Cameron Diaz is the most luminescent newcomer to silver screen in the 1990's. At age 21 and only with her modeling experience under the hood, Diaz landed a potentially sky-rocketing role opposite rising superstar comedian Jim Carrey in The Mask.

With her foot well in the door of Hollywood films, she was next afforded the chance to kick Hollywood ass in the feature film version of Mortal Kombat.

For this role, Diaz would require martial arts training. But luck would send Diaz down a different road after she injured her wrist karate-chopping her trainer's head.

Diaz instead returned to some high-paying modeling jobs and found smaller, low-paying roles in independent films. Cameron states, "I think that definitely your chances of coming across material in independent films--material that is more interesting and more challenging--is more likely than in big-studio films.

"You always have to leave your doors open to independent films so you have that opportunity."

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