Renée Zellweger

At 54 years old, Renée Zellweger has this physical status:

Renée Kathleen Zellweger (born April 25, 1969) is an American actress and producer.

She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards.

Zellweger was one of the highest-paid actresses in the world by 2007 and was named Hasty Pudding's Woman of the Year in 2009.Zellweger had her first starring role in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994).

She subsequently earned early acclaim with her appearance in Empire Records (1995) and gained wider recognition for her role in Jerry Maguire (1996).

For Nurse Betty (2000), she won her first Golden Globe, and for her portrayals of Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) and Roxie Hart in Chicago (2002), she garnered consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Actress.

She reprised her role as Bridget Jones in two equally successful sequels (2004, 2016). Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as a loquacious farmer in the American Civil War drama Cold Mountain (2003).

She played the wife of boxer James J. Braddock in Cinderella Man (2005) and author Beatrix Potter in Miss Potter (2006).

After starring roles in smaller scale films, such as Appaloosa (2008), My One and Only (2009), and Case 39 (2009), she had a six-year hiatus from the screen.

In 2019, Zellweger starred in the Netflix thriller anthology series What/If and earned critical acclaim for portraying Judy Garland in the biopic Judy.

Early life and education

Zellweger was born on April 25, 1969, in Katy, Texas. Her father, Emil Erich Zellweger, is from the Swiss town of Au, St. Gallen. He was a mechanical and electrical engineer who worked in the oil-refining business. Her mother, Kjellfrid Irene (née Andreassen), is Norwegian of Kven and Sámi descent. Kjellfrid grew up in Ekkerøy near the town Vadsø in the northern part of Norway. She was a nurse and midwife who moved to the United States to work as a governess for a Norwegian family in Texas. Referring to her religious background, Zellweger has described herself as being raised in a family of "lazy Catholics and Episcopalians".

Zellweger attended Katy High School, where she was a cheerleader, gymnast, and debate team member. She also participated in soccer and powder football (a traditional girls football game). In 1986, her academic paper, "The Karankawas and Their Roots", won third place in the first-ever Houston Post High School Natural Science Essay Contest. After high school, she enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1992. While at the university, she took a drama course as an elective, which sparked her interest in acting.

In her junior year, her father lost his job and was unable to support her at college, so she took a job as a cocktail waitress in Austin, Texas. She said of the job, "I learned a lot. As much as I did in my classes that that club paid for... I learned not to judge people, [and] that things are not black and white." She began getting small parts acting, and earned her Screen Actors Guild card for doing a Coors Light commercial. Also while in college, she did "a bit part ... as a local hire" in the Austin-filmed horror-comedy film My Boyfriend's Back, playing "the girl in the beauty shop, maybe two lines. But the beauty shop [scene] got cut." Her first job after graduation was working in a beef commercial, while simultaneously auditioning for roles around Houston, Texas.

Personal life

From 1999 to 2000, Zellweger was engaged to Jim Carrey. In 2003, she had a brief relationship with musician Jack White. In May 2005, Zellweger married singer Kenny Chesney. Four months later, Zellweger obtained an annulment.

In 2009, she started dating Bradley Cooper, after having met on the set of Case 39 which was filmed in 2006. They separated in 2011.

From 2012 to 2019, she was in a relationship with musician Doyle Bramhall II. In June 2021, she was reported to be dating English television presenter Ant Anstead.

Zellweger took part in the 2005 HIV prevention campaign of the Swiss federal health department.

Zellweger is one of the patrons for gender equality foundation The GREAT Initiative; in 2011 she visited Liberia with the charity. In April 2011, she collaborated with Tommy Hilfiger to design a handbag to raise money and awareness for the Breast Health Institute. "Because of the experiences of close friends and family members who have had to endure and battle the challenges of breast cancer, I am a passionate supporter of breast health education and charitable causes", Zellweger stated about joining the campaign.

Zellweger has owned properties in Los Angeles, the Hamptons, Connecticut, and Texas.

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Career

Zellweger appeared in several independent and low-budget films while still in Texas. One of the three books was A Taste for Killing (1992), followed by a role in the ABC miniseries Murder in the Heartland (1993). She appeared in Dazed and Confused in 1993 as an uncredited actress. She appeared in Reality Bites, Ben Stiller's debut as director, and 8 Seconds, directed by John G. Avildsen, in 1994. She was first in a film role with the 1994 horror film Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, alongside Matthew McConaughey, portraying a teenage girl who leaves a prom early with three classmates who crash into a car accident, which leads to their encounter with a murderous family led by the iconic Leatherface. Joe Leydon of Variety magazine praised Zellweger, saying she was "the most feared scream queen since Jamie Lee Curtis went legit."

Zellweger played a woman planning a robbery with her boyfriend in her latest film, Love and a.45 (1994). Despite the fact that the film was limited to theaters, Austin Chronicle founder Marc Savlov expressed delight in stating that "Zellweger's role, all squeals and caged sexuality, seems a little closer to Juliette Lewis' Mallory Knox (of Natural Born Killers) is a bit too young to be true." For her Best Debut Performance, she received the Independent Spirit Award. She then moved to Los Angeles, a move she had postponed several times because she felt she lacked the confidence and experience to be a competitive actor in the city. She will appear in Empire Records, a coming-of-age story (1995). "Despite a fantastic soundtrack and a strong early show by Renee Zellweger, Empire Records is mainly a silly and predictable teen drama," Rotten Tomatoes said.

Zellweger came to fame thanks to her appearance in Jerry Maguire (1996), playing a single mother and the romantic interest of a well-known sports agent (Tom Cruise). Around the world, the film earned over US$273 million. Cruise chose her to participate in his passion interest and later credited her with "revealing the core humanity of the film." "The film is often a pleasure," Roger Ebert wrote about Zellweger's and Cruise's chemistry, especially when Cruise and Zellweger appear together on the screen. Maguire plays with the earnestness of a man who needs to find fame and happiness in a field where only success really matters. She plays a woman who believes in this man she adores and reminds us that true love is about idealism." Zellweger was nominated for the Screen Actor Guild Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.

Zellweger starred in the religious drama A Price Above Rubies (1998) as a young woman who finds it impossible to adhere to the community's imposed limits. The film failed at the box office, but Zellweger was applauded by some commentators, such as Ebert, who claimed that she gave a "ferociously good job." She appeared on film One True Thing in the same year as William Hurt and Meryl Steed. She was compelled to put her life on hold in order to care for her mother, who is dying of cancer. One True Thing raised funds in the United States at a modest US$23 million but received a positive critical response; Variety magazine's Todd McCarthy wrote about Zellweger, "Projecting weight and impatience that she hadn't seen before." Zellweger is the smart young woman who complains about the interruption of her life's momentum but her growth continues in ways she never imagined."

Zellweger appeared in Me, Myself & Irene (1999), as a woman on the run for what she believes to be a false accusation set up by her mob-connected ex-girlfriend. It was a commercial success, grossing US$149 million globally.

Zellweger played a Kansas waitress who suffers a nervous breakdown after witnessing her husband's murder in the black comedy Nurse Betty (2000), directed by Neil LaBute and starring Morgan Freeman. "Few actors can convey the kind of compassion and humanity that Zellweger does here," the San Francisco Chronicle discovered her to be "a performer with a pure heart." Variety remarked: "Few actors can convey the kind of honesty and humanity that Zellweger does here, but it's impossible to imagine the film without her empathetic, clearly convincing performance." She received her first Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, but she was in the bathroom when future co-star Hugh Grant revealed her name. "I had lipstick on my teeth," she staggered later.

Zellweger appeared in Bridget Jones' Diary, a British romantic comedy based on Helen Fielding's 1996 book of the same name, in 2001. Zellweger's casting came amid a lot of controversies because she was neither British nor overweight and did not smoke. Zellweger was told she was too thin to play the chubby, chain-smoking Bridget, so she immediately started working on gaining the required weight (20 pounds) and learning to speak in an English accent when she smoked herbal cigarettes. Part of Zellweger's preparations included three weeks of undercover work for British publishing company Picador in Victoria, London, in addition to receiving dialect training to fine-tune her accent. "Ms. Zellweger does the small miracle of making Bridget both endearing and completely real," The New York Times' Stephen Holden wrote. Her second Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, as well as her first Academy Award and BAFTA Award nominations for Best Leading Actress. Bridget Jones' Diary was a huge commercial success, grossing US$281 million worldwide.

Zellweger played a former actress acting as a foster mother in the drama White Oleander (2002), for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress – Drama. In the 2002 musical film Chicago, she also appeared Roxie Hart, directed by Rob Marshall and co-starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, and John C. Reilly. At the 75th Academy Awards, the film received Best Picture. Tim Robey wrote for The Daily Telegraph, describing Chicago as the "best screen musical [since 1972's Cabaret]" and the San Francisco Chronicle's report, "Zellweger is a joy to watch," with stunning comic timing and a commanding presence in her stage numbers. She received her second Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role, as well as the Screen Actor Guild Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.

Zellweger starred in Down with Love, an early feminist comedy set in the 1950s and early 1960s, opposite Nicole Kidman and Jude Law, as a woman assisting a farmer after her father's death. Multiple award nominations and accolades for the film's actors followed Zellweger; the 76th Academy Awards, the 61st Golden Globe Awards, the 57th British Academy Film Awards, included numerous accolades and accolades for its actors;

Zellweger appeared in DreamWorks Animation's Shark Tales in 2004 and received her fourth Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination. In Ron Howard's film Cinderella Man, opposite Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti, she played the wife of world heavyweight boxing champion James J. Braddock. In his review of the film, David Ansen of Newsweek wrote, "the actress has an uncanny ability to make us laugh even in the most movie-ish scenes." Zellweger was recognized on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 24, 2005, for her contributions to the motion picture industry.

In the biographical comedy Miss Potter, Zellweger portrayed author Beatrix Potter, alongside Emily Watson and Ewan McGregor. She also worked as an executive producer in the hopes of being more involved in the development. Zellweger's "strikes just the right blend of inspiration, eccentricity, and uncompromising artistic drive," according to Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold. She was nominated for her appearance in the Golden Globe Award for her sixth year (and her fifth in the category of Best Actress – Musical or Comedy). Zellweger contributed to the animated family comedy Bee Movie in 2007 and was named the Women in Film Crystal award.

Zellweger portrayed a Chicago Tribune newspaper reporter in George Clooney's directorial debut, the period comedy Leatherheads (2008) about the beginnings of professional American football. The film received mainly mixed reviews and earned US$13.5 million in its first weekend, which was described as "disappointing" by website Box Office Mojo. MTV.com praised the actress for "unexpected gift for sarcasm," but not for website Jam! "As the kind of lippy heroine epitomized by Rosalind Russell, she is miscast in a role that calls for snark, not sleepy-eyed sweetness," she wrote. Zellweger played a beguiling widow opposite Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen in the western Appaloosa (2008). At the North American box office, the grossed US$20 million. Zellweger produced Living Proof, starring Harry Connick Jr., about Denny Slamon's true tale. On Lifetime Television, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron co-produced it and premiered in October 2008.

In 2009, she appeared in New in Town, a small Minnesota town, as a high-powered consultant adjusting to her new life. Reviewers were critical of the film and it earned a poor US$16 million in its domestic theatrical run. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian said she "rabbility, dimply pout, presumably Hollywood's strangest facial expression, simpers and twitches escaped from the screen in this moderately girly film that maintains close to the feelgood romcom handbook" in this moderately satisfied. In 2009, she appeared as the mother of actor George Hamilton in DreamWorks' 3D animated feature film Monsters vs. Aliens, and she also appeared as the mother of actor George Hamilton in the comedy My One and Only, which was only available in certain areas of the United States. Bill Gray of Entertainment Weekly said she starred "to her strengths" in his role, and reviewer Mick LaSalle found her appearance to be a "standout."

In Case 39, a supernatural thriller she had shot in 2006, Zellweger played a social worker assigned to a nefarious woman. The film had a lengthy post-production run but was not released in theaters in the United States until 2010. Zellweger "faces an [uncertain] future," according to Indiewire, who claimed that Zellweger "faces an unforgiving industry that does not have few good roles for women over 40." My Own Love Song, a road drama in which she played a former singer suffering from paralysis, was screened at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival and then released for DVD.

Zellweger took a six-year break from film acting after My Own Love Song was released as she found the time to "go away and grow up a little." "I was exhausted and wasn't taking the time I needed to recover between projects, and it was catching up with me" during a July 2016 interview with British Vogue. Zellweger co-created and executive produced Cinnamon Girl, an original drama set in the Hollywood film and music scenes of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but the Lifetime network cancelled the pilot. She was considered for a supporting role in August: Osage County alongside Andrea Riseborough, but Juliette Lewis took the spotlight.

Zellweger, the third part of the Bridget Jones franchise, portraying Jones in her forties and single as she discovers she is pregnant and must figure out who the father is. Critics and analysts alike applauded the initiative, which ultimately took in a record of US$211.9 million worldwide. Village Voice found the film to be "the most enjoyable of the series" and concluded that Zellweger's "wise, light-hearted performance anchors this happy reunion, a surprising and refreshing gift from a creative well that seems to have run dry." Loretta Lassiter, the mother of a teenager accused of murdering his wealthy father, was the protagonist in The Whole Truth, directed by Courtney Hunt and Keanu Reeves. The Whole Truth, which was shot in New Orleans in July 2014, was released on October 21, 2016, for select theaters and video-on-demand, receiving average reviews. "Reality be told, [Reeves and Zellweger] are entitled to more than this predictable courtroom drama," Variety remarked.

Zellweger appeared in Same Kind of Different as Me (2017), a film adaptation of the autobiographical book by the same name, as the wife of an art dealer whose struggling business relationship is improved by a homeless man. Critics and industry alike, but the film was a moderate commercial success. "Zellweger, in fact, makes a decent, thoughtful, yet headstrong appearance as the wife who digs deep to bring human decency out of the people she loves the most." In the independent drama Here and Now (2018), opposite Sarah Jessica Parker, she played the friend of a New York City musician who gets a life-changing medical diagnosis.

Anne Montgomery, a mysterious venture capitalist, was cast as Anne Montgomery, a Netflix thriller miniseries What/If (2019). Despite mixed feedback from critics, Zellweger's performance was lauded, with Haider Rifaat of The Express Tribune writing, "Not to forego the dazzling acting prowess of Zellweger, who emphasically embraces Anne's character." Some commendable features that enhance the actors' performances include subtle gestures, symbolic interaction, and character development.

Judy Garland's next role was in Judy Garland's biographical drama in 2019. End of the Rainbow, a West End and Broadway play, chronicles Garland's last years of her life, shortly before her death in 1969. Zellweger performed her own voice in the film, and her songs had to be seen in front of a live audience. Judy premiered to lauding feedback at the Telluride Film Festival, and some commentators deemed it to be her best performance of her career. "It's impossible to tell where Garland stops and Zellweger starts" as Zoe Gahan of Vanity Fair found her "wit, sharp, and tragic in the role role." "Zellweger performs miracles," Rolling Stone's Peter Traverse says. Judy Garland is a woman of joy, allowing her to breathe, baring her bruised soul, and radiating with a vitality that eventually leads to a state of grace." Zellweger received numerous accolades and honors for her portrayal of Garland, including the Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA Award, and Academy Award. Zellweger's win made her just the seventh actress to win an Academy in both acting and supporting roles, and the fourth to win Best Actress after Best Supporting Actress. In addition, the film's soundtrack earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

Zellweger played in The Thing About Pam, the NBC crime drama miniseries two and a half years ago. Pam Hupp, a actress who was involved in Betsy Faria's 2011 murder, appeared as Pam Hupp. The role required her to wear facial and body prosthetics, which took 80 minutes to apply. Critics also gave the series and her appearance mixed marks. Ben Travers of IndieWire called her appearance "exaggerated," while John Doyle of The Globe and Mail said she "brings the same amount of vinegary exuberance to the work."

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