombshell (2019)- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Renée Kathleen Zellweger was born on April 25, 1969, in Katy, Texas, Her mother, Kjellfrid Irene (Andreassen), is a Norwegian-born former nurse and midwife, of Norwegian, Kven (Finnish), and Swedish descent. Her father, Emil Erich Zellweger, is a Swiss-born engineer. The two married in 1963. Renée has a brother named Drew Zellweger, a marketing executive born on February 15, 1967. Renée got interested in acting in high school while working on the drama club. She also took an acting class at the University of Texas (Austin), where she began looking towards acting as a career. After graduation, she wanted to continue acting, but Hollywood is a tough town to break into, so Renée decided to stay in Texas, and auditioned for roles around Houston, where she managed to grab roles in such films as Reality Bites (1994) and Empire Records (1995).
While on the set for the sequel, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994), she befriended Matthew McConaughey, another Hollywood up-and-comer. He was working on a project at the time that Renée was interested in, auditioned for, and won the role in the film Love and a .45 (1994), which earned her enough critical praise that she decided to move to Los Angeles. Another role in The Whole Wide World (1996) followed which led to her big break. Cameron Crowe was busy casting his next film, Jerry Maguire (1996),starring Tom Cruise. Crowe was considering such actresses as Cameron Diaz, Bridget Fonda, Winona Ryder, and Marisa Tomei, when he heard of Zellweger's performance in The Whole Wide World (1996). He auditioned Zellweger and was sure he'd found his Dorothy Boyd.
Renée followed her huge success with a few small independent films and after receiving further critical praise, she felt confident enough to reenter the world of big-budget Hollywood films. She starred opposite Meryl Streep in the tear-jerker One True Thing (1998). She also took a role in Me, Myself & Irene (2000), opposite Jim Carrey, and soon after began dating Carrey. The two denied their relationship at first, but finally gave in and admitted it; today they are no longer together. Also in 2000, she starred in the title role in Nurse Betty (2000), where she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical. In 2001, she received even more critical and commercial success in the title role in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001). She received her first Academy Award nomination for her role, which was followed by her second Oscar-nominated role in the musical Chicago (2002). She then again wowed audiences with her fierce yet warm portrayal of Ruby Thewes in the film adaptation of Cold Mountain (2003), which won Zellweger an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, which was her first Academy Award. She won her second, for Best Actress, 16 years later, playing Judy Garland in Judy (2019).1 - Reality Bites (1994)
2 - Jerry Maguire (1996)
3 - Me, Myself & Irene (2000)
4 - Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
5 - Chicago (2002)
6 - Cold Mountain (2003)
7 - Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)
8 - New in Town (2009)
9 - My One and Only (2009)
10 - Bridget Jones's Baby (2016)
11 - Blue Night (2018)
12 - Judy (2019)- Actress
- Writer
Yvonne Zima was born in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, to parents Dennis and Marie, and is the sister of actresses Madeline Zima and Vanessa Zima. "Zima", a Polish surname, is her mother's maiden name; Yvonne's maternal grandfather was of Polish descent, while her other ancestry is Italian, German, and Irish. Zima first appeared on television at the age of five as "Rachel Green" in the ground-breaking television drama, ER (1994), later landing a quick succession of movie roles in Bed of Roses (1996), Executive Decision (1996), Heat (1995) and See Jane Run (1995), and also appeared in the Christmas classic Christmas Every Day (1996). She had a leading role in The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), playing opposite Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson. Yvonne plays guitar, sings and writes fiction. She wants to develop a TV show with her actress-sisters, Madeline and Vanessa.1 - ER season 1 (1994/95)
2 - Heat (1995)
3 - ER season 2 (1995/96)
4 - The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
5 - ER season 3 (1996/97)
6 - 'Til There Was You (1997)
7 - ER season 4 (1997/98)
8 - ER season 5 (1998/99)
9 - Storm Catcher (1999)
10 - ER season 6 (1999/00)
11 - Iron Man Three (2013) MCU 07
12 - Castle S6E5 Time Will Tell (2013)- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Ziyi Zhang is a Chinese actress and model. She is best known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Rush Hour 2 (2001), Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and Memoirs of a Geisha (2005).
She made her feature film debut in The Road Home (1999).
For her work in Memoirs of a Geisha she was nominated for an Golden Globe for Best Actress.1 - Wo hu cang long (2000)
2 - Rush Hour 2 (2001)
3 - Ying xiong (2002)
4 - Shi mian mai fu (2004)
5 - Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
6 - Ye yan (2006)
7 - Yi dai zong shi (2013)
8 - Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)- Actress
- Producer
Nikki Ziering was born on 9 August 1971 in Norwalk, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for American Wedding (2003), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) and Gold Diggers (2003). She was previously married to Ian Ziering.1 - Beverly Hills, 90210 S8E20 Cupid's Arrow (1998)
2 - Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
3 - American Wedding (2003)
4 - Standing Still (2005)
5 - American High School (2009)- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Zuniga was born in San Francisco, California to Agnes A. Zuniga (née Janawicz) and Joaquin Alberto Zuniga Mazariegos. Her mother is a Unitarian minister, of Polish and Finnish descent, and her father, originally from Guatemala, was an emeritus professor of philosophy at California State University, East Bay. Zuniga has two sisters: Jennifer Zuniga and Rosario Zúñiga.
In her early teens, Zuniga expressed interest in acting, and attended the Young Conservatory program of the American Conservatory Theater of San Francisco. After her parents divorced, Zuniga moved with her mother and sister from Berkeley, California to Reading, Vermont, where she spent the remainder of her teenage years. Zuniga graduated from Woodstock Union High School in Woodstock, Vermont, in 1980, after which she returned to California and enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles to study theater arts. After leaving college, Zuniga was close friends and roommates with fellow actress Meg Ryan.
Zuniga made her film debut in a supporting part in the slasher film The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1982), while a student at the University of California, Los Angeles. She was then cast in the 1984 horror film The Initiation (1984), opposite Vera Miles and Clu Gulager. This was followed by a lead role, opposite John Cusack, in Rob Reiner's film, The Sure Thing (1985).
In 1986, she starred as Princess Vespa in Mel Brooks' memorable cult comedy Spaceballs (1987), followed by a supporting part in the science fiction horror sequel, The Fly II (1989). From 1992 to 1996, Zuniga portrayed Jo Reynolds on the wildly popular soap opera Melrose Place (1992), which garnered Zuniga wider mainstream exposure. Her role on the series would be followed by numerous appearances on television series, including a lead role as Shelly Pierce on American Dreams (2004) from 2004 to 2005, and a recurring on the popular CW series, One Tree Hill (2003), as Victoria Davis, a role which she played from 2008 until 2012.1 - Spaceballs (1987)
2 - A Christmas Arrangement (2018)
3 - NCIS S17E15 Lonely Hearts (2020)