Renee Zellweger Biography

She is and shall always be beloved for her Jerry Maguire tagline Shut up!...You had me at hello and for her role as the slightly overweight-prone, accident-prone, love life mishap-prone Bridget Jones.Academy Award-winning actress Renee Zellweger was born on April 25, 1969 in Katy, Texas to Emil Eric Zellweger (Swiss) and Kjellfrid Iren Andreassen (Norwegian). After high school, where she was a gymnast, cheerleader and drama club member, Renee majored in English at the University of Texas, where she took a drama course, and worked part time as a waitress to make ends meet while attending school.After graduation, Renee determined that her love for acting was strong enough to pursue it as a career, so she moved to Los Angeles. Her film debut was an uncredited role in My Boyfriend's Back (1993), starring Andrew Lowery and Traci Lind. Afterward, she appeared in supporting roles in several films in the earlier 1990s, including Dazed and Confused (1993); Reality Bites (1994), starring Ethan Hawke, Winona Ryder, Ben Stiller, Steve Zahn and Janeane Garofalo; 8 Seconds (1994); Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1994), a teen horror flick in which she played opposite Matthew McConaughey; and Empire Records (1995), which featured actors such as Liv Tyler and Ethan Embry.But nobody really knew who Zellweger was until she starred opposite Tom Cruise in 1996's Jerry Maguire, a role that garnered her critical acclaim around the world. After Jerry, Renee went on to star in such films as One True Thing (with William Hurt and Meryl Streep) in 1998; The Bachelor (1999) opposite Chris O Donnell; Me, Myself Irene with Jim Carrey in 2000; and Nurse Betty (2000) with Morgan Freeman a role that gave her three Golden Globe Awards.Although her role in Jerry is touted as her breakthrough role, playing Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones's Diary in 2001 with Colin Firth and Hugh Grant is what Renee is really renowned and famous for. She reportedly put on 25 pounds to play the slightly chubby, unlucky-in-love self-reported spinster. For her role, Renee garnered her first nomination for Best Actress Academy Award. The follow-up sequel three years later was not as successful as the original, but Renee's charm in Bridget was there nonetheless.Since then, Renee has starred in many big-name films like 2002's Chicago, with Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta Jones, for which she earned another Academy Award nomination (Best Actress) and a Golden Globe Award and the Screen Actors Guild. She also appeared in Down with Love (with Ewan McGregor) and Cold Mountain (with Jude Law and Nicole Kidman) in 2003, for which she won an Academy Award (Best Supporting Actress). Afterwards, she starred in Cinderella Man (2005) with Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti.Renee received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 24, 2005.She was married to singer Kenny Chesney in May 2005 and a few months later they announced an annulment, which was finalized in December. Renee had previously dated Canadian funnyman, Jim Carrey.

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