Date of birth (location)
25 April 1969
Katy, Texas, USA
Mini biography
Renée Kathleen Zellweger was born on April 25, 1969, in Katy, Texas, USA to
parents Emil Zellweiger, a Swiss-born engineer who married Renée's mother
Kjellfrid Zellweiger, a Norwegian-born former nurse and midwife in 1963. Renée
also has a brother named Drew Zellweiger, a marketing executive born on February
15, 1967. Renée got interested in acting in high school while working on the
drama club. She also took an acting class at the University of Texas, where she
began looking towards acting as a career. After graduation, she wanted to
continue acting, but Hollywood is a tough town to break into. So Renée decided
to stay in Texas, and auditioned for roles around Houston where she managed to
grab roles in such films as Reality Bites (1994) and Empire Records (1995). She
then took a role in the sequel to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where she met
Matthew McConaughey, another Hollywood up-and-comer. He was working on a project
at the time that reneee was interested in, auditioned for and won the role in the
film Love and a .45 (1994), which earned her enough critical praise that she
decided to move to Los Angeles. Another role in Whole Wide World, The (1996)
followed which led to her big break. Cameron Crowe was busy casting his next
film, Jerry Maguire (1996), starring Tom Cruise. Crowe was considering such
actresses as Cameron Diaz, Bridget Fonda, Winona Ryder, and Marisa Tomei, when
he heard of Zellweger's performance in Whole Wide World, The (1996). He
auditioned Zellweger and was sure he'd found his Dorothy Boyd. Renée followed
her huge success with a few small independent films and after receiving further
critical praise, she felt confident enough to reenter the world of big-budget
Hollywood films. She starred opposite Meryl Streep in the tear-jerker One True
Thing (1998). She also took a role in Me, Myself & Irenee (2000), opposite Jim
Carrey. And soon after began dating Carrey. The two denied their relationship at
first, but finally gave in and admitted their love; but today they are no longer
together. Also in 2000 she starred in the title role in Nurse Betty (2000),
where she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical. In 2001, she
received even more critical and commercial success in the yet again title role
in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001).
