HOLLYWOOD — Actress Cameron Diaz received the 2,386th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Monday and attributed her success to “the eternal love my mom and dad shared.”

“It was what has given me the strength and courage to live this extraordinary life and it is what powers the light that burns inside of me, bright enough for me to be honored today with this star on the Walk of Fame,” Diaz said.

Guests at the late-morning star unveiling ceremony in front of the Egyptian Theatre included Tom Cruise, who starred with Diaz in “Vanilla Sky,” his actress wife Katie Holmes and Lucy Liu, Diaz’s “Charlie’s Angels” co-star.

Diaz’s latest film, “My Sister’s Keeper,” premieres Friday. Her father’s unexpected April 15, 2008, death from pneumonia at age 58 occurred as she was nearing the end of filming on the drama.

Emilio Diaz worked for Unocal as a field gauger in the pipeline department for more than 20 years, until retiring in 1998. Her mother, Billie Early, is an import-export businesswoman.

Nick Cassavetes directed Diaz in “My Sister’s Keeper.”

“If you were to build a Hollywood actress, you should look at Cameron Diaz,” he said. “[She’s] beautiful, talented, she can make you laugh. But more importantly, she show up prepared, she knows what she’s doing, she works hard and even more than that, she’s kind and she takes time with every single person on the film crew.”

Curtis Hanson, who directed Diaz in the 2005 film “In Her Shoes,” said the actress has a trait “most models don’t have, which is why models tend to not make good actresses.”

“Cameron has a light in her eyes, and the light in her eyes is Cameron’s love of life — a love of life so genuine and so effective that it made us in the movie theaters watching her love her,” Hanson said. “Cameron is a wonderful woman who just happens to be a movie star.”

Diaz received Golden Globe nominations for her performances in “There’s Something About Mary,” “Being John Malkovich,” “Vanilla Sky” and “Gangs of New York.”

Born Aug. 30, 1972, in San Diego, she graduated from Long Beach Poly High School, where she was a contemporary of the rapper Snoop Dogg.

Diaz began her career as a fashion model when she was 16, working in Japan and throughout the world.

Her movie career began when an agent at Elite Model Management, who had met the producers of “The Mask” while they were searching for the female lead, recommended she audition.

Despite not having any acting experience, Diaz was cast as the female lead opposite Jim Carrey.

Diaz’s other credits include “Charlie’s Angels” and its sequel, “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Any Given Sunday” and “She’s the One.”

Diaz has also supplied the voice of Princess Fiona in the animated blockbuster “Shrek” and its sequels.

In “My Sister’s Keeper,” Diaz plays the mother of a daughter (Abigail Breslin) conceived by in-vitro fertilization to be a genetic match for her older sister (Sofia Vassilieva), who suffers from leukemia.

Diaz will next be seen on the big screen in “The Box,” set to be released Oct. 30. The film is based on a classic science fiction short story by Richard Matheson about a couple told they will receive a large amount of money if they push a button on a box and simultaneously a person they do not know will die.