Background

Ethnicity: Renée's father, Emil Erich Zellweger, was born in Switzerland, and lived in a village called Au, in the canton of St. Gallen; right after World War II, he and his parents, Dorothy and Emil Zellweger, moved first to Australia and then to the U.S. Renée's mother, Kjellfrid Irene (Andreassen), was born in Norway, to Ove Magnar Ingolf Andreassen and Bjørga Johanna Hildonen, and has Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, and possible Sami ancestry. The Sami are a minority originating mainly from the northern parts of the Scandinavian peninsula often referred to as Lappland.

Renée Zellweger was born on April 25, 1969, in Katy, Texas, a small town outside Houston. Her mother, Kjellfrid Irene (Andreassen), is a Norwegian-born former nurse and midwife, of Norwegian, Kven (Finnish), and Swedish descent. Her father, Emil Erich Zellweger, is a Swiss-born engineer. The two married in 1963. Renée has a brother named Drew Zellweger, a marketing executive born on February 15, 1967.

Education

Academically, Zellweger gained her preliminary education from Katy High School in Texas. She was different from her female friend in school given her tomboyish attitude. Due to the same, she enjoyed what then was called boy’s stuff, playing sports and gymnastics. Renée got interested in acting in high school while working on the drama club.

Zellweger enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin majoring in the English language. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1991. To complete her degree, she took up drama class as she required a fine arts credit.

Career

In Zellweger's junior year, her father lost his job and was unable to support her at college, so she took a job as a cocktail waitress in Austin, Texas. Zellweger said of the job, "I learned a lot. As much as I did in my classes that that club paid for... I learned not to judge people, [and] that things are not black and white." Zellweger began getting small parts acting, and earned her Screen Actors Guild card for doing a Coors Light commercial.

Also while in college, she did "a bit part ... as a local hire" in the Austin-filmed horror-comedy film My Boyfriend's Back, playing "the girl in the beauty shop, maybe two lines. But the beauty shop [scene] got cut." Her first job after graduation was working in a beef commercial, while simultaneously auditioning for roles around Houston, Texas.

She had a small role in the 1992 TV movie A Taste for Killing. After an uncredited appearance in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused (1993), Zellweger wanted to continue acting, but Hollywood is a tough town to break into, so Renée decided to stay in Texas and auditioned for roles around Houston, where she managed to grab roles in such films as Reality Bites (1994), directed by Ben Stiller, the minor Texas films Love, a .45 (1994) and Empire Records (1995).

She also co-starred with classmate Matthew McConaughey in the little-seen B-movie The Return Of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1994).

Director Cameron Crowe surprised many when he cast the relatively unknown actress as Dorothy Boyd, the single mother who is swept off her feet by Tom Cruise's soul-searching sports agent, in Jerry Maguire (1996). The film's success made Zellweger one of Hollywood's hottest new commodities, but instead of cashing in with another big-budget feature, she took a risk with independent films like Deceiver (1997), opposite Tim Roth, and A Price Above Rubies (1998), in which she played a rebellious wife in a Hasidic Jewish family. Zellweger later turned in a critically acclaimed performance opposite Meryl Streep in One True Thing (1998), an adaptation of Anna Quindlen's novel about a daughter coping with her mother's slow death from cancer.

In 1999, Zellweger starred with Chris O'Donnell in The Bachelor and made headlines for her budding romance with actor and comedian Jim Carrey. In the comedy Me, Myself and Irene (2000), written and directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, Carrey played a character with two personalities, both of whom are in love with Zellweger's Irene. That same year, Zellweger won a Golden Globe Award for the black comedy Nurse Betty, co-starring Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, and Greg Kinnear.

Zellweger enjoyed critical and popular success in 2001 when she starred as the neurotic British title character in the film adaptation of Helen Fielding's best-selling novel Bridget Jones's Diary. The film, which also starred Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, earned Zellweger an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Bridget Jones's sequel, The Edge of Reason, was released in 2004, and the actress returned to the role again for 2016's Bridget Jones's Baby, in which her character, now single and in her 40s, discovers she is pregnant and must figure out if the father is Mark Darcy (Firth) or Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey).

In 2003, Zellweger earned her second Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her performance in Chicago, an adaptation of the 1970s musical. The film also starred Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta-Jones. That same year, Zellweger starred opposite Ewan McGregor in the retro-romantic comedy Down With Love. The following year, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Ruby in the Civil War drama Cold Mountain.

In 2005, Zellweger co-starred in Cinderella Man with Russell Crowe. The following year, she played famed children's book writer Beatrix Potter in the biopic, Miss Potter. Her next film projects included Leatherheads (2008), Appaloosa (2008), My One and Only (2009), Case 39 (2009) and My Own Love Song (2010).

Following roles in the Same Kind of Different as Me (2017) and Here and Now (2018), Zellweger made a rare turn to the small screen in 2019 for the Netflix anthology series What/If, delivering a no-holds-barred performance as a ruthless venture capitalist. Later that year, she wowed with her portrayal of Hollywood legend Judy Garland in the biopic Judy, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival before its widespread release.

Achievements

• 

  Zellweger 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 two consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Actress.
  
  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). For her role in the musical movie Chicago, Zellweger, who had no previous dance or voice training, studied hard for 10 months to get ready for her role as Roxie Hart, an aspiring performer. Her hard work paid off when she won her second Golden Globe and was again nominated for a Leading Actress Oscar as well as another BAFTA award.
  
  She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on May 24, 2005.
  
  In April 1997, Vanity Fair named her part of "Hollywood's Next Wave of Stars". She was placed on E!'s "Top 20 Entertainers of 2001" list and was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in 2003. She also ranked number 72 in the "Top 100 Celebrities" list made by Forbes in 2006, and the following year, she was placed at 20 among "the 20 richest women in entertainment", by the magazine.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Shake, Rattle and Rock!

    (Renee Zellweger stars in this energetic story of a rebell...)

    1994
  • Same Kind of Different as Me

    (The inspiring story of an international art dealer who mu...)

    2017
  • My One And Only

    (Renee Zellweger stars as a mother who travels down the Ea...)

    2009
  • My Own Love Song

    (After meeting at a psychiatric hospital, damaged souls Ja...)

    2010
  • Cinderella Man

    (Academy Award winners Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger s...)

    2005
  • Leatherheads

    (Oscar winners George Clooney and Renee Zellweger star wit...)

    2008
  • White Oleander

    (Twelve-year-old Astrid shares an idyllic life with her mo...)

    2002
  • Case 39

    (Academy Award winner Renee Zellweger stars in this terrif...)

    2009
  • Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

    (Reunite with witty heroine, Bridget Jones, as she discove...)

    2004
  • Appaloosa

    (The paths of two gunmen tracking an escaped murderer and ...)

    2008
  • Bridget Jones's Baby

    (Oscar winners Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth are joined ...)

    2016
  • Dazed and Confused

    (Matthew McConaughey and Milla Jovovich star in this 70's ...)

    1993
  • Nurse Betty

    (After a mind-altering run-in with two hit-men, while watc...)

    2000
  • Love and a .45

    (In the tradition of "Pulp Fiction" this action packed fil...)

    1994
  • Jerry Maguire

    (Tom Cruise is in top form as a sports agent who suddenly ...)

    1996
  • Deceiver

    (Deceiver centers on the brutal murder of a young prostitu...)

    1997
  • Watch Cold Mountain | Prime Video

    (A Civil War deserter (Jude Law) undertakes an arduous jou...)

    2003
  • A Price Above Rubies

    (Renée Zellweger portrays a Brooklyn Hasidic woman struggl...)

    1998
  • Down With Love

    (In 1963 New York, a female advice columnist who has sworn...)

    2003
  • Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation

    (Jenny (Renee Zellweger) and her date take a wrong turn to...)

    1994
  • Empire Records

    (A comedy about an eventful day in the lives of the young ...)

    1995
  • Bridget Jones's Diary

    (Academy Award winner Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant star ...)

    2001
  • Me, Myself & Irene

    (Jim Carrey stars as a policeman whose split personality w...)

    2000
  • The Bachelor

    (Jimmie's grandfather dies and leaves him $100 million - o...)

    1999
  • One True Thing

    (When crisis confronts Katherine and George Gulden, they t...)

    1998
  • The Whole Truth

    (Keanu Reeves is a defense attorney trying to clear a teen...)

    2016
  • New In Town

    (Lucy Hill (Renée Zellweger) is an ambitious, up and comin...)

    2009
  • Here And Now

    (Vivienne (Sarah Jessica Parker), is an established singer...)

    2018
  • My Boyfriend's Back

    (A teenager comes back from the dead so he doesn't miss hi...)

    1993
  • Shark Tale

    (A young fish's false reputation as a 'shark slayer' earns...)

    2004
  • Bee Movie

    (Having just graduated from college, a bee by the name of ...)

    2007
  • The Whole Wide World

    (A Texas schoolteacher falls in love with pulp writer Robe...)

    1996
  • Chicago

    (Two murderesses team up to become showbiz stars.)

    2002
  • Miss Potter

    (Written by Richard Maltby, Jr., "Miss Potter" explores th...)

    2006

Religion

Zellweger has described herself as being raised in a family of "lazy Catholics and Episcopalians".

Politics

Zellweger spoke about the 2016 presidential race, offering that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is one of the most “prepared” people to ever seek the presidency. “There’s never been anyone better prepared in our lifetime,” the actress said.

Zellweger also criticized Republican nominee Donald Trump: “The language that he uses perpetuates a particular way of communicating that standardizes cruelty and mean-spiritedness as a cultural norm.”

Views

Zellweger is one of the patrons for 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 handbag to raise money and awareness for the Breast Health Institute. "Because of the experiences of close friends and family members who have had to endure and battle the challenges of breast cancer, I am a passionate supporter of breast health education and charitable causes," Zellweger stated about joining the campaign.

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

Quotations: "I'm not single, I'm busy. That's my line."

"My life has far exceeded what I might ever have dreamed of because I would never have been so bold as to dream that these things might happen to me."

"People did suggest to me, "Oh, it might not be necessary to gain that much weight or as much as you did last time." I thought the weight was essential in repeating the journey. If you're not going to be who she is, then what is the point?"

Personality

After over a decade of making high-profile films, Zellweger in 2009 embarked on what became a six-year hiatus from acting. “I was fatigued and wasn’t taking the time I needed to recover between projects, and it caught up with me,” Zellweger said in an interview with Vogue U.K. “I got sick of the sound of my own voice: it was time to go away and grow up a bit.”

She explained that her break from Hollywood nurtured her personally and creatively. “I found anonymity, so I could have exchanges with people on a human level and be seen and heard, not be defined by this image that precedes me when I walk into a room. You cannot be a good storyteller if you don’t have life experiences, and you can’t relate to people.”

When the actress resurfaced in the limelight at an ELLE event in 2014, internet rumors flew about whether she'd had plastic surgery. In response to the speculation, she told People magazine: "I'm glad folks think I look different. I'm living a different, happy, more fulfilling life, and I'm thrilled that perhaps it shows. I am healthy. For a long time, I wasn't doing such a good job with that. I took on a schedule that is not realistically sustainable. I kept running until I was depleted and made bad choices about how to conceal the exhaustion."

Interests

• charity work

• Politicians

  Hillary Clinton

• Writers

  The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement by David Brooks

• Artists

  Carolina Adriana Herrera

• Sport & Clubs

  Chelsea FC

• Music & Bands

  Ed Sheeran

Connections

Zellweger was engaged to Jim Carrey from 1999 to 2000. She tied the knot with country music star Kenny Chesney on May 8, 2005, but filed for an annulment just four months later. She then dated Bradley Cooper, her co-star in Case 39, from 2009 to 2011, before entering a relationship with musician Doyle Bramhall II in 2012. In spring 2019, it was reported that Zellweger and Bramhall had split.

Father:

Emil Erich Zellweger

Mother:

Kjellfrid Irene (née Andreassen) Zellweger

ex-boyfriend:

Bradley Cooper

ex-boyfriend:

James Eugene Carrey

Ex-husband:

Kenny Chesney

ex-boyfriend:

Doyle Bramhall II

Brother:

Drew Zellweger

colleague:

Ben Affleck

colleague:

Winona Ryder

colleague:

Liv Tyler

colleague:

Sarah Parker

colleague:

Keanu Reeves

References

• Renée Zellweger