This Critically-Panned & Totally Random Movie Earned Cameron Diaz The Biggest Paycheck of Her Career

Cameron Diaz has starred in at least 43 movies during her long and successful career in Hollywood.

But despite the many different roles she’s played over the years, one of her most memorable ones remains to be as the bubbly but tough secret agent, Natalie Cook, in the Charlie’s Angels films.

However, you’ll be surprised to learn that her iconic role in the female-led action films isn’t actually her most profitable.

Big Break and Big Hits

Diaz broke into Hollywood during her early 20s when she was cast in ‘The Mask’

With her statuesque height and beautiful features, Diaz originally set out to have a modeling career. It was actually an agent of hers from Elite Model Management who recommended the then-21-year-old blonde beauty to film producers who were working on Jim Carrey’s ‘The Mask‘ in 1994. Luckily, the comedy film proved to be a blockbuster hit and jumpstarted Diaz’s career as an actress.

And because of her charm and talent, she was able to score a long list of big roles in other hit movies during the rest of the 90s. Some of her most well-known films include ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ with Julia Roberts, There’s ‘Something About Mary’ with Ben Stiller and ‘Being John Malkovich‘ with John Cusack.

Her success continued to spill over to the early 2000s when she further proved her star power with hits like the Charlie’s Angels films and the Shrek movies. There’s no doubt that Diaz truly became a bankable A-lister at the time.

Bad Teacher

Diaz co-starred in the film with singer turned actor Justin Timberlake, who played one of her romantic interests.

Then came the 2010s. While the actress continued to star in big budget movies, she surprisingly chose to play the lead role in one comedy film called ‘Bad Teacher’. In the film, Diaz plays the titular bad teacher, Elizabeth Halsey. The role was definitely different from the stereotypical happy and peppy characters that Diaz was used to playing. What more, the Jake Kasdan-directed film was a relatively small production with just a budget of $20 million.

It proved to be a box-office hit though raking in about $216.2 million, despite getting negative reviews from critics. Now that’s a return on investment.

And thus, Diaz was able to get her largest paycheck to date. According to sources, the 46-year-old actress brought home $42 million from the project. In comparison, she was only paid around $20 million for her role in Charlie’s Angels.

All Set

Diaz and Madden married in 2015

The actress made a couple more films after ‘Bad Teacher’ but eventually decided to step out of the limelight to lead a more quiet and private life with her husband and ‘Good Charlotte’ frontman Benji Madden. With a reported net worth of about $140 million, it’s safe to say that Diaz is more than prepared to retire from Hollywood.

These days, the star is often spotted doing regular activities from grocery shopping to running errands. She’s also turned her attention to health and wellness the past years and has even started co-writing books about the topic with fellow actress Sandra Bullock.