My Favorite things about Renée Zellweger
My Favorite Web Sites
Renée's website
Down With Love
Movie Listing + overview of movie
More on Renée
Very Good Renée Website
Cold Mountain
Fan Fiction Stories about Renée's caracter Bridget Jones
Renée Zellweger fan site
Shark Tale
Oscar interview (video)
Renée Zellweger Biography Renée Kathleen Zellweger was born 25 April 1969, in Katy, Texas, a small town outside Houston, to Emil Zellweger, a Swiss-born engineer and Kjellfrid Zellweger, a Norwegian-born former nurse and midwife. The town was so small that there was no local movie theater, nor cable television. She discovered her interest in acting at high school in the drama club. Renée didn’t see her first art film until she was enrolled in college. “I have European parents”, says Zellweger… “so we never did the all-American moviegoing kind of thing.” [Los Angeles Times] Renée and her older brother of two years, Andrew (nickname Drew) are the first Zellwegers in their family to be born in America; so don’t ask her to change her last name into something more pronounceable. Zellweger (pronounced ZELL-wegg-er) is a challenge to say, but to Renée’s friends, she’s known as Renée Z., Zelly or just “Z”. Attending Katy High School, Renée was member of the Thespian Society, the Drama Club (acted in several school productions); and was active on the track team, basketball team, was a football cheerleader, a KHS Homecoming Queen nominee in her Senior Year, and in her spare time she practiced gymnastics. Having hopes of going to the Olympics, Renée became an athlete in track and gymnastics until the age of 19 when she discovered her vision of “Olympic Glory” would never happen. After graduating from high school in 1987, Renée moved from her hometown of Katy to Austin, Texas. She earned a living in Austin working as a waitress at “Sugar’s”, a popular Austin topless bar (though she herself was not topless) while attending the University of Texas, first majoring in journalism, then in English. Renée lived in an off campus dorm in Dobie Mall in her freshman year, she them moved to an apartment in her junior year. An excellent student (she made the Dean's List several times), Renée took a drama class only because she needed a fine arts credit to complete her degree. Her participation in drama while in college turned out to be much more than a requirement: “So I took it, and I remembered that I loved acting, that it wasn’t just a part of my adolescence. It’s part of who I am.” [The Dallas Morning News]. She acted in a few school theatre productions and found herself driving her red Honda Accord to Dallas to audition for film parts. She worked on a few local commercials for beer companies and fast food restaurants. In 1988, Renée got herself a pet, a dog she named Dylan, after the singer. She was Labrador/collie mix and Renée gave Dylan a variety of nicknames such as Woof, Woofro and Woofer. Woof was Renée's best buddy for the next 15 years! Renée didn't plan on becoming an actress but, by the time she graduated from college, pursuing a career in acting had become a real goal. Post graduation, Renée remained in Texas until she felt ready to break into Hollywood. She began auditioning for commercials and films that were being shot in Texas. It didn't take long to get her first film roles in My Boyfriend's Back (1993) and Reality Bites (1994). Though the roles she landed were bit-parts, the films did well and co-starred respectable actors such as Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Matthew McConaughey. An unaccredited role in 1993's Dazed and Confused as a high school senior was her first film role (it was a Cameo she only walked in frount of the camera and u didn't see her face.That was followed by a role in The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (released in 1997). It was on the set of Chainsaw that Renée heard about another film that was in the midst of casting actors. As fate would have it, Renée auditioned for and got the lead. The film was Love and a .45, a film for which Renée received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance. Meanwhile, Renée appeared in other films such as The Low Life, 8 Seconds, Reality Bites, and Empire Records(she played Gina), but it was her starring role in The Whole Wide World which won her praise at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, and led to her breakthrough role in Cameron Crowe's hit Jerry Maguire. Cameron Crowe was so impressed with her work in The Whole Wide World that he knew Renée would be the perfect choice to play the gal-pal of sports agent Tom Cruise who had been just been dumped by his crazed girlfriend Avery portrayed by Kelly Preston. Renée beat out several better known actresses Bridget Fonda, Cameron Diaz and Mira Sorvino for the part. Her role in Jerry Maguire earned her many awards and a lot of recognition, including a Screen Actor's Guild Nomination for Best Supporting Actress, as well as being named Entertainment Weekly's Best New Movie Actress.Jerry Maguire was a real help to Renée. After Jerry Maguire, Renée starred in the smaller films Deceiver and A Price Above Rubies, in which she played a Hasidic Jew. In 1998, she moved onto a more mainstream film, One True Thing, a tearjerker also starring Oscar winners Meryl Streep and William Hurt. The following year, Renée joined Chris O'Donnell in The Bachelor. Renée also landed the title role in the film Bridget Jones' Diary, beating out popular British actresses to play the role of a single British woman in her 30s, who is overweight and a sex goddess Then Zellweger first opted to essay a supporting role as a foster mother in the film adaptation of the bestseller "White Oleander". Then she tackled an even greater challenge, singing and dancing in the film musical "Chicago" ( Christmas 2002), adapted from the hit Broadway show. Cast as Roxie Hart, a woman who murders her lover and then dreams of a career as a vaudeville headliner, the actress again proved her detractors wrong, offering a surprising, razor-sharp performance and demonstrating a breathy, but pleasant singing voice, once again snaring a wealth of awards buzz, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. A modern Doris Day film opposite Ewan McGregor in the romantic comedy "Down With Love" (May 2003), where she played Barbra Novak Nicole Kidman was her co-star in "Cold Mountain", she played the character Ruby (Christmas 2003) and she received a Golden Globe Award and a long deserved "OSCAR" for "Best Supporting Actress"! Now she is going to provide the voice to a fish "Angie" in the animated feature "Shark Tale." Also She decided to take on her role as Bridget Jones for the sequel "The Edge of Reason" which finished filming in February 2004. Upcoming projects include "Cinderella Man" and the Janis Joplin biopic "Piece of My Heart", both scheduled for release in 2004. Renée's dog Dylan was born in 1988 and lived till 2003. Dylan went everywhere with Renée. A magazine even said that she refused to do a movie because they said her dog couldn't come with her (The magazine may not be right). Movies Cinderella Man (2005) Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) Shark Tale (2004) Cold Mountain (2003) Down with Love (2003) Chicago (2002) White Oleander (2002) Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) Me, Myself & Irene (2000) Nurse Betty (2000) The Bachelor (1999) One True Thing (1998) A Price Above Rubies (1998) Deceiver (1997) Jerry Maguire (1996) The Whole Wide World (1996) Empire Records (1995) The Low Life (1995) Love & a .45 (1994) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994) Dazed and Confused (1993) Reality Bites (1993) Dazed and Confused (1993) Thank you for visiting my page at Angelfire. Please come back and visit again! 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