Cameron's dad, Emilio, a Cuban American, was a foreman at a California Oil Company. Her mom, Billie, who's German, English, and Native American, was an import-export broker. Cameron was raised in Long Beach alongside her sister Chimene.

As she was growing up, Cameron was like most girls, listening to lots of modern music and acting wild. But by her mid-teens, Cameron began attending Hollywood parties and staying out until the wee hours of the morning. It was during this party phase of her life that Cameron ended up meeting a well connected man who would change her whole life.

Jeff Dunas spotted Cameron while she was out one night and told her that he could sign her up with the Elite modeling agency. Although Cameron initially thought his proposition was somewhat fishy, she took his card and discussed it with her family and friends.

After having left Long Beach and having traveled around the world due to her modeling contracts, and having appeared in such magazines asMademoiselle and Seventeen, Cameron returned to California at age 21, and although she continued to model, she knew that she wanted more.

In 1994, she decided to audition for a small bit part in the movie, The Mask starring the elastic faced Jim Carrey. Although she didn't have any acting experience whatsoever, Cameron was cast as the female lead in the film.

Although Cameron was supposed to star in Mortal Kombat, for which she was required to learn martial arts, she ended up injuring her wrist and ultimately had to back out of the film.

But after having received such rave reviews upon The Mask's release, Cameron set out to perfect her acting skills by steering clear of potential blockbuster hits and focused on low budget films such as The Last Supper, Feeling Minnesota which co-starred Keanu Reeves, and Head Above Water, in which she played Harvey Keitel's wife.

Once Cameron felt that she had reached her acting acme, she returned to the big screen, starring in My Best Friends Wedding starring opposite Julia Roberts. It was at this time that The National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) acknowledged her string of movie triumphs by naming her the ShoWest Female Star of Tomorrow.

A little while after that, she hit the silver screen once again with A Life Less Ordinary starring opposite Ewan McGregor. Unfortunately, however, the movie was not well received by critics.

The film that really turned Cameron into a household name was her now iconic role in There's Something About Mary, which co-starred comedian Ben Stiller and Matt Dillon. Although Cameron was dating Dillon for nearly three years, whom she met on the set of the film, the couple has recently split.

More recently, Cameron starred opposite Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday, with John Cusack in Being John Malkovich (in which she's hardly recognizable), and most recently, she starring in Charlie's Angels with fellow beauties Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu.