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IMDbPro

Reese Witherspoon

  • Producer
  • Actress
  • Executive
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000216
Reese Witherspoon
IMDb takes a closer look at the notable career of actor Reese Witherspoon in this retrospective of her various roles.
Play clip1:16
Reese Witherspoon Career Retrospective
99+ Videos
99+ Photos
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon was born on March 22, 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Betty Witherspoon, a registered nurse & John Draper Witherspoon, a military surgeon. Reese spent the first 4 years of her life in Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany, where her father served as a lieutenant colonel in the US Army reserves. Shortly after, the family moved back to the USA & settled in Nashville, Tennessee.

Reese was introduced to the entertainment industry at a very early age. At age 7, she began modeling. This led to appearances on several local television commercials. At age 11, she placed first in a Ten-State Talent Fair.

In 1990, she landed her first major acting role in Robert Mulligan's The Man in the Moon (1991). Her role as a 14-year old tomboy earned her rave reviews. Roles in bigger films such as Jack the Bear (1993) and A Far Off Place (1993) followed shortly after.

Following high school graduation in 1994 from Harpeth Hall, a Nashville all girls school, Reese decided to put her acting career on hold and attend Stanford University where she would major in English literature. However, her collegiate plans were shortly dashed when she accepted roles to star in two major motion pictures: Fear (1996), alongside Mark Wahlberg, and Freeway (1996) with Kiefer Sutherland. Although neither film was a huge box-office success, they did help to establish Reese as a rising starlet in Hollywood and open the door for bigger and better film roles. Those bigger roles came in movies such as Pleasantville (1998), Election (1999) and Cruel Intentions (1999).

Her breakthrough role came as Elle Woods in the 2001 comedy, Legally Blonde (2001). The movie was huge box-office smash and established Reese as one of the top female draws in Hollywood. The next year, she scored a follow-up hit with Sweet Home Alabama (2002), which went on to gross over $100 million dollars at the box office. In 2006, she took home the best actress Oscar for her role as June Carter Cash in the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line (2005). On the late 2000s and early 2010s, Reese continued to star in more romantic comedies, such as Four Christmases (2008) and How Do You Know (2010). In December 2010, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the year 2014, she produced both Gone Girl (2014) and Wild (2014), for which she got nominated for best actress Oscar again for her role as Cheryl Strayed.
BornMarch 22, 1976
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornMarch 22, 1976
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000216
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Won 1 Oscar

Before They Were Famous: Actors' Early Roles

Before They Were Famous: Actors' Early Roles

See photos of celebrities like Jenna Ortega and Noah Centineo before they hit the big-time, and revisit some of their earliest onscreen roles.
See the full gallery
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Photos

Photos1425

Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher in Your Place or Mine (2023)
Reese Witherspoon and Patrick Dempsey in Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon in Testimony (2021)
Reese Witherspoon in A Private Person (2021)
Julianna Margulies and Reese Witherspoon in Laura (2021)
Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Billy Crudup in It's Like the Flu (2021)
Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Billy Crudup in The Morning Show (2019)
Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon in The Morning Show (2019)
Reese Witherspoon in Election (1999)
Reese Witherspoon in Saturday Night Live (1975)
Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon in The Morning Show (2019)

Known for

Reese Witherspoon in Wild (2014)
Wild
7.1
  • Producer
  • 2014
Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair, Luke Wilson, Matthew Davis, and Meredith Scott Lynn in Legally Blonde (2001)
Legally Blonde
6.4
  • Elle Woods
  • 2001
Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line (2005)
Walk the Line
7.8
  • June Carter
  • 2005
Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon in Election (1999)
Election
7.3
  • Tracy Flick
  • 1999

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Producer

  • Your Place or Mine
    • Post-production
  • Daisy Jones & The Six
    • Post-production
  • Tiny Beautiful Things
    • Post-production
  • Tinker Bell
    • In Development
  • My Kind of Country
    • Pre-production
  • Fever
    • In Development
  • Tiny Trailblazers
    • In Production
  • Run, Rose, Run
    • Pre-production
  • Untitled Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell Comedy
    • Pre-production
  • All Stars
    • Pre-production
  • The Last Thing He Told Me (2022)
    The Last Thing He Told Me
  • Kendrick Sampson and Zoey Deutch in Something from Tiffany's (2022)
    Something from Tiffany's
    • (produced by)
  • From Scratch (2022)
    From Scratch
  • Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Surface (2022)
    Surface
  • Fair Play (2022)
    Fair Play
  • Daisy Edgar-Jones in Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)
    Where the Crawdads Sing
    • (produced by, p.g.a.)
  • Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell in The Morning Show (2019)
    The Morning Show
  • Kate Hudson and Octavia Spencer in Truth Be Told (2019)
    Truth Be Told
  • Stand Up to Cancer (2021)
    Stand Up to Cancer
  • Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin in Get Organized with the Home Edit (2020)
    Get Organized with the Home Edit
  • Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington in Little Fires Everywhere (2020)
    Little Fires Everywhere
  • Natalie Portman and Mehdi Taleghani in Lucy in the Sky (2019)
    Lucy in the Sky
  • Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, and Shailene Woodley in Big Little Lies (2017)
    Big Little Lies
  • Master the Mess (2018)
    Master the Mess
  • Shine On with Reese (2018)
    Shine On with Reese

Actress

  • Your Place or Mine
    • Post-production
  • Tinker Bell
    • In Development
  • Tiny Trailblazers
    • In Production
  • Wish List
    • In Development
  • Untitled Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell Comedy
    • Pre-production
  • Legally Blonde 3
    • Pre-production
  • Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell in The Morning Show (2019)
    The Morning Show
  • Amari McCoy in Come Home (2021)
    Come Home
    • (voice)
  • Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Bono, Scarlett Johansson, Nick Kroll, Tori Kelly, and Taron Egerton in Sing 2 (2021)
    Sing 2
    • (voice)
  • Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington in Little Fires Everywhere (2020)
    Little Fires Everywhere
  • Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, and Shailene Woodley in Big Little Lies (2017)
    Big Little Lies
  • Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling, Chris Pine, Storm Reid, Levi Miller, and Deric McCabe in A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
    A Wrinkle in Time
  • Mindy Kaling in The Mindy Project (2012)
    The Mindy Project
  • Reese Witherspoon in Home Again (2017)
    Home Again
  • Gunter Babysits (2017)
    Gunter Babysits
    • (voice)
  • Matthew McConaughey in Sing (2016)
    Sing
    • (voice)
  • Nature Is Speaking (2014)
    Nature Is Speaking
    • (voice)
  • Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, and Eric Jacobson in The Muppets. (2015)
    The Muppets.
  • Sasheer Zamata in Saturday Night Live: Cut for Time (2013)
    Saturday Night Live: Cut for Time
  • Reese Witherspoon and Sofía Vergara in Hot Pursuit (2015)
    Hot Pursuit
  • Reese Witherspoon and Benedict Cumberbatch in 9 Kisses (2014)
    9 Kisses
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos148

Reese Witherspoon Career Retrospective
Clip 1:16
Reese Witherspoon Career Retrospective
Reese Witherspoon | Movie & TV Moments
Clip 1:48
Reese Witherspoon | Movie & TV Moments
Our 5 Favorites on Quibi
Clip 3:31
Our 5 Favorites on Quibi
Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon's Reveal Their "Morning Show" Tragic Flaws
Clip 1:41
Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon's Reveal Their "Morning Show" Tragic Flaws
IMDbrief: 'Bohemian Rhapsody' & the Top 5 Music Biopics
Clip 2:15
IMDbrief: 'Bohemian Rhapsody' & the Top 5 Music Biopics
'Aladdin' Leads Disney's New Wave of Remakes
Clip 2:12
'Aladdin' Leads Disney's New Wave of Remakes
Wild
Clip 1:34
Wild
Wild
Clip 1:21
Wild
Wild
Clip 1:01
Wild
The Good Lie
Clip 0:52
The Good Lie
The Good Lie
Clip 0:33
The Good Lie
The Good Lie
Clip 1:01
The Good Lie

Personal details

Edit
  • Official sites
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • March 22, 1976
    • New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
    • Jim TothMarch 26, 2011 - present (1 child)
    • Ava Phillippe
    • Betty Witherspoon
    • John D. Witherspoon(Sibling)
  • Other works
    Music video" Appeared in the video for Hoku's "A Perfect Day", 2001.
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Print Biography
    • 1 Portrayal
    • 17 Interviews
    • 39 Articles
    • 28 Pictorials
    • 69 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Was approached by a few companies to record music after she provided her own singing voice for Walk the Line (2005).
  • Quotes
    [on having a baby]: Obviously, this isn't the time in my life that I would have chosen to do this, but I feel like life gives you these challenges for a reason. I feel so happy and glad to be in the place that I am. I really feel blessed. This is something I need to face and take control of.
    • Mostly plays chipper-type women convinced of their own successful destiny
    • The Morning Show
      (2019)
      $2,000,000 / episode + back end (2019, 2020)

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