Renée Zellweger facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Renée Zellweger
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Renée Kathleen Zellweger
April 25, 1969 |
| Alma mater | University of Texas at Austin (B.A.) |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Spouse(s) | Kenny Chesney (m. 2005-2005, annulled) |
| Parent(s) | Emil Zellweger Kjellfried (née Andreassen) |
Renée Kathleen Zellweger ( born April 25, 1969) is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards. Zellweger was one of the highest-paid actresses in the world by 2007, and was named Hasty Pudding's Woman of the Year in 2009.
Zellweger had her first starring role in a horror movie. She subsequently earned early acclaim with her appearance in Empire Records (1995), and gained wider recognition for her role in Jerry Maguire (1996). For Nurse Betty (2000), she won her first Golden Globe, and for her portrayals of Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) and Roxie Hart in Chicago (2002), she garnered consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. She reprised her role as Bridget Jones in two equally successful sequels (2004–2016).
Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as a loquacious farmer in the American Civil War drama Cold Mountain (2003). She played the wife of boxer James J. Braddock in Cinderella Man (2005) and author Beatrix Potter in Miss Potter (2006). Roles in smaller scale films, such as Appaloosa (2008), My One and Only (2009), and Case 39 (2009), were followed by a six-year hiatus from the screen. In 2019, she starred in the Netflix thriller anthology series What/If and received critical acclaim for portraying Judy Garland in the biopic Judy.
Early life
Zellweger was born in Katy, Texas. Her father, Emil Erich Zellweger, is from a small town in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and is a mechanical and electrical engineer who worked in the oil refining business. Her mother, Kjellfrid Irene (née Andreassen), a native of Norway, is of Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, and possible Sami, ancestry. Kjellfrid grew up in Kirkenes and Ekkerøy, and is a nurse and midwife who moved to the United States to work as a governess for a Norwegian family in Texas. Zellweger has described herself as being raised in a family of "lazy Catholics and Episcopalians". Zellweger took acting classes because she wanted to make certain she graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a literature degree.
Awards and nominations
| Association | Win(s) | Nomination(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | |
| 3 | 6 | |
| 1 | 3 | |
| 3 | 5 |
In 2004, Zellweger won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, the BAFTA Award and the SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress for Cold Mountain. She received six Golden Globe Award nominations, winning three for her performances in Nurse Betty (2000), Chicago (2002), and Cold Mountain (2003). She was awarded Germany's Golden Camera Award for Best International Actress in 2010.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Dazed and Confused | Girl in blue pickup truck | Uncredited |
| My Boyfriend's Back | N/A | Deleted scenes | |
| 1994 | Reality Bites | Tami | |
| Shake, Rattle and Rock! | Susanne | ||
| 8 Seconds | Prescott Buckle Bunny | Cameo | |
| Love and a .45 | Starlene Cheatham | ||
| 1995 | Empire Records | Gina | |
| The Low Life | Poet | ||
| 1996 | The Whole Wide World | Novalyne Price | |
| Jerry Maguire | Dorothy Boyd | ||
| 1997 | Deceiver | Elizabeth | |
| 1998 | A Price Above Rubies | Sonia Horowitz | |
| One True Thing | Ellen Gulden | ||
| 1999 | The Bachelor | Anne Arden | |
| 2000 | Me, Myself & Irene | Irene P. Waters | |
| Nurse Betty | Betty Sizemore | ||
| 2001 | Bridget Jones's Diary | Bridget Jones | |
| 2002 | White Oleander | Claire Richards | |
| Chicago | Roxie Hart | ||
| 2003 | Down with Love | Barbara Novak | |
| Cold Mountain | Ruby Thewes | ||
| 2004 | Shark Tale | Angie | Voice |
| Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason | Bridget Jones | ||
| 2005 | Cinderella Man | Mae Braddock | |
| 2006 | Miss Potter | Beatrix Potter | Also executive producer |
| 2007 | Bee Movie | Vanessa Bloome | Voice |
| 2008 | Leatherheads | Lexie Littleton | |
| Appaloosa | Allie French | ||
| 2009 | New in Town | Lucy Hill | |
| Monsters vs. Aliens | Katie | Voice | |
| My One and Only | Anne Deveraux | ||
| Case 39 | Emily Jenkins | ||
| 2010 | My Own Love Song | Jane | |
| 2016 | The Whole Truth | Loretta | |
| Bridget Jones's Baby | Bridget Jones | ||
| 2017 | Same Kind of Different as Me | Deborah Hall | |
| 2018 | Here and Now | Tessa | |
| 2019 | Judy | Judy Garland |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | A Taste for Killing | Mary Lou | Television film |
| 1993 | Murder in the Heartland | Barbara Von Busch | Miniseries; uncredited |
| 1994 | Shake, Rattle and Rock! | Susan Doyle | Television film |
| 2001 | King of the Hill | Tammy Duvall (voice) | Episode: "Ho, Yeah!" |
| 2008 | Living Proof | N/A | Executive producer |
| 2019 | What/If | Anne Montgomery | Main cast |
Images for kids
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Zellweger at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival
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Zellweger at the Paris premiere of Bridget Jones's Baby in 2016
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Zellweger's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
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