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Renee Zellweger

2007-06-24

Renee Zellweger:"Being horrible in a big film is a quicker nosedive than doing an obscure film and making no money."
- Renee Zellweger

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Renée Kathleen Zellweger (born April 25, 1969) is an Academy Award-winning American-Norwegian film actress.

Biography
Early life
Zellweger was born in Baytown, Texas.At the age of 9 years old, her family moved to Katy, Texas. She is the daughter of Emil Eric Zellweger (a Swiss immigrant and mechanical / electrical engineer) and Kjellfrid Iren Andreassen (a Norwegian immigrant of Sami origin from Tromsø),and graduated from Katy High School in Katy, a suburb of Houston in 1987. She was a cheerleader and gymnast, and participated in the drama club. After high school, she went to the University of Texas at Austin to major in English. Though she took a drama class only because she needed a fine arts credit to complete her degree, it made her appreciate how much she loved acting. During this time, she supported herself by taking a series of waitressing jobs in Austin, Texas.

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Film career
After Zellweger graduated from college she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. She won supporting roles in films such as Reality Bites, Empire Records, The Whole Wide World, 8 Seconds, and Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.Zellweger first became widely known to audiences around the world with her role in the 1996's Jerry Maguire, where she played the romantic interest of Tom Cruise's character. Since then Zellweger has won acclaim in roles such as One True Thing 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 in the film Bridget Jones's Diary, admid much controversy as she was neither British nor plump. During casting Zellweger was told she was too skinny to play the chubby Bridget, but she managed to gain the required weight very quickly - her dramatically personal yo-yoing weight has been the subject of much media interest. As well as the voice coaching to fine-tune her English accent, part of Zellweger's preparations involved spending three weeks working undercover in a "job experience placement" for British publishing firm Picador n 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 and in Rob Marshall's Best Picture winning film Chicago opposite Catherine Zeta Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, and John C. Reilly. Zellweger earned her second Academy Award nomination as Best Actress, as well as the Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Award. In 2004, Zellweger finally 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' Diary in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, lent her voice to the animated feature Shark Tale, and starred in the 2005 Ron Howard film Cinderella Man opposite Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti. Her most recent film is Miss Potter, based on the life story of acclaimed author Beatrix Potter, with Emily Watson and Ewan McGregor, released in January 2007.Zellweger, together with Marc Forster, took part in the 2005 HIV prevention campaign of the Swiss federal health department.Zellweger was the subject of an Israeli pop song Renée by Ariel Horowitz, where Horowitz describes his love to Zellweger, and says he'd like to marry her and bring her back to Israel with him.
On May 24, 2005, Zellweger received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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Personal life

She dated Sims Ellison while studying at the University of Texas, but the couple broke up after graduation.She also dated Josh Pate, whom she began seeing in November 1996 after the filming of "Deceiver."Rumoured to have dated George Clooney,her first high-profile romance was with actor/comedian Jim Carrey. The relationship ended in a broken engagement in December 2000. Zellweger notably poked fun at the prior relationship when she ended her opening monologue on Saturday Night Live by reading an entry from her own "diary", marked "Dear Diary, I can't believe I am dating Jim Carrey."
She dated for two years The White Stripes singer Jack White, who is six years her junior. However, it was felt that White didn't want to settle down, and they broke up.On May 9, 2005, Zellweger married singer Kenny Chesney in a ceremony at the island of St. John. They had met in January at a tsunami relief benefit concert. Zellweger missed out on the engagement ring since the wedding was planned over a short span of time.On September 15, 2005, after only four months of marriage, they announced their plans for an annulment. Zellweger cited fraud as the reason in the related papers.After media scrutiny of her use of the word "fraud", she released the following statement: "(The term is) simply legal language and not a reflection of Kenny's character. I would personally be very grateful for your support in refraining from drawing derogatory, hurtful, sensationalized or untrue conclusions. We hope to experience this transition as privately as possible." The annulment was finalized in late December 2005. When interviewed on Late Show with David Letterman in December 2006, she was still reluctant to answer questions over the relationship.Since her marriage annulment, she been linked to various personalities, including actor Luke Perry of Beverly Hills, 90210 fame.Zellwegger sold her home in the Hollywood Hills,and after renting for a while although she now again owns a home in Bel Air, admits that she gets scared at home alone, and has considered buying a gun for reasons of personal security.

Filmography

  1. Murder in the Heartland (1993)
  2. My Boyfriend's Back (1993)
  3. 8 Seconds (1994)
  4. Love and a .45 (1994)
  5. exas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)
  6. Shake, Rattle and Rock! (1994)
  7. Empire Records (1995)
  8. The Low Life (1995)
  9. The Whole Wide World (1996)
  10. Jerry Maguire (1996)
  11. Deceiver (1997)
  12. A Price Above Rubies (1998)
  13. One True Thing (1998)
  14. The Bachelor (1999)
  15. Nurse Betty (2000)
  16. Me, Myself & Irene (2000)
  17. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
  18. White Oleander (2002)
  19. Chicago (2002)
  20. Down with Love (2003)
  21. Cold Mountain (2003)
  22. Shark Tale (2004) (voice)
  23. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)
  24. Cinderella Man (2005)
  25. Miss Potter (2006)
  26. Bee Movie (2007)
  27. Case 39 (2008)

 

 

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