Diaz was born in San Diego, California, the daughter of Billie, an import-export agent, and Emilio Diaz, an oil company foreman. Diaz's father is a second-generation Cuban-American and her mother is of English, German and Cherokee Native American ancestry. Diaz attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School at the same time as rapper Snoop Dogg. At 16 she began her career as a fashion model. Diaz signed with top modeling agency Elite Model Management. After graduating from high school, she went to work in Japan and met video director Carlo de la Torre. On her return to America, she moved in with him. For the next few years, her modeling took her around the world, working for contracts with major companies. She modelled for designers such as Calvin Klein and Levi's. She also graced the cover of the July 1990 issue of Seventeen magazine. During this period she also made a brief but now notorious soft pornographic film, She's no Angel. At 21, Diaz auditioned for The Mask. Even though she had no previous acting experience, she obtained the role of the female lead. She signed up for acting lessons right after getting the part. Diaz dated actor Matt Dillon from 1995 to 1998. She is also the ex-fiancée of actor/musician Jared Leto. They had a low-profile relationship from 1998 to 2002.
Most recently, Diaz dated former *NSYNC member Justin Timberlake, whom she met at the Kids' Choice Awards in 2003. The pair issued a joint statement on January 11, 2007, announcing they had broken up, following weeks of breakup rumors.
Diaz has publicly admitted that she has OCD, is deeply germophobic and habitually rubs doorknobs so hard before opening doors to clean them that the original paint fades afterwards and along with her floors, she says, she washes her hands "many times" each day and uses her elbows to push open doors. Diaz received "substantial" defamation damages from suing American Media Incoporated, after The National Enquirer had claimed she was cheating on then-boyfriend Timberlake. Diaz is currently represented by Creative Artists Agency. |
