Catherine Zeta-Jones has completed her transformation from the darling of British TV to Hollywood diva after reportedly securing £54m for nine movies, a deal which would make her Britain's highest paid actress.

The girl from Mumbles, who turned her back on small screen fame to seek her fortune in Los Angeles, has brokered the £6m-a-movie package which will see her play a variety of high-profile roles over the next three years, before she hits her mid-30s and Hollywood's notorious age and gender bias starts to pinch. It is understood that she then plans to have more children with her husband, the actor Michael Douglas. The couple have one son, 18-month-old Dylan.

The films, said to be with a number of different studios, include a black comedy with George Clooney, a screen version of Chicago with Richard Gere, and two biopics which will see Zeta-Jones play one of her heroines, Elizabeth Taylor, and the opera diva Maria Callas. She is also said to be planning a film about a gay Welsh rugby coach, a sequel to The Mask of Zorro, and a voiceover in a cartoon version of Sinbad.