Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon^[1] (born March 22, 1976) is an Academy Award-winning American actress.

Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the leading actress in the movie The Man in the Moon in 1991, her performance received positive reviews, which became a motivation for her to continue an acting career. Witherspoon's performance in Freeway in 1996 established her as a rising star, and led to her roles in three major movies Overnight Delivery, Pleasantville and Twilight in 1998. In 1999, Witherspoon appeared in the critically acclaimed Election, for which she got her first Golden Globe nomination. 2001 saw Witherspoon acquired her breakout role in the box office hit Legally Blonde as Elle Woods, and in the next year, she starred in Sweet Home Alabama (film), which also became one of her biggest commercial success. In 2005, Witherspoon received worldwide attention and praise for her portrayal of June Carter Cash in Walk the Line, a role that earned Witherspoon an Academy Award, a Golden Globe award and a BAFTA award for Best Actress.

Witherspoon is divorced from actor Ryan Phillippe, whom she married in 1999. They have two children, Ava and Deacon.

Early life and education

Witherspoon was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, into a middle-class family.^[1][2] Her father, John Witherspoon, is a Georgia-born otolaryngologist who previously served as a lieutenant colonel in the US Army reserves.^[3][4] Her mother, Betty, is a Ph.D pediatric nurse from Harriman, Tennessee who works as a professor of nursing at Vanderbilt University .^[4][5][6] Witherspoon is a direct descendant of Scotland-born John Witherspoon, the sixth president of Princeton University and a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence.^[5][7] Because Witherspoon's father worked for the US military in Wiesbaden, Germany, she lived there for four years as a small child.^[6][8] After returning to the United States, she settled and spent her childhood in Nashville, Tennessee,^[6][8] where she was raised in the Episcopalian religion.^[9]

Witherspoon was chosen as the model for a TV advertisement at age seven, which motivated her to start having acting lessons. ^[10][11] At age eleven she became the winner of the Ten-State Talent Fair.^[12][10] Witherspoon received good grades as she went at school.^[10] She loved reading and considered herself "a big dork who read loads of books".^[2] On mentioning her love for books, she said, "I get crazy in a bookstore. It makes my heart beat hard because I want to buy everything."^[9] Witherspoon graduated from the private all-girls' Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Tennessee, where she was a cheerleader.^[12][13] She attended Stanford University in California as an English literature major.^[14] After completing a year of her studies, she left Stanford to pursue her acting career. ^[13]

Witherspoon is proud of the "definitive Southern upbringing" she received in her childhood, which, as she said, gave her "a sense of family and tradition" as well as taught her about "being conscientious about people's feelings, being polite, being responsible and never taking for granted what you have in your life."^[13][15] Witherspoon is described as a "multi-achiever" and therefore given the nickname "Little Type A" by her parents.^[5][16][17] On discussing her early achievements, she told the Interview magazine, "I just don't see any of it as that remarkable. Maybe that's the attitude I choose to have to keep me sane and keep my feet on the ground. I grew up in an environment where women accomplished a lot. And if they weren't able to it was because they were limited by society."^[4]

Acting career

Early work

In 1991, Witherspoon attended an open casting call for The Man in the Moon with her friends, intending to audition as a bit player.^[13] She was instead cast in the lead role of Dani Trant, a 14-year-old country-girl who falls in love for the first time with her 17-year-old neighbour. Her performance was regarded as "memorably touching" by the Variety magazine,^[18] and critic Roger Ebert commented on Witherspoon's kiss scene in the movie, "Her first kiss is one of the most perfect little scenes I've ever seen in a movie."Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). That same year, she made her TV acting debut by appearing in the cabal movie Wildflower, directed by Diane Keaton and starred Patricia Arquette.^[3][5] In 1992, Witherspoon appeared in the TV movie Desperate Choices: To Save My Child, portraying a critically ill young girl.^[3][5] In 1993, she played a young wife in the CBS mini series "Return to Lonesome Dove" and got a starring role as she was cast the leading character Nonnie Parker, a little South African girl who has to cross 2000 kilometres of the Kalahari, in the teen-aimed Disney film A Far Off Place.^[3] That same year, Witherspoon had a minor role in Jack the Bear, for which her won the Young Artist Award Best Youth Actress co-starring.^[19] The following year, Witherspoon acted in another leading role as Wendy Pfister in the 1994 film S.F.W..^[20]

In 1996, Witherspoon was offered parts in two major movies. She appeared in the thriller film Fear alongside Mark Wahlberg and Alyssa Milano, playing the role of Nicole Walker, a teenage girl with a handsome boyfriend who later turns out to be a violent psychopath.^[13] Later, she appeared as the leading actress in the thriller and black comedy Freeway, starring alongside Kiefer Sutherland and Brooke Shields. Her character, Vanessa Lutz, is a poor girl living in Los Angeles, who, on the way to her grandmother's home in Stockton, encounters a freeway serial killer.^[13] The film received positive reviews from the press, among them was the San Francisco Chronicle, with Mick LaSalle commented, "Witherspoon, who does a shrill Texas accent, is dazzling, utterly believable in one extreme situation after the other."^[21] Following this performance, Witherspoon won the Best Actress Award at the Cognac Police Film Festival, thus established herself as a rising star.^[13][22] 1998 was a busy year for Witherspoon as she appeared in three films, Overnight Delivery, Pleasantville and Twilight.^[5][23] In Pleasantville, a movie about two modern teenage siblings who are transported into the community of the setting of a black and white 1950s television show, Witherspoon starred alongside Tobey Maguire. She portrayed Jennifer, the sister, who is mainly concerned about appearance, relationships and popularity. Witherspoon's performance received good reviews and garnered her the Young Hollywood Award for Best Female Breakthrough Performance.^[24]

In 1999, Witherspoon starred as Lissa in the drama thriller Best Laid Plans;^[3][25] she portrayed Annette Hargrove in Cruel Intentions, alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar and her future husband Ryan Phillippe . The San Francisco Chronicle commented on her performance, "Witherspoon is especially good in the least flashy role, and even when called upon to make a series of cute devilish faces, she pulls it off."^[26] In the same year, Witherspoon portrayed high school overachiever Tracy Flick in Election.^[3][5] The film received good reviews and Witherspoon's performance earned her a first Golden Globe nomination,^{[13] [27]} an Independent Spirit Award nomination,^[28] and a rank on the list of 100 Greatest Film Performances of All Time by Premiere Magazine.^[29] However, Witherspoon noted in an interview that she struggled to find work after completing the film.^[30] When analyzing the reasons behind her difficulty to find work, Witherspoon commented "I think because the character I played was so extreme and sort of shrewish - people thought that was who I was, rather than me going in and creating a part. I would audition for things, and I'd always be the second choice - studios never wanted to hire me, and I wasn't losing the parts to big box-office actresses but to ones who I guess people felt differently about."^[4]

In 2000, Witherspoon received a supporting role in American Psycho and made a cameo appearance in Little Nicky.^[23] She also appeared as a guest star in season six of Friends, playing the role of Jill Green, Rachel Green's sister.^[31] The next year, Witherspoon provided the voice of Serena in the animated film The Trumpet of the Swan, produced by Crest Animation Productions.

Commercial and critical success

In 2001 Witherspoon starred in Legally Blonde as Elle Woods, a fashion merchandising major who decided to become a law student to follow her ex-boyfriend to Harvard University; the role resulted in her breakthrough as a leading actress. Speaking about Woods' character, Witherspoon said "When I read Legally Blonde, I was like, 'She's from Beverly Hills, she's rich, she's in a sorority. She has a great boyfriend. Oh yeah, she gets dumped. Who cares? I still hate her.' So we had to make sure she was the kind of person you just can't hate."^[15] Legally Blonde was a box-office hit, grossing $96 million worldwide.^[32] Witherspoon's performance earned her praise from the critics, as the press began referring to her as "the new Meg Ryan".^[33]. Roger Ebert commented, "Witherspoon effortlessly animated this material with sunshine and quick wit"^[34] and Salon.com noted that "she [Witherspoon] delineates Elle's character beautifully." ^[35] Meanwhile, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer concluded, "Witherspoon is a talented comedian who can perk up a scene just by marching in full of pep and drive and she powers this modest little comedy almost single-handedly." ^[36] As a result, Witherspoon garnered her second Golden Globe Best Actress nomination and an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance.

Following the success of Legally Blonde, Witherspoon starred in a number of different roles. In 2002, Witherspoon provided the voice of the animated character Greta Wolfcastle in The Simpsons episode The Bart Wants What It Wants.^[37] The same year, she portrayed Cecily in the comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, a movie adaptation of a play by Oscar Wilde and received a Teen Choice Award nomination for her performance.^[38][39] Her next movie in 2002 was Sweet Home Alabama, a movie directed by Andy Tennant. Witherspoon played Melanie Carmichael, a young fashion designer who is going to marry a New York politician; her problem is that she has to go to Alabama to divorce her childhood sweetheart whom she has left for seven years. The movie was one of Witherspoon's biggest box office hits; it earned over 35 million in the opening weekend, then grossed over 127 million internationally.^[32][40] Despite the commercial success, Sweet Home Alabama was given negative reviews by the critics. It was called "a romantic comedy so rote, dull and predictable" by the Miami Herald,^[41] and the press widely agreed that Witherspoon was the only factor that helped the movie attract large audience.^{[42] [43]} When mentioning Witherspoon's role in the movie, the The Christian Science Monitor concluded, "She is not the movie's main attraction, she is its only attraction." ^[44]

In 2003, Witherspoon followed up the success of Legally Blonde by starring in the sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde. Her character, Elle Woods, has now become a Harvard-educated lawyer who is determined to protect animals from cosmetics-industry science tests. The sequel was not as successful as the first movie, as it generated mostly critical reviews. The USA Today considered the movie "plodding, unfunny and almost cringe-worthy", it also noted, "Reese Witherspoon still does a fine job portraying the fair-haired lovable brainiac, but her top-notch comic timing is wasted on the humorless dialogue."^[45] Meanwhile, Salon.com concluded that the sequel "calcifies everything that was enjoyable about the first movie." ^[46] Despite being a critical failure, the sequel took over $39 million in its first five days in the US box office charts and went on to grossed 90 million internationally.^[47] Witherspoon received a $15 million paycheck for the role, making her one of Hollywood's highest paid actresses.^[15][48]

In 2004, Witherspoon starred as Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair, adapted from the 19th century classic novel Vanity Fair and directed by Mira Nair. Becky Sharp - Witherspoon's character, is a woman whose impoverished childhood turns her into a person with ruthless ambition and determination to find a fortune and have a position in the society. Witherspoon was pregnant during the filmmaking and was therefore carefully costumed to conceal her pregnancy.^[49] This was not a hindrance to her work, as Witherspoon believed the gestation had in fact helped her portrayal of Sharp’s character, "I love the luminosity that pregnancy brings, I love the fleshiness, I love the ample bosom - it gave me much more to play with." she said.^{[50] [51]} The film and Witherspoon's portrayal of Sharp received good reviews, as The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Nair's cast is splendid. Witherspoon does justice to the juicy role by giving the part more buoyancy than naughtiness."^[52] At the same time, The Charlotte Observer called her work "an excellent performance that's soft around the edges" and the Los Angeles Times concluded that Becky is "a part Reese Witherspoon was born to play."^[53][54]

In early 2005, Witherspoon starred alongside Mark Ruffalo in the romantic comedy Just Like Heaven; she played Elizabeth Masterson, a dedicated San Francisco doctor who is involved in a car accident and becomes a spirit, her spirit returns to her old apartment and she later finds true love there.^[55]

In this same year, Witherspoon was chosen to portray June Carter Cash, wife of country music singer-songwriter Johnny Cash in Walk the Line. She never had the chance to meet Carter Cash, as Witherspoon was filming Vanity Fair when Carter Cash died.^[4] Witherspoon did her own vocals in the movie, and as the songs had to be performed in front of a real audience, she had to spend six months learning how to sing.^[56][57] When first learned that she had to give a live performance, Witherspoon was so worried that she asked her lawyer to terminate film contract.^[57] "That was the most challenging part of the role," she later recalled in an interview, "I had to learn to sing: I'd never sung professionally." ^[58] Witherspoon's portrayal of Carter Cash was well received by the critics, and Roger Ebert wrote that her performance added "boundless energy" to the movie.^[59] She won several critical awards across the globe, including the Golden Globe Award, the Screen Actor's Guild, the BAFTA and the Academy Award for Best actress in a lead role. Witherspoon had expressed her passion for the movie, "I really like in this film that it is realistic and portrays sort of a real marriage, a real relationship where there are forbidden thoughts and fallibility. And it is about compassion in the long haul, not just the short easy solutions to problems."^[60] She also talked about the character of June Carter Cash in particular, stating that she believed Carter Cash was a woman ahead of her time, "I think the really remarkable thing about her character is that she did all of these things that we sort of see as normal things in the 1950s when it wasn’t really acceptable for a woman to be married and divorced twice and have two different children by two different husbands and travel around in a car full of very famous musicians all by herself. She didn’t try to comply to social convention, so I think that makes her a very modern woman."^[60]

Witherspoon's first post-Oscar role came in the modern-day fairy tale, Penelope, co-starring Christina Ricci. Witherspoon plays the supporting role of Annie, the best friend of Penelope, a girl who has a curse in her family. The film was produced by Witherspoon's company Type A Films and premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.^[57][61] The release date of Penelope was, however, delayed twice, and the movie is now set for a February 2008 release.^[62][63]

Witherspoon was back in front of the cameras again in November 2006 as shooting began for the political thriller Rendition. She starred alongside Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin, Peter Sarsgaard, and Jake Gyllenhaal, playing Isabella El-Ibrahim, the pregnant wife of a bombing suspect. Rendition was released in October, 2007 and marked Witherspoon's first appearance in theatres in two years, since the 2005 release of Walk the Line.^[64] The movie was open to mostly criticism and was generally considered a disappointment of the Toronto Film Festival.^[65] Witherspoon's performance was also criticized, "Reese Witherspoon is surprisingly lifeless", the USA Today wrote, "She customarily injects energy and spirit into her parts, but here, her performance feels tamped down."^[66]

Witherspoon is set to star in a Universal Pictures remake of the 1939 comedy Midnight, scripted by Michael Arndt,^[67] and the holiday comedy Four Christmases alongside Vince Vaughn, the film is a story about a couple who have to spend their Christmas Day trying to visit all four of their divorced parents.^[68] In 2009, she will take on the horror genre for the first time as a star of Our Family Troubles, which she and partner Jennifer Simpson will produce under the Type A banner.^[69]

Other projects

Witherspoon owns a production company called Type A Films. The company was believed to have been named after her childhood nickname "Little Miss Type A."^[16][70] However, she clarified the misconception as she told the Interview magazine, "People think I named it after myself ... But it just isn't who I am at all. It was actually an in-joke with my family because at 7 I understood complicated medical terms, such as the difference between type A and type B personalities. But I just wished I'd named the company Dogfood Films or Fork or something. You carry that baggage all your life."^[4]

Witherspoon is a long-time supporter of Save the Children, an organization that aims to help children around the world through education, health care, and emergency aid.^[71] She also serves on the board of the Children's Defense Fund, a child advocacy and research group.^[71] In 2006, Witherspoon was among a group of actresses who went to New Orleans, Louisiana in a Children's Defense Fund's project to bring attention to the needs of Hurricane Katrina victims.^[72] In this trip, she helped open the city's first Freedom School; she also met and talked with the children.^[73] Witherspoon later called this an experience that she would never forget.^[73]

In 2007, Reese Witherspoon made her first move into the world of endorsements as she signed a multi-year agreement to serve as the first Global Ambassador of cosmetics company Avon Products.^[71][74] She acts as a spokeswoman for Avon's cosmetics and serves as the honorary chairwoman of the Avon Foundation, a charity which supports women and focuses on breast cancer and domestic violence research.^[75][76] Witherspoon is also involved in product development and appears in advertisements.^[75] Explaining her motives for joining the foundation, she said "As a woman and a mother I care deeply about the well being of other women and children throughout the world and through the years, I have always looked for opportunities to make a difference." ^[75]

Witherspoon in the media

Witherspoon hosted Saturday Night Live on September 29, 2001.^[77] In 2006, she was among the Time 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine ^[78] Her featured article was written by friend and fellow co-star in the Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde movies, Luke Wilson.^[79] The same year, she was also listed as one of 100 Sexiest Women In The World by FHM Magazine.^[80] Witherspoon has appeared on the annual Celebrity 100 list by Forbes Magazine in 2006 and 2007.^[81][82]

In 2007, she was selected by the People magazine as one of the best dressed female stars of the year.^[83] At the end of the same year, Witherspoon made the headline of the world wide press and media, as she established herself as the United States film industry's highest-paid actress, earning $15 to $20 million a movie, according to the survey by the film-trade paper The Hollywood Reporter.^{[84][85][86][87]}

Personal life

Witherspoon met American actor Ryan Phillippe at her 21st birthday party in March 1997, where she introduced herself to him saying "I think you're my birthday present."^{[88] [89]}The pair got engaged in December of 1998.^[90] The following year, after starring together in the box office hit Cruel Intentions, the couple got married in Charleston, South Carolina on June 5, 1999.^[91][92] They have two children: daughter Ava Elizabeth, born September 9, 1999,^[93] and son Deacon, born October 23, 2003.^[91] In order to be able look after the children at all times, the couple alternated shooting for films.^[89]

By 2005, in response to critical news reports of Witherspoon and Phillippe receiving marriage counseling, Witherspoon stated, "We've done that in the past, and it's always struck me as odd that people grabbed onto that story and made it sound so negative."^[94] In December 2005, she said on The Oprah Winfrey Show, "In what capacity is working on yourself or your marriage a bad thing? What marriage isn't a journey? ... Nobody's perfect ... We all have our own set of problems."^[94][95] That same month, Witherspoon also said in an interview, "I think if anybody rests on the idea that they are perfect or their life is perfect or their relationship is perfect and is so troubled about destroying the facade as opposed to getting to what's real, that is troublesome."^[4]

On June 21, 2006 Witherspoon sued the US-based tabloid Star Magazine for running a false story on a third pregnancy.^[96] She sought unspecified general and punitive damages in the lawsuit, asserting that the claim harmed her reputation because it suggested she was hiding the news from producers of her upcoming films.^[97][98] On October 30, 2006, Witherspoon and Phillippe announced that they decided to formally separate after seven years of marriage.^[99] On November 8, 2006, Witherspoon filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences as a reason.^[100][101]In her petition she sought joint legal custody of their two children and sole physical custody, with full visitation rights for Phillippe.^[101][102] Although the couple have no prenuptial agreement and Phillippe is entitled to half of Witherspoon's assets by California law,^[103][104] she requested that the court not grant spousal support for Phillippe.^[101] On May 15, 2007, Phillippe filed for joint physical custody of the couple's children.^[105][106] He did not ask for spousal support, and did not make any move to block Witherspoon from seeking support from him.^[106] In September 2007, Witherspoon spoke openly about the separation for the first time when she told Elle magazine that it was "a difficult and frightening experience for her." ^[107] On October 5, 2007, Witherspoon and Phillippe’s final divorce documents were filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court, which made their single status officially take effect.^[108][109]

Throughout 2007, there has been persistent speculation in the mass media over a relationship between Witherspoon and her Rendition co-star Jake Gyllenhaal.^[110] However, Witherspoon had denied the romance rumours as the pair promoted Rendition in the fall of 2007; she told the Entertainment Tonight, "it's crazy and funny how much people can make stuff up. I'm actually interested to hear what they say next."^[111][112] In October, following the news that Witherspoon was legally divorced, Witherspoon and Gyllenhaal's relationship once again provoked wide media interest as photos of the pair vacationing together in Rome, Italy were released.^{[111][113][114]}

Filmography

References

External links

• Template:Ymovies name
• Reese Witherspoon at IMDb
• Reese Witherspoon at People.com
• Template:Tvtome person