Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon: biography

Reese Witherspoon is a Hollywood actress. The actress became famous after the role of blonde lawyer Elle Woods in the comedy Legally Blonde. Later, Reese consolidated her success when she played June Carter in the movie Walk the Line. For this role, the actress won the Oscar, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA Awards for Best Actress. In total, the actress has over fifty roles in films of different genres from comedies to detective dramas.

Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon was born in 1976 in the American city of New Orleans in the family of health workers. The mother of the future actress, Betty Reese Witherspoon, earned a Ph.D. in pediatric nursing and work as a nurse educator of would-be doctors at Vanderbilt University. Father John Witherspoon was a serviceman, a lieutenant colonel for a long time. Being a military doctor, John specialized in otorhinolaryngology. Reese's father still works.

Reese spent the first years of her life with her parents in Germany, in the city of Wiesbaden, where John worked for the military. When the family returned to the United States, they settled in Tennessee, where the girl began attending middle school at Harding Academy. She also graduated from the prestigious all-girls' Harpeth Hall School.

As many children at an early age, little Reese imitated her parents and wanted to become only a doctor. But the future actress changed her opinion after an unexpected debut on television. Reese had her first experience in front of the television cameras at the age of seven, when the girl was invited to participate in a commercial for a flower shop. After that, the girl began to attend acting lessons.

Reese studied at school very well, she was an excellent pupil, and the favorite subject of little Witherspoon was English literature. Therefore, after graduation, Reese Witherspoon entered the Philological Department of Stanford University. But she studied there only for a year, then left the literature and decided to try to achieve success as an actress.

Movies

The first professional work as an actress was the role of the village girl, Dani Trantin, in Robert Mulligan’s film The Man in the Moon. Critics gave positive reviews of the young actress’s performance, Witherspoon’s dramatic play was called touching and unforgettable. For the debut in the movie, she was first nominated for the Young Artist Award, which was prestigious for an unknown young actress. Witherspoon won this Award for Best Youth Actress Co-star two years later after filming in the movie Jack the Bear.

The film was followed by several television films Desperate Choices: To Save My Child and Return to Lonesome Dove.

Reese Witherspoon had a successful playing in the dramatic roles in the movies Cruel Intentions, based on the famous book by Choderlos de Laclos, Best Laid Plans, where the actress played together with popular actor Alessandro Nivola and Pleasantville, where Witherspoon filmed with Tobey Maguire.

Reese consolidated the success of a talented actress after playing is such famous films as American Psycho, Little Nicky, and sitcom Friends, which was released in 2000. But the actress gained real popularity by playing the role of blonde intellectual Elle Woods in the romantic comedy Legally Blonde, which was released in 2001. It had a stunning success. It can be said that Reese Witherspoon became famous overnight.

After the success of this project, Reese starred in several good films such as The Importance of Being Earnest based on the play by Oscar Wilde, the comedy Sweet Home Alabama, the sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, the screen versions of William Thackeray's classic novel Vanity Fair, French writer Mark Levi’s novel Just Like Heaven, where Witherspoon played a girl in a coma, but she visited her apartment as a ghost. These films only consolidated the success.

In 2006, Reese Witherspoon won the long-awaited Oscar for Best Actress in the movie Walk the Line, where the actress played June Carter Cash, the wife of the country singer and songwriter Johnny Cash. For this role, Witherspoon won the Golden Globe Award, the Academy Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Award.

He has not won other major awards, except for the star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, which the actress received on December 1, 2010. Nevertheless, the star brought the actress recognition. Since then at least one major role has appeared in the creative biography of Witherspoon every year.

In 2010, the actress played the main role in the melodrama How Do You Know?, in 2011 in the drama about America of the 1920’s Water for Elephants, and in 2012 in the spy comedy This Means War.

In 2013, the actress appeared in the crime drama Devil's Knot. The film shows the problem of stagnation and intolerance. There is a terrible murder in a small town, but the police, instead of honestly investigating the crime, accuse teenagers, members of an unofficial organization, of crime only on the basis of social unacceptability of these young people.

In 2014, the actress played the main role in the biographical drama Wild. The film was based on the autobiography of Cheryl Strayed “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.” The author described how the divorce and death of the mother laid low an average American woman. An unexpected idea saved Cheryl. She decided to travel a thousand miles along the popular tourist route the Pacific Crest Trail. Reese Witherspoon played the role of Sheryl Strayed. For this work, the actress was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress and the Satellite Award in the same category.

In 2015, Reese Witherspoon played a major role in the comic thriller Hot Pursuit. Small Reese (the actress's height is 156 cm and her weight is 46 kg) played a righteous and brutal policewoman who protects the widow of the drug baron from the killers. The role of the widow was performed by Sofia Vergara.

Personal life

Reese met her first husband, Ryan Phillippe, at her own 21st birthday party. Subsequently, the couple starred in the sensational film Cruel Intentions. Reese and Ryan got married on June 9, 1999, and in September they had a daughter, Ava Elizabeth Phillippe.

Reese gave birth to another child in the first marriage. It was a son, Deacon Reese Phillippe. But the family did not last long. Reese’s career was on the rise, but on the contrary, Ryan’s career was in a slump. So, he began to abuse alcohol and drugs. This affected the relationship of the couple and led to the divorce, which was officially registered in 2007. The children stayed with their mother.

Reese had new serious relationship three years later when she began to date Jim Toth, an actress’s agent. They got married in March 2011, and a year and a half later Reese gave birth to a third child - a boy, Tennessee James Toth.

Jim Toth perfectly gets along with the children from her first marriage. The family looks almost perfect.

Reese Witherspoon shares her life details on the official Instagram account, where the actress has 9,7 million subscribers. Reese regularly posts photos on her page on Instagram. There are photos from photo shoots and friendly gatherings. Witherspoon prefers ordinary settings of the service and posts single images. So, it is difficult to find a video or multiple photos in a single post on her Instagram account.

Reese Witherspoon now

In 2016, Reese began filming in the detective drama Big Little Lies. The actress played the lead role of Madeline Martha Mackenzie, a strong and witty woman, who has many children. It is a screen version of the novel under the same name by Australian writer Liane Moriarty. The plot of the drama begins with a party for parents, organized in the school. During the party, one of the participants dies, which causes a series of investigations and searches. The author focuses on three different mothers. In addition to Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley played the main roles in the film.

The film premiered in the USA in February 2017.

Filmography

• 1991 - Man in the moon
• 1999 - Cruel Intentions
• 2000 - American Psycho
• 2001 - Legally Blonde
• 2002 - The Importance of Being Earnest
• 2003 - Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
• 2005 - Walk the Line
• 2005 - Just Like Heaven
• 2008 - Four Christmases
• 2011 - Water for Elephants
• 2012 – This Means War
• 2013 – Devil's Knot
• 2014 – Wild
• 2015 – Hot Pursuit
• 2017 – Big Little Lies

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