Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon was born in New Orleans but primarily grew up in Nashville. She started appearing in television commercials at the age of 7 and scored her debut film role in 1991’s Man on the Moon. Witherspoon went on to attend Stanford University but left after her first year to pursue a career in Hollywood.

Witherspoon made her breakthrough performance in the 1999 drama Cruel Intentions, marrying her costar Ryan Phillippe that same year. The pair welcomed two children together, Ava in 1999 and Deacon in 2003, but they called it quits in 2006. Their divorce was finalized two years later.

Following the end of her marriage, Witherspoon began dating Rendition costar Jake Gyllenhaal until their split in 2009. She moved on with talent agent Jim Toth in January 2010, and the couple tied the knot in March 2011. They welcomed a son, Tennessee, in September 2012. Witherspoon and Toth split in March 2023 after nearly 12 years of marriage, finalizing their divorce in August 2023.

Witherspoon gained worldwide recognition after starring as Elle Woods in the 2001 film Legally Blonde and earned the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in 2005’s Walk the Line. Witherspoon founded her own production company in 2012 with the intention of producing projects with strong female leads. Through Pacific Standard, which later became part of her brand Hello Sunshine, Witherspoon produced the 2014 films Gone Girl and Wild, starring in the latter.

Witherspoon produced and starred in the HBO miniseries Big Little Lies in 2017, later returning to the small screen in the Apple TV+ drama The Morning Show alongside Jennifer Aniston in 2019. Witherspoon has established herself as a producing powerhouse, founding Hello Sunshine in 2016 and being named the world’s highest earning actress by Forbes in 2021. Many of her screen adaptations come from her Reese’s Book Club picks, from Little Fires Everywhere and Daisy Jones & the Six to Where the Crawdads Sing.