| BIOGRAPHY
As one of the most impressively talented members of the emerging
New Hollywood of the early 21st century, Reese Witherspoon has
proven that she can do far more than just pose winsomely for the
camera. Born March 22, 1976, in Nashville, TN, Witherspoon was
a child model and acted in television commercials from the age
of seven. She had a part in the 1991 Lifetime cable movie Wildflower
before making her 1991 film debut in the coming-of-age story The
Man in the Moon (1991). The 14-year-old Witherspoon made an immediate
impact on critics and audiences alike, netting widespread praise
for her portrayal of a tomboy experiencing love for the first
time.
While still in high school, Witherspoon completed two more feature
films, Jack the Bear (1993), starring Danny De Vito, and Disney's
A Far Off Place (1993), which required the actress to spend several
months living in the Kalahari Desert. Following a supporting role
in the 1993 CBS miniseries Return to Lonesome Dove and a lead
in the critically disembowelled S.F.W., Witherspoon temporarily
set aside her career to study English literature at Stanford University.
She then returned to film as the abused girlfriend of a psychotic
Mark Wahlberg in the thriller Fear (1996). In the same year, she
had to deal with yet another crazed male in Freeway, a satirical
version of Little Red Riding Hood in which Witherspoon co-starred
with Kiefer Sutherland, who took on the role of the aforementioned
crazed male.
Her career began to take off in 1998, with her roles in two
high-profile films. The first, Twilight, saw her sharing the screen
with Gene Hackman, Susan Sarandon, and Paul Newman. The film received
mixed reviews and lackluster box office, but Pleasantville, her
other project that year, proved to be both a critical and financial
hit. The actress won wide recognition for her leading role as
Tobey Maguire's oversexed sister, and this recognition -- along
with critical respect -- increased the following year with another
leading role, in Alexander Payne's acclaimed satire Election.
Starring opposite Matthew Broderick, Witherspoon won raves for
her hilarious, high-strung portrayal of student council presidential
candidate Tracy Flick. The character stood in stark contrast to
the one Witherspoon subsequently portrayed in Cruel Intentions,
Roger Kumble's delightfully trashy all-teen update of Dangerous
Liaisons. As the virginal Annette, Witherspoon was convincing
as the object of Ryan Phillippe's reluctant affection, perhaps
due in part to her real-life relationship with the actor, whom
she married in June 1999.
After turning up in an amusing minor role as serial killer Patrick
Bateman's burnt-out yuppie girlfriend in American Psycho (2000),
Witherspoon again pleased critics and audiences alike with her
decidedly Clueless-esque role in 2001's Legally Blonde. Her star
turn as a seemingly dimwitted sorority blonde-turned-Harvard law-school
prodigy unexpectedly shot the featherweight comedy to number one,
despite such heavy summer contenders as Steven Spielberg's A.I.
and the ominously cast heist thriller The Score. The 18-million-dollar
film went on to gross nearly 100 million dollars, proving that
Witherspoon had finally arrived as a box-office draw.
Though she would test out her chops in the Oscar Wilde adaptation
The Importance of Being Earnest, Witherspoon's proper follow-up
to Legally Blonde came in the form of 2002's Sweet Home Alabama,
a culture-clash romantic comedy as embraced by audiences as it
was rejected by critics. As with Drew Barrymore before her, Witherspoon
used her newfound standing among the Hollywood elite to start
her own production company, Type A Films, as well as to up her
asking price to the rarefied $15 million range for the sequel
to Legally Blonde. Though Blonde 2 didn't perform quite as well
as the first film, the power player/doting mother of two wasted
no time in prepping other projects for the screen, including an
adaptation of Vanity Fair, a Johnny Cash biopic, and a proposed
remake of Otto Preminger's 1965 psychological thriller, Bunny
Lake Is Missing.
|
FILMOGRAPHY
• Vanity Fair (2004)
• Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003)
• The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)
• Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
• Wildflower (2002)
• Legally Blonde (2001)
• The Trumpet of the Swan (2001)
• American Psycho (2000)
• Little Nicky (2000)
• Best Laid Plans (1999)
• The Best Laid Plans (1999)
• Cruel Intentions (1999)
• Election (1999)
• Pleasantville (1998)
• Twilight (1998)
• Fear (1996)
• Freeway (1996)
• Overnight Delivery (1996)
• S.F.W. (1994)
• A Far Off Place (1993)
• The Man in the Moon (1992)
• Wildflower (1992) |
