Zeta-Jones was born in Swansea to David Jones, a sweet-factory owner, and Patricia (née Fair), a seamstress. Her father is Welsh and her mother is of Irish Catholic descent. She was educated at Dumbarton House School and, after winning a Junior Star Trail talent competition with a rendition of a Shirley Bassey song, began travelling regularly to London to audition for theatre roles. At nine she was cast in the West End production of Annie, and in her early teens became a national tap-dancing champion. She left school at fifteen to pursue acting full-time and enrolled at the Arts Educational Schools in Chiswick for a three-year musical theatre course.
In 1987, aged seventeen, she was chosen as second understudy for the lead in a West End production of 42nd Street. When both the star and first understudy were unavailable she stepped into the role of Peggy Sawyer and impressed the producer sufficiently to hold the part for two years. A later stage appearance at the London Coliseum, playing Mae Jones in Kurt Weill's Street Scene with the English National Opera, rounded out her formative theatre training before she moved into film.
Zeta-Jones made her film debut in Philippe de Broca's French-Italian adaptation 1001 Nights in 1990. The film was not a commercial success. Greater recognition came when she was cast opposite David Jason and Pam Ferris in the ITV period comedy-drama The Darling Buds of May, which ran from 1991 to 1993. Adapted from H. E. Bates' novel and set in rural 1950s Britain, the series became the highest-rated television programme in the United Kingdom at the time. Further British roles in the early 1990s — including Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), Splitting Heirs (1993), The Return of the Native (1994), Catherine the Great (1995), and Blue Juice (1995) — left her feeling typecast as a decorative presence rather than a serious actress, prompting her move to Los Angeles.
Steven Spielberg noticed Zeta-Jones during the CBS miniseries Titanic (1996), in which she played Isabella Paradine, and recommended her to director Martin Campbell, who was casting The Mask of Zorro (1998). Campbell gave her the role of Elena — the daughter of the original Zorro (Anthony Hopkins) and love interest of Antonio Banderas — in preference to his earlier choice. In preparation Zeta-Jones trained in dancing, horse riding, sword-fighting, and Spanish diction. The film was positively received by critics and grossed more than 250 million dollars worldwide, establishing her as an internationally recognised actress.
Her next major release, the heist film Entrapment (1999) opposite Sean Connery, was a commercial success despite a mixed critical reception. The supernatural horror film The Haunting (1999), co-starring Liam Neeson and Lili Taylor, also found a wide audience despite poor reviews.
In 2000 Zeta-Jones appeared in Steven Soderbergh's ensemble drug-trade thriller Traffic, playing Helena, the pregnant wife of an arrested drug lord who takes over the criminal operation. The performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress and a SAG Award win with the film's ensemble cast.
Her most acclaimed role came in Rob Marshall's film adaptation of the stage musical Chicago (2002), in which she played nightclub singer and murderer Velma Kelly. She based the character's look on actress Louise Brooks and sought to convey Kelly's flamboyance and desperation through physical nuance rather than explicit backstory. Chicago grossed 306 million dollars worldwide and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Zeta-Jones won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, along with the SAG Award and the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress.
The mid-2000s brought a succession of high-profile productions: the Coen brothers' black comedy Intolerable Cruelty (2003) opposite George Clooney; a voice role in the animated Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003); the sequel Ocean's Twelve (2004), filmed across several European countries; and Steven Spielberg's comedy The Terminal (2004) alongside Tom Hanks. The Legend of Zorro (2005) reprised her role opposite Antonio Banderas but received a poorer critical and commercial reception than the original.
After several smaller-scale or less successful film roles in the late 2000s, Zeta-Jones returned to theatre in 2009 with a Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, playing the ageing actress Desirée Armfeldt opposite Angela Lansbury. The production marked her Broadway debut and she won the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
Her screen work in the 2010s encompassed the crime thriller Broken City (2013), the critically acclaimed psychological thriller Side Effects (2013) for Soderbergh, and the action sequel Red 2 (2013). On television she portrayed Olivia de Havilland in the FX anthology series Feud: Bette and Joan (2017) and Morticia Addams in the Netflix series Wednesday from 2022 onward.
Zeta-Jones is married to actor Michael Douglas, with whom she has two children. Her experience with bipolar II disorder and depression has been widely covered in the media, and she has spoken openly about her diagnosis. She is an active brand endorser and supports a range of charitable causes.