Renée Zellweger was born in Katy, Texas. She studied journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, but her favorite part was acting classes. She made her film debut in the early 1990s in several low-budget productions. She also appeared in an episode in Richard Linklater's “The Schoolboy Party” (1993).
She played her first leading role in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.” It was about four teenagers who are involved in a road accident after prom. This is how they end up in a cottage inhabited by a family with wicked food preferences. She was accompanied on screen by Matthew McConaughey. Although the film failed to draw crowds and was panned by critics, some pointed out that Zellweger performed very well as the new “Scream Queen”.
The performance that introduced her to the Hollywood “first league” was the role alongside Tom Cruise in the now cult film “Jerry Maguire” by Cameron Crowe (1996). For it, she won a Blocbuster Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy. As she recalled in an interview for the Guardian, Cruise personally opted for her involvement. He later stated that her performance “revealed the core humanity of the film”.
In 2000, Zellweger achieved commercial success with the comedy “Me, Irene and Me” by the Farrelly brothers. She played the role of a woman who becomes uncomfortable for her former partner, a dangerous criminal. Her protection is provided by a cheerful and good-natured policeman played by Jim Carrey. The problem is that the man suffers from schizophrenia, and sometimes his body is taken over by another personality – vulgar, wicked and insolent.
Zellweger and Carrey, who met while working on the film, were a couple for a year. Their relationship began some time after filming ended. “It was an unexpected, wonderful thing,” the actress said in an interview with “Entertainment Weekly.” “We hadn't seen each other for several months since we finished working on the film, we hadn't even talked to each other. But I felt his absence very much. I was like, 'Wow, I really miss him.'” In a 2020 interview with Howard Stern, Carrey called her “the great love of his life.”
In 2000, Zellweger was also noticed by critics and prestigious awards bodies thanks to the black comedy “Nurse Betty”. She played the role of a woman who witnesses the brutal murder of her husband. She suffers a nervous breakdown, after which she begins to believe that she is the wife of the hero of a popular soap opera. Zellweger received her first Golden Globe for this performance. The actress almost didn't receive her award. When Hugh Grant read her name from the stage, she was in the bathroom. Fortunately, the “Four Weddings and a Funeral” star prolonged the moment until the actress returned. “I have lipstick on my teeth,” she laughed at her haste.
The role that provided the actress with recognition and lifelong fame was the role of Bridget Jones in the film adaptation of Helen Fielding's novel. The first part of “Diary…” (2001) was a commercial success and also brought Zellweger her first Oscar nomination. Three years later, she returned to the famous character in the sequel titled “The Edge of Reason” (2004), which also enjoyed great success. It's hard to believe that when her casting was announced, fans of the novel were not happy. They pointed out that Zellweger had a perfect figure, was not British and did not smoke. Today it's hard to imagine anyone else in this role.
She confirmed her position as one of the best and most versatile actresses of her generation with her performance in the musical “Chicago” by Rob Marshall. The film was awarded an Oscar for best production in 2003. Zellweger received her second nomination for a gold statuette for it. She again had to settle for a consolation prize in the form of a Golden Globe.
She won the coveted Oscar (and her third Golden Globe) only for her supporting role in Anthony Minghella's “Height of Hope” (2003). She played the role of a simple and resourceful woman who helps the main character work on a farm during the Civil War.
When her subsequent projects did not achieve the success that the actress had accustomed her fans to, in 2010 she decided to take a six-year break from acting. She returned to the profession in 2016 on the occasion of the third part of the adventures of “Bridget Jones”.
In the meantime, the most talked about photo session for “Elle” magazine in 2014, in which the actress appeared. Many people commented that Zellweger didn't look like his former self in them. The phenomenon of her new face absorbed world public opinion, everyone wrote and talked about her.
In response to the wave of criticism, Zellweger denied that she had undergone any plastic surgery. She even issued a statement that people change with age and that her appearance is “the result of a happier, healthier, calmer and more creative life.” Both the audience and journalists did not believe these assurances.
Since returning to acting, Zellweger has appeared in the films: “In the Name of Truth” (2016), “Equally Different” (2017) and the musical romance “Blue Night”, but none of these productions, despite the star cast, were successful.
The breakthrough came in 2019. The actress played the title role in the film “Judy”, which is a biography of the Hollywood star Judy Garland. She received a number of awards for it, including her second Oscar and fourth Golden Globe. After this success… she disappeared again. At least from the big screens. In 2022, she appeared in the NBC miniseries “All About Pam”, which, however, went unnoticed. In turn, in 2025, he will play Bridget Jones for the fourth time.