Reese Witherspoon
- Acting
- March 22, 1976 · New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Biography
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 and 2015, and Forbes listed her among the World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2019 and 2021. In 2021, Forbes named her the world's highest earning actress, and in 2023, she was named one of the richest women in America with an estimated net worth of $440 million. Witherspoon began her career as a teenager, making her screen debut in The Man in the Moon (1991). Her breakthrough came in 1999 with a supporting role in Cruel Intentions, and for her portrayal of Tracy Flick in the black comedy Election. She gained wider recognition for playing Elle Woods in the comedy Legally Blonde (2001) and its 2003 sequel, and for starring in the romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama (2002). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for portraying June Carter Cash in the musical biopic Walk the Line (2005). Following a career downturn, during which her sole box-office success was the romantic drama Water for Elephants (2011), Witherspoon made a comeback by producing and starring as Cheryl Strayed in the drama Wild (2014), which earned her a second nomination for Best Actress at the Academy Awards. She has since worked primarily in television, producing and starring in several female-led literary adaptations under her company Hello Sunshine. These include the HBO drama series Big Little Lies (2017–2019), the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show (2019–present), and the Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere (2020). For the first of these, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series. She has also produced the film adaptations Gone Girl (2014) and Where the Crawdads Sing (2022), and the miniseries adaptation Daisy Jones & the Six (2023). Witherspoon also owns Reese's Book Club and a clothing company, Draper James. She is involved in children's and women's advocacy organizations. She serves on the board of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) and was named Global Ambassador of Avon Products in 2007, serving as honorary chair of the charitable Avon Foundation dedicated to women's causes.
Known for
Filmography
- The Nightingale · Producer
- Lucky · Executive producer
- Elle · Executive producer
- Outcome · Thanks
- The Rise: The Inaugural Season of the PWHL · Executive producer
- The Rise · Executive producer
- Family Recipe Showdown · Guest Judge
- F1: The Academy · Executive Producer, Executive producer
- You're Cordially Invited · Margot, Producer
- The Pasta Queen · Executive producer, Creator
- Influenced · Executive producer
- Side Hustlers · Executive producer
- Meet Me in Rome · Executive producer
- June · Self
- Love in Fairhope · Executive producer
- Surf Girls · Executive producer
- Wynonna Judd: Between Hell and Hallelujah · Executive producer
- The Last Thing He Told Me · Executive producer
- Tiny Beautiful Things · Executive producer
- My Kind of Country · Self, Executive producer
- Being Mary Tyler Moore · Self
- Daisy Jones & the Six · Executive producer
- Your Place or Mine · Debbie, Producer
- Meet Me in Paris · Executive producer
- Something from Tiffany's · Producer
- Minions & More Volume 2 · Rosita (Voice)
- From Scratch · Executive producer
- Surface · Executive producer
- Where the Crawdads Sing · Producer
- Fair Play · Executive producer
- Sing 2 · Rosita (Voice)
- Come Home · Rosita (Voice)
- Friends: The Reunion · Self
- Father of the Bride Part 3 (ish) · Self
- The Drew Barrymore Show · Self
- Get Organized with The Home Edit · Executive producer
- My Darling Vivian · Self
- Her Effortless Brilliance: A Celebration of Lynn Shelton Through Film and Music · Self
- Becoming · Self
- Fierce Queens · Narrator (Voice)
- Little Fires Everywhere · Elena Richardson, Executive producer
- Truth Be Told · Executive producer
- The Morning Show · Bradley Jackson, Executive producer
- Lucy in the Sky · Producer
- The Kelly Clarkson Show · Self
- This Changes Everything · Self
- Master the Mess · Executive producer
- Shine On with Reese · Self, Executive producer
- A Wrinkle in Time · Mrs. Whatsit
- Election - Reese Witherspoon · Self
- Home Again · Alice Kinney
- Big Little Lies · Madeline Mackenzie, Executive producer
- Gunter Babysits · Rosita (Voice)
- Sing · Rosita (Voice)
- Chelsea · Self
- Broken · Executive producer
- Everything Is Copy · Self
- The Muppets · Self
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert · Self
- Nature Is Speaking · Home
- Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter · Self
- Hot Pursuit · Officer Rose 'Coop' Cooper, Producer
- Variety Studio: Actors on Actors · Self
- Inherent Vice · Deputy D.A. Penny Kimball
- Wild · Cheryl Strayed, Producer
- Gone Girl · Producer
- The Good Lie · Carrie Davis
- Late Night with Seth Meyers · Self
- The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon · Self
- 9 Kisses · Woman at Costume Party
- Devil's Knot · Pam Hobbs
- Mud · Juniper
- Monsters vs Aliens Stories
- The Mindy Project · Reese Witherspoon
- Dreamworks Spooky Stories · Susan Murphy / Ginormica (Voice)
- This Means War · Lauren
- Water for Elephants · Marlena Rosenbluth
- How Do You Know · Lisa
- Conan · Self
- Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen · Self