Renee Zellweger

Renée Kathleen Zellweger (Katy, Texas, April 25, 1969) is an American actress and producer. She is one of the few actresses who have won the four most important film awards: the Oscar (2004 for best supporting actress and 2020 for best actress), the BAFTA, the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild Award.

Zellweger had his first starring role in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994). He subsequently gained early acclaim with his appearance in Empire Records (1995) and gained wider recognition for his role in Jerry Maguire (1996). She won her first Golden Globe for her performance in Chasing Betty (2000), and for her performances as Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) and Roxie Hart in Chicago (2002), earned consecutive Best Actress Oscar nominations. She reprized her role as Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) and Bridget Jones & # 39; Baby (2016).

Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain. She played the wife of boxer James J. Braddock in Cinderella Man (2005), author Beatrix Potter in Miss Potter (2006) and Emily Jenkins in the psychological horror film, Case 39 (2009). After taking a three-year hiatus from not appearing on screen, she plays Judy Garland in Judy (2019), a role that earned her critical acclaim, numerous accolades including her fourth Globo Award win. de Oro and his second Oscar.

Biography

His parents are Emil Zellweger, an engineer of Swiss origin, and Kjellfrid Irene Andreassen, a nurse of Norwegian origin. During his school days, he participated in theatrical productions organized by the students, and began to be interested in performance. He later studied radio, film and television science at the University of Texas at Austin to become a journalist and was so brilliant that he finished his degree a year earlier than usual. While studying at university, Zellweger took acting classes and decided that she wanted to become an actress.

Career

Once he finished his studies, Zellweger wanted to get movie roles. Aware that Hollywood was unattainable at the moment, he tried acting in movies that were being shot in Texas. He did get small roles in several films, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, where he shared the bill with Matthew McConaughey, but it was not until 1994 that he was offered a relevant role in Love & a.45. Her interpretation earned her critical acclaim and she began to be known by the public and film professionals.

Hollywood

After his little success in Texas, he decided to move to Los Angeles. After several other films in minor roles, he repeated in 1996 the success of 1994 with The Whole Wide World . However, her rise to fame came that same year with the film Jerry Maguire, starring Tom Cruise, in which she very convincingly played an accountant for the company where Cruise works, and that she is the only one who trusts him when he has to leave the company for having made proposals that management does not intend to tolerate. The film was a smash hit, and Zellweger garnered high praise from critics.

Zellweger has taken pains to characterize women with tenacity, chained to lives of suffering, although she has also dabbled in the humorous and comedy genre, demonstrating acting versatility.

Over the next few years, Zellweger was cast in several widely distributed films, which cemented his fame. She acted in Things That Matter , with Meryl Streep, and in Me, Myself and Irene , with Jim Carrey. For 2000's Chasing Betty, she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

With Bridget Jones's Diary in 2001, Zellweger achieved extraordinary public success and critical acclaim all over the world. The producers had been hesitant to cast her as her character is English and Zellweger speaks with an American accent. In addition, the character required to be fatter. However, she demonstrated that she could change her accent and, with the help of a teacher, after a short time she managed to speak of herself as an Englishwoman and also took pains to put on a few kilos. Despite the fact that prominent actors are involved in the film, it is she who fully captures the viewer's attention. For her performance in this film, she was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for best actress; This last award was given to Halle Berry for her participation in Monster & # 39; s Ball .

Zellweger soon after starred in the musical film Chicago, set in the 1920s, in the role of a fame-hungry woman who ends up in prison for killing her lover. She was awarded her second Golden Globe and a second American Academy Award nomination, in addition to worldwide recognition for her singing and dancing skills. She lost the Oscar to Nicole Kidman for Las Horas .

Her third Oscar nomination was for the role of Ruby Thewes in the drama Cold Mountain, a performance that demonstrated Zellweger's great versatility.

He also appeared in Down With Love, and gave the voice of a fish in the animated film The Shark Tale. She then played the English bachelorette for a second time in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, which earned her her fourth Golden Globe nomination and she later starred in the American drama Cinderella. man.

Zellweger and George Clooney in an interview.

In 2006, she starred in the film Miss Potter, playing the children's story writer Beatrix Potter, where she worked alongside Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson and for which she earned her fifth Globe Award nomination. Oro, where she lost to veteran Meryl Streep for The Devil Wears Prada.

In 2007, she provided the voice for the character of a flower girl in Bee Movie, alongside Jerry Seinfeld. In 2008, she participated in several film projects, such as She's the Party, directed by George Clooney, where she plays a feminist journalist willing to discover a fraud in soccer and also participated in Appaloosa , a western directed by Ed Harris and starring himself and Viggo Mortensen.

In 2009, he premiered New in Town, a romantic comedy in which he stars alongside Harry Connick Jr. and in which Zellweger plays Lucy Hill, a successful executive who spends a life of luxury in Miami to adjust to a small town in Minnesota where she is sent to supervise the employees of a factory.

Her next projects were My One and Only, a road movie in which she starred with Kevin Bacon, and Case 39.

In 2016 she returned to her popular character of Bridget Jones for the third film in the series, Bridget Jones's Baby.

In 2018 she was signed by Netflix to work on their productions. Signing, which took place in 2019, the series: "Dilemma" (What/If)

Respawn

In 2019, Zellweger first starred as Anne Montgomery in the Netflix thriller mini-series What / If. Although the show received mixed reviews from critics, Zellweger's performance was praised, with Haider Rifaat of The Express Tribune writing, "Not giving up on the incredible craftsmanship of Zellweger, who impeccably embraces the character of Anne. Subtle gestures, symbolic interaction and character development are some commendable aspects that intensify the performances of the actors ".

She later starred as Judy Garland in the 2019 biographical drama Judy. Based on the actress's autobiography, the film chronicles the last years of Garland's life, shortly before her death in 1969. Zellweger starred with her own voice in the film and her songs had to be performed in front of a live audience. Judy premiered at the Telluride Film Festival to positive reviews, with Zellweger's performance garnering widespread critical acclaim; certain critics considered it the best of her career. Zoe Gahan of Vanity Fair found her "witty, sharp and devastating in the title role" adding that "it's hard to know where Garland stops and Zellweger begins." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone opined, "Zellweger works miracles playing Judy Garland: singing her heart out, baring her bruised soul." and acting with a ferocity that ultimately reaches a state of grace".

For her performance in Judy, Zellweger won numerous awards, including the Golden Globe Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the BAFTA Award, and the Academy Award for Best Actress. Zellweger's win made her the seventh actress to win an Oscar in both acting categories and the fourth to win Best Actress after Best Supporting Actress.

Personal life

She has been romantically linked to the actor Jim Carrey. She was also related to the musician Jack White, although it was the musician Kenny Chesney with whom she finally married, although after five months of marriage the Texan actress filed for divorce alleging 'fraud'. She was in a relationship with actor Bradley Cooper and from 2013 to 2019 was in a relationship with guitarist and singer Doyle Bramhall II.

Activism

Zellweger participated in the 2005 HIV prevention campaign of the Swiss federal health department.

Zellweger is a patron of the gender equality foundation The GREAT Initiative; in 2011 she visited Liberia with the charity. In April 2011, she collaborated with Tommy Hilfiger to design a bag to raise funds and awareness for the Breast Health Institute. "Due to the experiences of close friends and family who have endured and fought the challenges of breast cancer, I am a passionate advocate for breast health education and charitable causes," she stated. Zellweger about joining the campaign.

Houses

Zellweger has owned properties in Los Angeles, The Hamptons and in Connecticut.

Filmography

Cinema

Television

Awards

Among his many accolades for his acting work, Zellweger has received two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, four Film Critics Awards, four Golden Globes, Independent Spirit Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, one British Independent Film Awards, and awards from the London Film Critics Circle, National Board of Review, National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle Award and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, among others.

Zellweger is only the fourth actress, after Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange and Cate Blanchett, to have won the Best Actress Oscar after winning Best Supporting Actress, and the seventh actress to win in both categories after, by Ingrid Bergman, Maggie Smith, Helen Hayes, Streep, Lange, and Blanchett.

Oscar Awards

Golden Globe Awards

BAFTA Awards

Awards of the Union of Actors