The 33-year-old is up for an Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role as murderess Velma Kelly in the musical extravaganza.

The film has swept nominations for 2003 being nominated a total of 13 times including best picture.

Zeta Jones as Velma Kelly in Chicago

Zeta Jones is up against Kathy Bates (About Schmidt), Queen Latifah (Chicago), Julianne Moore (The Hours) and Meryl Streep (Adaptation) for the award.

She is the latest in a series of Welsh performers to be nominated for an Oscar.

Port Talbot-born Anthony Hopkins was given an Oscar in 1991 for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.

Fellow Port Talbot actor, Richard Burton, had seven nominations in his career including best actor nominations for The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1965), The Robe (1953) and Equus (1977).

Success

Other Welsh successes at the Oscars include best foreign language film for Solomon and Gaenor in 2000.

The nomination is the second time this week that Zeta Jones has hit the headlines as she appeared at the High Court in London on Monday as part of a compensation claim against Hello! magazine.

Along with husband, Oscar-winner Michael Douglas, 58, she was in London seeking £500,000 in damages against the celebrity magazine for publishing unauthorised pictures of their 2000 wedding.

Zeta Jones is looking to follow in the footsteps of her husband, who picked up the best actor award at the 1987 Academy Awards for his portrayal of tycoon Gordon Gekko in Wall Street.