Laura Jean Reese Witherspoon was born on March 22,
1976. She is an American Academy Award nominated and
Golden Globe Award winning American actress, best
known for her roles in Election, Legally Blonde and
Walk the Line.
Witherspoon was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to
John Witherspoon (a surgeon) and Betty Reese (a
nurse and college professor); Reese is a direct
descendant of Scottish-born John Witherspoon, a
signer of the United States Declaration of
Independence and sixth president of Princeton
University, who was also a Presbyterian minister.
Because her father worked for the US military in
Wiesbaden, Germany, Reese lived there for four years
as a small child. After returning to the United
States, Witherspoon spent much of her childhood and
adolescence in Nashville. She has an older brother
named John, who works as a real estate broker. After
graduating high school from Nashville's prestigious
Harpeth Hall School, she attended Stanford
University as a literature major. After completing a
year of her studies, Reese left Stanford to pursue
her acting career.
Witherspoon began her career in local commercials,
and at age 14 attended an open casting call for The
Man in the Moon, intending to audition as a bit
player. She was instead cast in the lead role as
young Dani, immediately capturing the attention of
critics. Since, she has built up an impressive
filmography, playing both comedic and dramatic
roles, including performances as Vanessa in Freeway
and Tracy Flick in Election. She was the voice of
the animated character Greta Wolfecastle in an
episode of The Simpsons. She became best known for
her role in 2001's Legally Blonde, and its sequel
Legally Blonde 2 for which she received a $15
million paycheck, making her one of Hollywood's
top-paid actresses. She has garnered critical praise
and awards for her turn as June Carter Cash in Walk
the Line. She won the Golden Globe Award for Best
Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, NYFCC,
the FFCC, the SFFCC Award for Best Actress, and the
"Favorite Leading Lady" at the 32nd Annual People's
Choice Awards for this role. Witherspoon's
appearance at the 2006 Golden Globes Awards in a
white Chanel dress caused a stir in the
entertainment industry when it was discovered that
actress Kirsten Dunst had worn the same dress to the
award show three years earlier.
Most recently, she has been nominated for an Academy
Award for Best Actress for the same role on January
31, 2006.
Additionally, Reese runs a production company with
partner Laura Siegel, Type A Productions. The
company is named after Reese's childhood nickname
"Little Miss Type A".
Witherspoon met actor Ryan Phillippe at her 21st
birthday party in March 1997. The pair became
inseparable, and got engaged in December 1998. Soon
after, the couple starred together in the box office
hit Cruel Intentions. They were married on a
plantation in Charleston, South Carolina on June 5,
1999. They have two children together: daughter Ava
Elizabeth, born September 9, 1999, and son Deacon,
born October 23, 2003. Ava is named after
Phillippe's grandmother, and Deacon after a distant
relative of Phillippe's. Witherspoon and Phillippe
have a pact that one of them will always be a
full-time parent to the children, and they thus
alternate filming schedules. Witherspoon is known
for being a very hands-on mother, and she and her
husband have never employed a full-time nanny. The
family resides in a gated community in Brentwood,
California.
In September 2005, Witherspoon and her children were
celebrating daughter Ava Elizabeth's sixth birthday
at Disney's California Adventure theme park when
they were approached by paparazzi photographer, Todd
Wallace. After Witherspoon declined posing for
photos at close range, police say Wallace became
enraged and pushed a child out of the way, while
hitting another with his camera, in his efforts to
photograph the actress.
Wallace also allegedly shoved two theme park
employees when they attempted to restrain him, and
cursed at Witherspoon, causing several children to
burst into tears. As a result of the altercation,
Wallace was arrested and faced misdemeanor charges.
Before the case went to trial, Wallace was found
dead in his apartment in the Los Angeles suburb of
Brentwood. Police are currently investigating the
cause of death.
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