Reese Witherspoon (American Actress)

Biography:

Birthday: 22nd March 1976

Father’s name: John Witherspoon

Mother’s name: Betty Reese

Spouse(s): Ryan Phillps

Born in: New Orleans

Nationality: American 

Introduction:

Reese Witherspoon is an Academy Award-winning actress who is popular for her roles in television as well as films and mini-series. One of the famous roles she played like “Legally Blonde’’, ‘’Sweet Home Alabama” and many more romantic comedies. She also made a foray into film production and she started her career as a teenager. She is also considered one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood. Along with this, she is actively involved with the children’s defund fund. 

Childhood Life:

Laura Reese Witherspoon was born on 22nd March 1976 at the Southern Baptist Hospital located in New Orleans in the Southern US state of Louisiana. Her father was John Draper Witherspoon and her mother was Mary Elizabeth. Her father worked for the USA army as a lieutenant Colonel and her mother worked as a nursing professor at Vanderbilt University. Her father was stationed in the region then known as West Germany during her early childhood and her family returned to Nashville, Tennessee and then she was only 4 years old. 

When she was 7 years old, then in the year 1983 she appeared in an advertisement for a local flower store and after that, she participated in a talent fair as well. Hence, after this talent fair, she got the confidence to become a full-time actor and hence, decided to pursue her career as an actor. 

Student Life:

She studied at the Harpeth Academy and later on went on to study at Harpeth Hall school. Witherspoon was a cheerleader at the latter school. She was always a good student. She studied at Stanford University but quit her studies when she decided to become an actor. Then she enrolled herself as an English literature major at the university. 

Personal Life:

Reese Witherspoon married Ryan Phillps in the year 1999 but they broke up in 2007. However, they have two children – Ava and Deacon. In the year, 2011 she got married to the talented actress Jim Toth and they have a son named Tennessee James Toth. 

Working Life:

Reese Witherspoon made her debut film in the year 1991 namely ‘the man in the moon’ and in that movie she portrayed the character of a rural teenager. The film and her character were widely praised by the film critics. After that, in the same year, she got the opportunity to play in the TV-only film ‘wildflower’ with Diane Keaton. In 1992, she started playing another TV show namely ‘Desperate choices: to save my child’ and after that, she also appeared in some television series and movies such as ‘Return to lonesome Drive’ and Disney productions like ‘A far off place’ in the early 1990s.

Then, in the year 1996 she bagged a role in the film ‘Fear’ and from then, her career really took off. She played into that movie with Wahlberg and later on the same year she appeared into the comedy thriller ‘freeway’ with Brooke shields. Both of her films tuned out to be successful and from then she received many opportunities in movies. 

She took a break from doing films and then in the year 1988 she came back and then was cast in three films. The three films were ‘Pleasantville’, ‘Twilight’ and one romance comedy ‘Overnight Delivery’. All of them worked well in the box office but Pleasantville proved to be her one of the best roles in her entire career. 

In the following year, she followed up with some more films such as ‘Cruel intentions’ and the critically acclaimed ‘Election’ in the following year. Her biggest breakthrough was ‘Legally Blonde’ in the year 2001 and this film gained worldwide recognition along with this, she also received lots of appreciation for doing this film. After the success of this film, she also started doing a few films in the same year such as ‘the importance of being earnest’, ‘sweet home Alabama’ and last one ‘Legally blonde 2: Red white and blonde’. It was a commercially successful film and it cinematically criticized. 

After that, in the year 2004, she approached for ‘’Vanity Fair’’ by Mira Nair and undoubtedly it was one of the most critical roles she played in her entire career. The film was a success and the role she played was widely praised by the critics. 

In 2005, she played the 2nd wife of Johnny Cash in the film ‘Walk the line’ and it was the best-performed character in her entire career. For this role, she received many awards such as screen guilds, golden globe and so on. 

After that, she also appeared in some more movies such as ‘Penelope’ and ‘Rendition’ and so on. Reese Witherspoon teamed up with Vince Vaughn in the year 2007 and they played in the comedy movie ‘four Christmases’ and the film was a commercial success. After that, she starred in the romantic comedies like ‘How do you know’, ‘this means War’ and ‘Mud’

Then, in the year 2014, she starred in the film ‘the good lie’ but in the same year her movie ‘Wild’ got all the attention, accolades and she played the role of a scarred woman by tragedies and because of this she earned an Academy Award nomination for best actress. The next year she played ‘hot Pursuit’

Achievements: 

She won the academy award for the best actress, BAFTA, golden globes for her role in the film ‘walk the line’. She also won screen guild awards for the same movie. She was also featured in the ‘TIME 100’ in the year 2006 and in the same year People magazine named her among the ‘100 most beautiful’ in a special issue in the same year. 

Conclusion:

Reese Witherspoon is one of those few actors who received so many awards from one single movie. Her portrayed characters will help to get appreciation from all over the world. She has also founded a fashion brand named Draper James. She also involved in many social activities. For instance, she actively involved in children’s defense fund.