Biography:
Laura Jean Reese Witherspoon was born in Baton Rouge, and grew up in Nashville. Her father, John, is a surgeon and her mother, Betty, is a pediatric nurse. She has one brother, John. Reese has said that if she weren’t an actress she would've become a physician too. While growing up she went to a private girls’ school and only considered acting a hobby. Things changed in her junior and senior years of high school when she landed the lead role in a feature film The Man in the Moon. Reese suddenly found herself faxing in her homework assignments.

Reese's roles in films like Pleasantville and Jack The Bear with Danny Devito won her lots of acclaim from movie buffs and critics. However, it wasn't until the teen thriller Fear in 1996 that Reese started to be noticed by the public. The movie, which also starred Mark Wahlberg, was a hit with teens and Reese was immediately offered roles in Scream, Urban Legends and I Know What You Did Last Summer but she turned them all down. She didn't want to be labeled a "scream queen" and Reese says horror films, "aren't her cup of tea."

Reese threw herself a big bash for her 21 birthday, which included about 300 guests. One of the guests caught her eye: fellow actor Ryan Phillippe. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, Ryan was jetting off to North Carolina the very next day to film I Know What You Did Last Summer (the movie she had just turned down.) Ryan and Reese wrote each other all the time and she surprised him with a visit. The two began living together shortly after and in 1998 they got engaged. They also filmed the blockbuster hit Cruel Intentions together.

Reese and Ryan have continued their relationship and in March of 1999 they announced that Reese was pregnant. They were married June 5, 1999 and on September 9, 1999 Ava Elizabeth Phillippe was born.
Reese resumed her acting career after Ava was born and played the role of Tracey Flick in the comedy Election with Matthew Broderick. In 2001 she starred in another comedy, Legally Blonde, a surprise hit that established Reese as one of the young stars of Hollywood. This year she played the part of Cecily in the screen adaption of Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest. Her newest film Sweet Home Alabama is now out on video. Coming up next, Reese will be in the sequel to Legally Blonde, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde.