Renee Kathleen Zellweger

Renee Kathleen Zellweger, was born in Katy, Texas on April 25, 1969. Her mother Kjellfrid (Andreassen), is a former midwife and nurse from Norway, Kven (Finnish), and also has Swedish as well as Norwegian descent. Her father, Emil Erich Zellweger, is an engineer from Switzerland. They got married in 1963. Drew Zellweger is Renee's brother, and he was born on February 15, 1967. Renee was a part of the drama group at high school when she began to become fascinated by acting. In Austin she also took an acting class and began to explore acting as a career. After graduating, she wanted to continue acting, but Hollywood is a tough city to get into, so Renee decided to stay in Texas and auditioned for roles around Houston where she was able to land roles in films such as Reality Bites (1994) and Empire Records (1995). Matthew McConaughey (another Hollywood rising star) was her pal while she was working on the set of Texas Chainsaw Massacre II: The Next Generation (1994). McConaughey was working on a project at the time which Renee was intrigued by. She tried out for, and got the role in the movie Love and a .45 (1994) and earned her enough critical praise that she decided to relocate to Los Angeles. Then, she was offered a part in The Whole Wide World (1996) and it gave her the biggest break of her career. Cameron Crowe was busy casting his next film which was Jerry Maguire (1996),starring Tom Cruise. Crowe was thinking about the actresses Bridget Fonda (Camden Diaz), Winona Ryder (Winona Ryder), and Marisa Tomei. Then he was able to see Zellweger's performance from The Whole Wide World (1996). He auditioned Zellweger and was confident that the actress was his Dorothy Boyd. Renee continued her success with a few small independent films. After receiving more praise from critics She was confident enough to reenter the realm of large-budget Hollywood films. She was a co-star with Meryl Streep in the tear-jerker One True Thing (1998). She also played a part in Me, Myself & Irene (2000) with Jim Carrey, and soon after began dating Carrey. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) was her first film in the main role.