Cameron Diaz made her acting debut in 1994’s The Mask, despite having no prior acting experience.
Cameron, a model at the time, only started taking acting lessons after being cast in the comedy alongside Jim Carrey.
Loosely based on the Dark Horse comic of the same name, Cameron played Tina Carlyle, a role that introduced the young star to the world.
In the film, Jim plays Stanley Ipkiss, a meek bank clerk who is transformed into a green-faced, zoot-suit-wearing cartoon of a gangster after finding a magical mask.
The Mask, created with an $18 million budget, became a huge hit for New Line, earning $351 million at the global box office. The Mask remains one of Cameron Diaz’s most successful movies.
Cameron Diaz’s First Movie Ever Was The Mask With Jim Carrey
Cameron Diaz was an unknown model when she was cast in The Mask. The role threw her into the world of cinema, and kickstarted Cameron’s career in entertainment, which lasted almost three decades. Cameron admits acting was “never the plan, I was not trying to act. I was doing commercials.”
The casting director for The Mask, Fern Champion was looking for a top model to play Tina in the 1994 movie. Despite looking at leading faces in the industry, Fern was struggling to fill the role. Her friend, who worked in the same building, suggested a model from her agency who just happened to be Cameron Diaz. Fern admits she was struck by the actress’ “instant likability” and obvious intelligence.
The first choice for the role was the late Anna Nicole Smith. The Mask director, Chuck Russell, wanted Anna Nicole to star in his movie, but after meeting her in person, he realized she was not right for the role. He later pursued Vanessa Williams for the role, who was unavailable to play Tina.
When Russell saw Cameron’s photo on the casting desk, he asked to see her in person. After just one reading, he felt like Cameron Diaz was the right person for the role. It took eight callbacks and a few improv sessions with Jim Carrey for the studio to be as convinced to cast the unknown starlet.
Co-star Joely Fisher recalls the moment when Cameron walked out of the trailer for her scene in the bank. The actress who plays Maggie revealed Cameron had “a light around her. She was just breathtaking in person. The character was so on the money for her to play. I knew she was going to be a star.”
What Was Cameron Diaz’s Experience With Jim Carry On The Mask Set
Cameron Diaz has described her first movie role alongside Jim Carrey as “an amazing experience.”
“I turned 21 on the set of that film, and I’ll never forget it, because obviously you turn 21 and you’re like ‘Wooo, 21!’ And we were working nights, so Jim kind of helped me celebrate, the whole crew helped me celebrate that night.”
“It was such an amazing experience. It changed my life forever… Jim was the best, we had the best time, really, honestly. It was kind of the end of the innocence in a weird way, you know, because he hadn’t become Jim Carrey. There wasn’t all that with him at the time. Even on set we just were kind of like free.”
The chemistry between Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz actually changed the version of the film audiences saw on-screen. Producer Bob Engelman revealed that the original screenplay had Tina Carlyle as a “good girl who’s actually bad” — the complete opposite of the “bad girl who’s actually good” plot which features in the final version.
“People instantly fell in love with Cameron Diaz and never saw her as bad. Much of it had to be re-conceived and so, in the previewing process, we actually [had] 20 minutes [of introduction] before Jim entered the scene. We got rid of all that.”
Why Cameron Diaz Quit Acting Decades Later
In recent years, Cameron Diaz has taken a step back from the limelight. The Charlie’s Angels quit acting to spend more time with her family despite being one of the highest paid actresses in the world. The star married musician Benji Madden in 2015, and together, they share a daughter, Raddix, and a son, Cardinal.
Cameron wanted to focus more on motherhood and found “these back-to-back 10-hour workdays have been a lot on her, and she hates being away from Raddix.”
The Bad Teacher star also admitted being in the industry for so long took a toll on her mental health.
“When you do something at a really high level for a long period of time, when you’re the person that’s sort of delivering on this one thing, everything around, all parts of you that isn’t that, has to sort of be handed off to other people,” Cameron told Kevin Hart on his talk show Hart to Heart.
The actress spoke to Gwyneth Paltrow in a 2020 YouTube Livestream about finding peace away from acting.
“I got a peace in my soul, because I finally was taking care of myself.”
Cameron has admitted to missing some elements of the industry. She also opened up about what she misses most about the filmmaking process. “I miss aspects of acting, or making movies. … Making movies is a particular skillset that is fun to exercise and be a part of,” she said.
She did make one return to the big-screen post-retirement. Her role in Netflix action flick Back In Action saw her starring alongside Jamie Foxx, her first role since 2014’s Annie. Sadly, the movie was plagued with production issues and rumors of tension between Cameron and Jamie.
Cameron Diaz is set to come out of retirement once again for Shrek 5 , which is officially a go as Universal announced a July 2026 release date.
