Reese Witherspoon

At 48 years old, Reese Witherspoon has this physical status:

Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress, producer, and entrepreneur.

As of 2019, she has been named recipient of many awards, including an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.

In 2006 and 2015, Time magazine ranked her as one of the world's most influential people. Witherspoon, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, began her career as an infant, appearing in The Man in the Moon (1991).

She made her breakthrough in 1999 in the role of Tracy Flick in the black comedy Election after playing leading roles opposite Mark Wahlberg in Fear (1996).

Elle Woods' appearance in the comedy Legally Blonde (2001) and its 2003 sequel, as well as her starring role in the romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama (2002).

Her portrayal of June Carter Cash in the biographical musical film Walk the Line garnered critical acclaim and acclaim in 2005, earning her the Academy Award for Best Actress. Witherspoon made her career return in 2014 when she created the romantic drama Water for Elephants (2011), and the drama Wild (both 2014) under her production company Hello Sunshine.

She also appeared in the latter as Cheryl Strayed, for which she received her second nomination for Best Actress in the Academy.

Witherspoon stepped into television by producing and starring in the HBO drama series Big Little Lies (2017–2019) and the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show (2019).

She received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series for the former. Witherspoon also owns Draper James, a clothing chain, and she is actively involved in children's and women's advocacy groups.

She is on the board of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) and was named Global Ambassador of Avon Products in 2007 and served as honorary chair of the charitable Avon Foundation.

In 2010, she was nominated to be on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Early life and education

Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon was born in 1976, at Southern Baptist Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana, while her father, John Draper Witherspoon, was a student at Tulane University medical school. Her father was born in Georgia and served as a lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve and as a lieutenant. He was an otolaryngologist in private practice until 2012. Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Witherspoon, mother of Mary Elizabeth Elizabeth "Betty" (née Reese) Witherspoon, hails from Harriman, Tennessee. She earned a doctorate in pediatric nursing from Vanderbilt University and had a PhD in pediatric nursing.

Reese Witherspoon claimed descent from Scottish-born John Witherspoon, who signed the United States Declaration of Independence; however, the Society of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence genealogists has yet to back this assertion. Both her parents are still married, although they separated in 1996.

Witherspoon was raised as an Episcopalian and has said she is proud of her "definitive Southern upbringing" she received. It gave her "a sense of family and tradition," she said, and taught her about "being aware of people's feelings, being courteous, being responsible, and never taking for granted what you have in your life." She was chosen as a model for a florist's television advertisements at age seven, prompting her to learn acting lessons. She took first place in the Ten-State Talent Fair at age 11, earning first place. She received high marks in school, loved reading, and described herself as "a huge dork who reads a lot." "I get crazy in a bookstore," she said of her love for books. "I can't believe it makes my heart beat so much because I want to buy everything." Her parents dubbed her "Mega "Birther" and referred to her as a "multi-achiever." She attended middle school at Harding Academy and graduated from Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, where she served as a cheerleader. She enrolled in Stanford University as an English literature major but then had to abandon her studies in order to pursue an acting career.

Personal life

In March 1997, Witherspoon met actor Ryan Phillippe at her 21st birthday party. The couple married on June 5, 1999 at Old Wide Awake Plantation in Hollywood, South Carolina, in December 1998. They have two children together, daughter Ava Elizabeth Phillippe born on September 9, 1999, and son Deacon Reese Phillippe born on October 23, 2003. Witherspoon and Phillippe announced their separation on October 30, 2006. She filed for divorce on November 8, 2006, citing irreconcilable inconsistencies. Due to a lack of a prenuptial deal, she requested that the court refuse to give spousal assistance to Phillippe. Phillippe filed for joint physical arrest on May 15, 2007, but did not request any spousal assistance. According to legal documents, the marriage officially ended on October 5, 2007, with final divorce terms settled on June 13, 2008. Phillippe and Witherspoon have joint custody of their children.

Witherspoon dated Jake Gyllenhaal, a Rendition co-star from 2007 to 2009. She was known to be dating Jim Toth, a talent agent and co-head of motion picture production at Creative Artists Agency, where she is a client. They announced their engagement in December and married in Ojai, California, on March 26, 2011, with Libbey Ranch, Witherspoon's country estate, which she later sold. Tennessee James Toth, a son of Tennessee, was born on September 27, 2012. After Toth was banned for suspicion of driving under the influence, Witherspoon was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct on April 19, 2013. She pleaded no contest to the obstructing of an officer and was required to pay court fees.

Witherspoon has cited Jodie Foster, Meryl Steffiner, Susan Sarandon, Debra Winger, Julia Roberts, Derek Ladd, Eva Turner, Jennifer Aniston, Sally Field, Sally Field, Sigourney Weaver, Lucille Ball, Barbara Burke, Joseph Holliday, Margaret Hunt, Douglas McDormand, Debra Winger, Julia Roberts, Deborah Williams, Julia Roberts, Susan Johnson, Joseph Hartman, Debra Wooden, Mell Splendor in the Grass, Waiting for Guffman, Broadcast News, Raising Arizona, and Overboard are among her favorite films.

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Career

Witherspoon attended an open casting call in 1991 for The Man on the Moon with the intention of auditioning for a small part; but instead, she was cast for Dani Trant, a 14-year-old country girl who falls in love for the first time with her 17-year-old neighbor. Her appearance made an early impression, according to The Guardian. "Her first kiss is one of the most beautiful little scenes I've ever seen in a film," film critic Roger Ebert said. Witherspoon was nominated for a Young Artist Award in the category of Best Young Actress for her work. Patricia Arquette made her television debut in Wildflower later this year. Witherspoon appeared in the television film Desperate Choices: To Save My Child, portraying a critically ill young girl.

Witherspoon played Nonnie Parker, a young wife in the CBS miniseries Return to Lonesome Dove, and played a minor role in Jack the Bear, which earned her the Young Artist Award for Best Youth Actress Co-Star. Wendy Pfister appeared in the 1994 film S.F.W., directed by Jefery Levy, for the second year. Witherspoon appeared in two major films, Fear along with Mark Wahlberg, as Nicole Walker, a young man with obsessive tendencies, and Freeway, a crime thriller in Los Angeles in which she played Vanessa Lutz, a homeless woman who meets a serial killer on the way to her grandmother's house in Stockton. Critics loved the film, but San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle wrote, "Witherspoon, who has a Texas accent, is utterly convincing in one extreme situation after the other." Witherspoon's appearance at the Cognac Police Film Festival earned her the Best Actress Award and helped her establish herself as a rising star. "I could try anything" after she got over the film's production; she said, "I felt like I could try anything" when she got over the hurdle of that film, which terrified me to death.

Witherspoon appeared in three films in 1998: Overnight Delivery, Pleasantville, and Twilight. She co-starred with Tobey Maguire in a story about 1990s teenage siblings who are magically transported into the setting of a 1950s television series in Pleasantville. Jennifer, Maguire's sister, is primarily concerned about appearances, husband, and fame, according to her. Her appearance earned her praise and earned her the Young Hollywood Award for Best Female Breakthrough Performance. "She commits to a character that fully and she knows comedy," director Gary Ross applauded.

Witherspoon appeared in Best Laid Plans, a year later; she portrayed Lissa, a woman who plots with her boyfriend Nick to flee a tiny dead-end town. She co-starred with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe in the drama Cruel Intentions, a modern adaptation of the 18th-century French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which debuted in 1999. "Witherspoon is particularly good in the least flashy role," Annette Hargrove's reviewer said, "She pulls it off even when faced with a sequence of cute devilish faces." Marcy Playground's soundtrack also appeared in a music video for the film's soundtrack. She then appeared in 1999 (1998) opposite Matthew Broderick, based on Tom Perrotta's book of the same name. She gained acclaim and first nominations in the Golden Globes and the Independent Spirit Awards for her portrayal of Tracy Flick. She also received the National Society of Film Critics and the Online Film Critics Society's Best Actress Award. Premiere ranked Witherspoon on the list of the 100 Greatest Film Performances of All Time. "She's [Witherspoon] has the ability of men," director Alexander Payne said, while women would prefer to be her friend." But that's just the foundation. No one else is as amusing or has such humour to life. She's got to do anything."

Following the success of the campaign, Witherspoon had trouble finding jobs due to typecasting. "I think because the character I played was so extreme and sort of shrewish"—people believed that I was who I was rather than me trying to act or writing a part." "I'd audition for things and I'd always be the second choice"; studios never wanted to fire me, and I wasn't losing the parts to big box office actresses but to ones that "I suspect people were disagreeing with," she said. Witherspoon played a supporting role in American Psycho as Patrick Bateman's most popular cousin, and she made a cameo appearance in Little Nicky as the mother of the Antichrist. Jill Green's sister Rachel Green made a guest appearance in the sixth season of Friends.

Witherspoon's career came to a close end in the 2001 film Legally Blonde; she starred Elle Woods, a fashion-merchandising major who wants to be a law student to track her ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School. "I was like, 'She's from Beverly Hills, she's rich, she's in a sorority,'" Witherspoon described the role. She has a great boyfriend. Well, she's been dumped.

Who cares?

I still hate her.' We had to make sure she was the kind of person we just couldn't tolerate." Blonde, a box-office disaster, was grossing US$96 million domestically. Witherspoon's performance earned her acclaim from critics, and journalists began to praise her as "the next Meg Ryan." "Witherspoon effortlessly animated this content with humor and quick wit," Roger Ebert wrote, and Salon magazine critic "She [Witherspoon] delineates Elle's character perfectly." "Witherspoon is a natural comedian who can perk up a scene by marching with a lot of energy and passion, and she leads this modest little comedy almost singlehandedly," the Seattle Times-Intelligencer said. Her performance earned her second nomination for Best Actress at the Golden Globes and Best Comedian Award for her second attempt.

Witherspoon appeared in many films, including Greta Wolfcastle in The Simpsons episode "The Bart Wants What It Wants," as Cecily in the comedy "The Importance of Being Earnest," a film version of Oscar Wilde's play in which she received a Teen Choice Award nomination. Melanie Carmichael, a young fashion designer who wants to marry a New York politician but must return to Alabama to divorce her childhood sweetheart from whom she has been separated for seven years, appeared in Andy Tennant's romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama. Witherspoon regarded it as a "personal role" because it reminded her of the transition from Nashville to Los Angeles. Witherspoon's biggest live-action box office hit, grossing over $127 million in the United States, the film became Witherspoon's biggest live-action box office success, grossing over $13 million in the first weekend and grossing over $127 million. Despite the company's success, critics gave Sweet Home Alabama low marks. The Miami Herald dubbed it "a romantic comedy so rote, dull, and predictable," and the media reported that Witherspoon was the only explanation why the film attracted such a large audience. "She is not the movie's main attraction, not the movie's main attraction, she is the movie's only attraction," the Christian Science Monitor said of her.

Witherspoon continued the success of Legally Blonde by appearing in the sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde next year. Elle Woods has trained to be a Harvard-educated litigator who is determined to keep animals safe from cosmetics industry science experiments. The sequel was not as popular as the first film, and it received almost no critiques. "Planne, unfunny, and almost cringeworthy," USA Today said, although "Reese Witherspoon does a good job portraying the fair-haired lovable brainiac, but her top-notch comic timing is wasted on the humorless dialogue." The sequel, on the other hand, "calcifies everything that was enjoyable about the first film." Despite being panned by critics, the sequel earned more than $39 million in its first five days in the United States' box office charts and eventually grossed $90 million in the United States. Witherspoon was paid $30 million for the role, a starting point that would make her one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses between 2002 and 2010.

Witherspoon appeared in Vanity Fair, which was based on the 19th-century classic book Vanity Fair and directed by Mira Nair. Becky Sharp's portrayal is a poor woman with a tenacious determination to find success and establish herself as a socially accepted figure. Witherspoon was deliberately disguised to hide her pregnancy during filming. This pregnancy was not a hindrance to her work, according to Witherspoon: "I love the pregnancy, I love the skin, and I love the ample bosom," she said. "The film and Witherspoon's roles were mixed; The Hollywood Reporter said, "Nair's cast is stunning." Witherspoon does justice to the role by giving the role more excitement than naughtiness." The Charlotte Observer called her performance "an outstanding appearance that's soft around the edges," and the Los Angeles Times announced that Becky is "a role Reese Witherspoon was born to play." "Witherspoon" goes out of its way in describing so little of what's at once appalling and perplexing about the will-be mistress of Vanity Fair, "with an Oscar-less young actor's need to be loved more than anyone else," Los Angeles says. Some commentators believed she had been miscast.

Witherspoon appeared in the romantic comedy Just Like Heaven in late 2004. Elizabeth Masterson, an optimistic young doctor who is involved in a car crash on her way to a blind date and is left in a coma, is a young doctor who returns to her old apartment where she later finds true love. In James Mangold's Walk the Line (2005), she was introduced as June Carter Cash, the second wife of singer-songwriter Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix). She never had the opportunity to visit Carter Cash while filming Vanity Fair at the time the singer died. Witherspoon performed her own vocals in the film, and her songs had to be performed in front of a live audience; she was so worried about getting to perform that she had requested her counsel to end the film deal. "That was the most challenging part of the job," she later recalled. "I'd never sung professionally." She had to spend six months learning how to sing for the job, as well as vocal coach Roger Love's assistance. Critics lauded Witherspoon's portrayal of Carter Cash, with Roger Ebert claiming that her role brought "boundless life" to the film. She was named Best Actress at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, British Academy Film Awards, and a Screen Actor Guild Award for her role.

The CMT Music Awards recognized Witherspoon and Phoenix for their "collaborative video of the year" for their "collaborative video of the year. Witherspoon has expressed her enthusiasm for the film: "I really like that it portrays sort of a real marriage, a real marriage in which there are forbidden thoughts and fallibility." It's about compassion over the long run, not just the quick and simple solutions to problems." "I think the most surprising part of her character is that she did all of these things in the 1950s, including being married and divorced twice and having two separate children by two different husbands and traveling around in a car full of well-known musicians all by herself." She didn't try to adhere to social norms, so I suspect that makes her a very modern woman." Witherspoon played Annie, Penelope's best friend, after the success of Walk the Line. (Christina Ricci) A girl with a curse in her family. Type A Films, her company's production company, produced the film, and filming began in March 2006. The film premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, but it didn't appear until February 2008.

Witherspoon confesses to being "kind of floundering professionally." Witherspoon referred to her first husband's death in October 2006 and their subsequent divorce in a December 2014 interview, saying she spent "a few years just trying to get better. You know, you can't be very creative when your brain is scrambled eggs. She claims she was "not doing stuff" that she was passionate about. You know, I was just kind of doing. And it was also apparent that viewers weren't interested in anything I was putting out there."

Witherspoon appeared in the thriller Rendition, in which she played Isabella El-Ibrahim, the pregnant wife of a bomber. The film was released in October 2007 and was her first film appearance since 2005's Walk the Line. The film at the Toronto International Film Festival received mainly mixed reviews and was described as a major disappointment. Witherspoon's appearance was also chastised; Claudia Puig wrote for USA Today, "Reese Witherspoon is surprisingly lifeless [...] She injects vigour and zeal into her roles, but here, her result feels tamped down." Witherspoon appeared with Vince Vaughn in the comedy Four Christmases in 2008, a tale about a couple who has to spend their Christmas Day visiting all four of their divorced parents. Despite critical feedback from critics, the film was a box office hit, grossing more than $120 million domestically and $157 million globally. Susan Murphy, the lead character in the DreamWorks Animation Monsters vs. Aliens 2009, was released in March and grossed $381 million worldwide. Milly and Becky Rosso appeared in Legally Blonde's spin-off Legally Blondes. However, Witherspoon did not appear in a live-action film for two years after Four Christmases. "I just didn't read anything I liked," she told Entertainment Weekly that the "break" was unplanned. A number of really good, really big movies about robots and stuff are out there, but there is no place for a 34-year-old woman in a robot film."

Witherspoon returned in 2010 and 2012, three romances starring her as a woman caught in a love triangle between two men. She appeared in James L. Brooks' How Do You Know, in which she played a former national softball player (Owen Wilson) and a corporate executive being investigated for white-collar offense in the first. Filming took place in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., during the summer and fall of 2009, and it was announced on December 17, 2010. The film was both critically and commercially flop; with a budget of more than $100 million, the film only made $48.7 million worldwide, prompting the Los Angeles Times to label it "one of the year's biggest flops." The film received mainly critical feedback, with a 35 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 111 reviews as of December 2010.

Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen's sequel to Sara Gruen's book of the same name, was Witherspoon's second love-triangle film. She began circus training in March 2010 as Marlena, a glamorous performer trapped in a marriage to a volatile husband (Christoph Waltz) but intrigued by the circus's new veterinarian (Robert Pattinson). Principal photography was born in Tennessee, Georgia, and California between May and early August 2010. It was announced on April 22, 2011, and it received mixed critical feedback. In September 2010, her last love-triangle film began filming in Vancouver. This Means War, directed by McG and released by 20th Century Fox, saw Witherspoon's character at the forefront of a conflict between best friends (played by Chris Pine and Tom Hardy), who are both in love with her. On Valentine's Day, the film received a "sneak peek" preview before fully opening on February 17, 2012. Critics blasted Rotten Tomatoes, and the film did poorly at the box office, taking fifth place on its first weekend with sales of $17.6 million. This "extended the box office cold streak for Ms. Witherspoon," according to the New York Times. Witherspoon jokingly said that 2010–12 was her "love triangle period" during her MTV interview.

In September 2011, the former girlfriend of a fugitive (Matthew McConaughey), who enlists two local boys to assist him in escaping capture and rekindle his love with her, a year after beginning work on This Means War. Mud premiered in May 2012 at the Cannes Film Festival in competition for the Palme d'Or competition, but did not win. Following its American debut at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2013, the film was limited to theaters in selected North American theaters on April 26, 2013.

Witherspoon appeared in Devil's Knot, a film directed by Atom Egoyan and based on the true crime book of the same name, debating the West Memphis Three's turbulent history. The film is shot in Arkansas, as Mud does. Pam Hobbs, the mother of one of three young murder victims, was on display in Pam Hobbs. Although the role necessitates "an emotionally charged journey," Egoyan said in a chat with Reese, she and... discussed the film in depth, and she's excited to face the challenge." Witherspoon was pregnant with her third child at the time of filming in Georgia in June and July 2012. On May 9, 2014, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, followed by a release in select American theaters. Despite mostly critical feedback, Witherspoon, according to London's Evening Standard, was "the most involving character."

Witherspoon founded Pacific Standard in 2012 (now part of Hello Sunshine). As she felt Hollywood was lacking in Hollywood, she set out to create "strong" female lead characters. Witherspoon, a company, was a producer for Gone Girl (2014), an adaptation of Gillian Flynn's book of the same name. She produced and appeared in the film Wild (2014), which was based on Cheryl Strayed's memoir of the same name. Strayed was portrayed by the singer on her 1,000-mile (1,600 km) hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. Wild was launched in December 2014 to critical acclaim; Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune wrote in his review, "Witherspoon does the least acting of her career, and it succeeds." Strayed's longings, her states of grief and awe, as well as her wary optimism, come to life. Wild was named as Witherspoon's "comeback" role after her previous work, and she received her second Academy Award nomination for her performance.

Witherspoon appeared in Philippe Falardeau's drama The Good Lie, based on a true tale about an employment counselor who was hired to help four young Sudanese refugees known as Lost Boys of Sudan, who won a lottery for relocation to the United States. On October 3, 2014, it was announced. The film was mostly well received; the Hollywood Reporter writer praised the cast's touching story and performances, but that Witherspoon does not "upstage" her coworkers. Inherent Vice (2014), Thomas Pynchon's version of the same name, followed her. Witherspoon began filming in Louisiana on Hot Pursuit, a comedy in which she portrays a police officer trying to shield a drug lord's widow (Sofa Vergara). On May 8, 2015, the film was released.

Witherspoon appeared on the animated musical comedy film Sing and appeared as a performer to the film's soundtrack in 2016. Sing became Witherspoon's biggest commercial success, despite the fact that her first films received over $200 million domestically and $600 million worldwide. Witherspoon began filming her first television project since 1993's Return To Lonesome Dove, a seven-part miniseries adaptation of Liane Moriarty's bestseller, Big Little Lies. Her co-production of the miniseries, along with co-star Nicole Kidman and director Jean-Marc Vallée, was her second project under her direction. On HBO, the series premiered on February 19, 2017 and ended on April 2. Witherspoon's performance earned critical acclaim, with TV Line naming her as "Perseper of the Week" in the weeks of February 26 – March 29 in 2017 and September 23–29 in 2019. The Washington Post compared her results to her roles in Election and Legally Blonde. Big Little Lies premiered in December 2017 on HBO for a second season, which premiered in June 2019. Witherspoon appeared in Home Again, the filmmaker Nancy Meyers' debut as a filmmaker, released on September 8, 2017.

In 2018, she appeared in A Wrinkle in Time, a film adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's book of the same name in which she plays Mrs. Whatsit. Ava DuVernay, the film co-stars Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling, was released in March 2018. Witherspoon began hosting Shine On With Reec Television, in which she spoke to female guests and explored how they fulfilled their dreams four months later. Witherspoon's debut in television is on display in the show.

Witherspoon is currently produces and stars in Apple's television+ drama series The Morning Show starring Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell. With the first season premiering in November 2019, Apple has given the Morning Show a two-season contract. For her role in the series, Witherspoon was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series. Before the production shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, season two of The Morning Show was scheduled to premiere in 2020. The first two episodes were still filming before the production was discontinued. Scripts were rewritten to reflect the pandemic during the production shutdown. On October 19, 2020, production on season two of The Morning Show revived, with premiered on Apple TV in September 2021. Witherspoon also serves as an executive producer for the Apple TV+ series Truth Be Told, starring Octavia Spencer, which premiered in December 2019; it was renewed for a second season in March 2020.

Witherspoon produced and appeared in the Hulu drama miniseries Little Fires Everywhere opposite Kerry Washington, the televised version of Celeste Ng's 2017 book of the same name. Witherspoon narrated the Quibi nature documentary series Fierce Queens, which focuses on female animals in the animal kingdom in the same year.

Witherspoon will produce six television shows for various streaming platforms and networks, including Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, ABC, Starz, and Netflix. In addition to starring and producing television shows for her own, Witherspoon will act as an executive producer for six television series.

Witherspoon will produce and star in three Netflix films; first, Pyros, a science fiction film directed by Simon Kinberg; second, two romantic comedies on Netflix. Witherspoon will produce two films, including A White Lie set to star Zendaya and a documentary about Martina Navratilova. Witherspoon will also reprise the role of Elle Woods by appearing in and directing Legally Blonde 3; Dan Goor and Mindy Kaling will write the script. After A Wrinkle in Time, The Mindy Project, and The Morning Show, Kaling and Witherspoon will film their fourth collaboration together. Witherspoon had signed on to act and produce in a Disney live-action film about Tinker Bell in 2015. The scheme revived growth six years ago as a result of Gary Marsh's overall contract with Disney, with Witherspoon still attached as a producer.

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