Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon began her acting career in 1991 when she was cast as Dani Trant in The Man in the Moon. She received a Young Artist Award nomination for the role. That same year, she made her television debut in Wildflower. In 1992, she appeared in the television film Desperate Choices: To Save My Child. In 1993, she appeared in the CBS miniseries Return to Lonesome Dove, the Disney film A Far Off Place and Jack the Bear, earning the Young Artist Award for Best Youth Actress Co-star for the latter. In 1994, she starred as Wendy Pfister in S.F.W.

In 1996, Witherspoon starred in Fear as Nicole Walker and Freeway as Vanessa Lutz. Her performance in Freeway earned her the Best Actress Award at the Cognac Police Film Festival. In 1998, she appeared in Overnight Delivery, Pleasantville and Twilight. Her performance as Jennifer in Pleasantville earned her the Young Hollywood Award for Best Female Breakthrough Performance.

In 1999, Witherspoon starred in Best Laid Plans as Lissa, Cruel Intentions as Annette Hargrove and Election as Tracy Flick. Her performance in Election earned her nominations for the Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Awards and Best Actress awards from the National Society of Film Critics and the Online Film Critics Society. She also appeared in Marcy Playground's music video for the Cruel Intentions soundtrack. In 2000, she had a supporting role in American Psycho and appeared in Little Nicky. She also guest starred as Jill Green, Rachel Green's sister, in the sixth season of Friends.

Witherspoon's breakthrough came in 2001 when she starred as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. The film became a box-office success and earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress and an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance. In 2002, she voiced Greta Wolfcastle in The Simpsons episode "The Bart Wants What It Wants," starred as Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest and starred as Melanie Carmichael in Sweet Home Alabama.

In 2003, Witherspoon reprised her role as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde. In 2004, she starred as Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair. She then appeared in Just Like Heaven (2005) and portrayed June Carter Cash in Walk the Line (2005). For Walk the Line, Witherspoon performed her own vocals and won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, British Academy Film Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress. She also received a CMT Music Awards nomination with Joaquin Phoenix for Collaborative Video of the Year. Witherspoon subsequently starred as Annie in Penelope (2006), which she also produced through her company Type A Films.

In 2007, Witherspoon starred in the thriller Rendition as Isabella El-Ibrahim. In 2008, she starred opposite Vince Vaughn in Four Christmases. She voiced Susan Murphy in the animated film Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) and co-produced the Legally Blonde spin-off Legally Blondes (2009).

In 2010, Witherspoon starred in How Do You Know. She followed it with Water for Elephants (2011), in which she played circus performer Marlena, and This Means War (2012). She also appeared in the music video for Marcy Playground's "When I Stumble" and continued her production work.

Witherspoon appeared in Mud (2013) as Juniper and starred as Pam Hobbs in Devil's Knot (2013). In 2012, she founded the production company Pacific Standard, now part of Hello Sunshine. Through the company, she produced Gone Girl (2014) and produced and starred in Wild (2014), portraying Cheryl Strayed. Her performance in Wild earned her a second Academy Award nomination. She also appeared in The Good Lie (2014) and Inherent Vice (2014). In 2015, she starred in Hot Pursuit as a police officer.

In 2016, Witherspoon voiced a character in the animated musical comedy Sing and performed on its soundtrack. That year, she also began filming Big Little Lies, a television miniseries based on Liane Moriarty's novel. Witherspoon co-produced and starred in the series alongside Nicole Kidman. Big Little Lies premiered on HBO in 2017 and returned for a second season in 2019. Witherspoon also starred in Home Again (2017).

In 2018, Witherspoon starred as Mrs. Whatsit in A Wrinkle in Time. She also hosted the DirecTV talk show Shine On with Reese. In 2019, she began starring in and producing the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show alongside Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell. She received Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and Best Television Series for her work on the series. She also served as an executive producer on the Apple TV+ series Truth Be Told, which premiered in 2019.

In 2020, Witherspoon produced and starred in the Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere opposite Kerry Washington. She also narrated the Quibi nature documentary series Fierce Queens. In 2021, The Morning Show returned for its second season. In 2023, Witherspoon executive produced My Kind of Country with Kacey Musgraves and starred opposite Ashton Kutcher in the Netflix romantic comedy Your Place or Mine. In 2025, she starred in and produced the Amazon Prime Video romantic comedy You're Cordially Invited.

Witherspoon's acting and production credits include The Man in the Moon (1991), Wildflower (1991), Desperate Choices: To Save My Child (1992), Return to Lonesome Dove (1993), A Far Off Place (1993), Jack the Bear (1993), S.F.W. (1994), Fear (1996), Freeway (1996), Overnight Delivery (1998), Pleasantville (1998), Twilight (1998), Best Laid Plans (1999), Cruel Intentions (1999), Election (1999), American Psycho (2000), Little Nicky (2000), Friends (2000), Legally Blonde (2001), The Simpsons (2002), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003), Vanity Fair (2004), Just Like Heaven (2005), Walk the Line (2005), Penelope (2006), Rendition (2007), Four Christmases (2008), Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), Legally Blondes (2009), How Do You Know (2010), Water for Elephants (2011), This Means War (2012), Mud (2013), Devil's Knot (2013), Gone Girl (2014), Wild (2014), The Good Lie (2014), Inherent Vice (2014), Hot Pursuit (2015), Sing (2016), Big Little Lies (2017–2019), Home Again (2017), A Wrinkle in Time (2018), Shine On with Reese (2018), The Morning Show (2019–present), Truth Be Told (2019–present), Little Fires Everywhere (2020), Fierce Queens (2020), My Kind of Country (2023), Your Place or Mine (2023) and You're Cordially Invited (2025).