Reese Witherspoon's Real Name: Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon

Quick answer: Reese Witherspoon's full name is Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon. She was born on March 22, 1976, in New Orleans, Louisiana. "Reese," the name she goes by, is one of her middle names. She won the best actress Oscar as June Carter in Walk the Line (2005) and co-founded the media company Hello Sunshine (Britannica; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

Britannica's quick facts list her "Full name" as Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon. The Library of Congress name authority files her as "Witherspoon, Reese, 1976-" and lists "Witherspoon, Laura Jeanne Reese" as a variant. Its citation reads "born Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon, March 22, 1976, New Orleans, La.; American actress, film producer, and television producer."

Britannica says her father was a U.S. Air Force doctor. The family lived in West Germany for several years before settling in Nashville, Tennessee. As a child she modeled and appeared in commercials. A book jacket quoted by LOC adds that in second grade she started a business selling hair barrettes on the playground.

Career highlights

Her film debut, playing a tomboy in The Man in the Moon (1991), drew strong reviews. After Return to Lonesome Dove (1993), she attended Stanford University briefly in 1994–95. She came back with Freeway (1996), Pleasantville (1998), and Cruel Intentions (1999), whose co-star Ryan Phillippe was her husband from 1999 to 2008. Her performance as Tracy Flick in Alexander Payne's Election (1999) won raves. She appeared in American Psycho and guest-starred on Friends as the sister of Jennifer Aniston's character.

Legally Blonde (2001), as Elle Woods, was her first big box-office hit. A sequel came in 2003, and Sweet Home Alabama (2002) was another hit. To play June Carter opposite Joaquin Phoenix's Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, she learned to sing and play the autoharp, and she won the Academy Award for best actress. Later films include Four Christmases, Water for Elephants, Mud, and Wild (2014). She had bought the rights to Wild through her company Pacific Standard, and it earned her another Oscar nomination. She also appeared in Inherent Vice and voiced a pig in Sing (2016) and its sequel.

On television, Britannica lists Big Little Lies (2017, 2019), The Morning Show (2019– ), and Little Fires Everywhere (2020). LOC notes that her company Hello Sunshine makes movies and TV shows.

Name notes for searchers

Laura is her legal first name, but she works under her middle name, Reese. Witherspoon is her family surname. LOC also lists Cyrillic forms, such as Уизерспун, Риз, for translated editions.