Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an Academy Award-, BAFTA-, SAG Award-, and Golden Globe-winning American actress and producer, who has established herself as one of the highest-paid Hollywood actresses in recent years.
"Being horrible in a big film is a quicker nosedive than doing an obscure film and making no money.""I see the Oscar [for best supporting actress in Cold Mountain (2003)] in my bedroom, and it`s like I bought it in a souvenir shop on Hollywood Boulevard. "
"It saddens me every day when people come up and say, `OK, how did you lose that weight?` I can`t speak about it because I am not an authority on weight loss. I am just not. I am not challenged with a medical situation that`s weight-related and that I need to pay attention to. [On the weight she lost after Bridget Jones`s Diary (2001)]. "
- Renee Zellweger
Zellweger appeared in several films. She appeared in A Taste for Killing (1992) as Mary Lou, then had a minor role in ABC TV mini series named Murder in the Heartland (1993). The following year, she appeared in Reality Bites (1994), the directorial debut of Ben Stiller, and in the biopic film 8 Seconds, directed by John G. Avildsen. Zellweger's first main part in a movie came with the 1994 horror movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, in which she acted alongside Matthew McConaughey. She played Jenny, a teenager who leaves a prom early with three friends and ended up getting into a car accident, which leads to their meeting a murderous family. Her next movie was Love and a .45 (1994), in which she played the role of Starlene Cheatham, a woman who plans a robbery with her boyfriend
. The performance earned her an Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance. She subsequently moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting, winning roles in the films Empire Records (1995) and The Whole Wide World (1996). Zellweger first became widely known to audiences around the world with her role in Jerry Maguire (1996), where she played the romantic interest of Tom Cruise's character. She won the role over Mira Sorvino and Marisa Tomei. Since then, Zellweger has won acclaim in roles such as One True Thing (1998) opposite William Hurt and Meryl Streep, and in Neil LaBute's Nurse Betty opposite Morgan Freeman. The role garnered the actress her first of three Golden Globe Awards, but she was in the bathroom when future co-star Hugh Grant announced her name. Zellweger later protested: "I had lipstick on my teeth!"
In 2001, Zellweger gained the prized lead role as Bridget Jones, playing alongside Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, in the British romantic comedy film Bridget Jones's Diary, a film that is based on the 1996 novel Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding, amid much controversy since she was neither British nor overweight. During casting Zellweger was told she was too skinny to play the chubby Bridget, so she very quickly embarked on gaining the required weight and learned an English accent. She gained 20 pounds in order to complete her transformation to Bridget Jones. Her dramatic weight fluctuations became the subject of much media interest. Her performance as Bridget received praise from critics, with Stephen Holden of The New York Times commenting,
"Ms. Zellweger accomplishes the small miracle of making Bridget both entirely endearing and utterly real." Along with receiving voice coaching to fine-tune her English accent, part of Zellweger's preparations involved spending three weeks working undercover in a "work experience placement" for British publishing firm Picador in Victoria, London. As a result of her considerable efforts to effect author Helen Fielding's character, Zellweger caught the attention of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and received her first Best Actress Academy Award nomination.In 2002, she starred with Michelle Pfeiffer in White Oleander. The same year, she appeared as "Roxie Hart" in the critically-acclaimed musical film Chicago, directed by Rob Marshall, co-starring Catherine Zeta Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, and John C. Reilly. The movie received an Academy Award for Best Picture, and Zellweger received positive reviews from the critics.
The SFGate commented, "Zellweger is a joy to watch, with marvelous comic timing and, in her stage numbers, a commanding presence." The Washington Post noted that even though Zellweger couldn't dance well in real life, the audience "wouldn't know it from this movie, in which she dances up a storm." As a result, she earned her second Academy Award nomination as Best Actress, as well as the Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Award.In 2004, Zellweger received an Academy Award, this time as Best Supporting Actress in Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain opposite Jude Law and Nicole Kidman. Zellweger has since starred in the sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, lent her voice to the DreamWorks animated features Shark Tale and Bee Movie, and starred in the 2005 Ron Howard film Cinderella
Man opposite Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti. On May 24, 2005, Zellweger received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She produced and appeared in Miss Potter, based on the life story of acclaimed author Beatrix Potter, with Emily Watson and Ewan McGregor, released in December 2006. In 2008, she starred in Appaloosa and the period comedy Leatherheads with fellow Oscar-winner George Clooney and John Krasinski (from The Office).In 2008 she has been producing a film starring Harry Connick, Jr., about the true story of Dr. Denny Slamon. The film, called Living Proof, premiered in October 2008 on Lifetime Television. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron is also producing.
It has been confirmed that she will star along side Chris Noth in the feature film My One and Only, due for release in 2009. The film is a 1950s-set comedy in which the glamorous "Anne Deveraux" (played by Zellweger) embarks on a drive down the Eastern Seaboard in a quixotic search for a wealthy man to fund a new life for her and her sons.
In 2009, she starred in New in Town, a comedy about a corporate executive from Miami who is sent to New Ulm, Minnesota, to oversee a small manufacturing company making minimal profits producing and selling pudding.
In 2009 she had a cameo role in the animated film Monsters vs. Aliens in which she voiced the character of 'Katie'.
Filmography
Actress:
1. My Own Love Song (2009) (post-production)
2. Case 39 (2009) (completed) .... Emily Jenkins
3. Monsters vs Aliens (2009) (voice) .... Katie
4. My One and Only (2009) .... Anne Deveraux
5. New in Town (2009) .... Lucy Hill
6. Appaloosa (2008) .... Allison French
7. Leatherheads (2008) .... Lexie Littleton
... aka Ein verlockendes Spiel (Germany)
8. Bee Movie (2007) (voice) .... Vanessa Bloome
9. Miss Potter (2006) .... Beatrix Potter
10. Cinderella Man (2005) .... Mae Braddock
11. Bridget Jones Interviews Colin Firth (2005) (V) (uncredited) .... Bridget Jones
12. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) .... Bridget Jones
... aka Bridget Jones - Am Rande des Wahnsinns (Germany)
... aka Bridget Jones - L'age 2 raison (France: DVD box title)
... aka Bridget Jones 2 (UK: informal title)
... aka Bridget Jones: L'âge de raison (France)
13. Shark Tale (2004) (voice) .... Angie
14. Cold Mountain (2003) .... Ruby Thewes
15. Down with Love (2003) .... Barbara Novak
... aka Down with Love - Zum Teufel mit der Liebe! (Germany)
16. Chicago (2002) .... Roxie Hart
... aka Chicago (Germany)
17. White Oleander (2002) .... Claire Richards
... aka Weißer Oleander (Germany)
18. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) .... Bridget Jones
... aka Bridget Jones (UK: informal title)
... aka Le journal de Bridget Jones (France)
19. "King of the Hill" .... Tammy Duvall (1 episode, 2001)
- Ho, Yeah! (2001) TV episode (voice) .... Tammy Duvall
20. Me, Myself & Irene (2000) .... Irene
21. Nurse Betty (2000) .... Betty Sizemore
... aka Nurse Betty - Gefährliche Träume (Germany)
Soundtrack:
1. New in Town (2009) (performer: "I Will Survive")
2. Appaloosa (2008) (performer: "Goodbye, Old Paint")
3. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) (performer: "The Sound of Music", "Like a Virgin")
... aka Bridget Jones - Am Rande des Wahnsinns (Germany)
... aka Bridget Jones - L'age 2 raison (France: DVD box title)
... aka Bridget Jones 2 (UK: informal title)
... aka Bridget Jones: L'âge de raison (France)
4. Down with Love (2003) (performer: "Here's to Love")
... aka Down with Love - Zum Teufel mit der Liebe! (Germany)
5. Chicago (2002) (performer: "Overture/And All That Jazz" (1975), "Funny Honey" (1975), "We Both Reached For The Gun" (1975), "Roxie" (1975), "Nowadays" (1975), "Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag" (1996), "I Move On" (2002))
... aka Chicago (Germany)
6. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) (performer: "WITHOUT YOU")
... aka Bridget Jones (UK: informal title)
... aka Le journal de Bridget Jones (France)
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