Reese Witherspoon

Laura Jean Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress perhaps most familiar as Elle Woods in the film Legally Blonde (2001) and its sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde (2003).

Laura Jean Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress perhaps most familiar as Elle Woods in the film Legally Blonde (2001) and its sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde (2003).

Witherspoon was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to John Witherspoon (a surgeon) and Betty Reese (a nurse and college professor); Reese is a direct descendant of Scottish-born John Witherspoon, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and founder of Princeton University, who was also a Presbyterian minister. As her father was working for the US military in Wiesbaden, Germany, Reese lived as a small child for four years in Germany. After returning to the United States, Reese spent much of her childhood and adolescence in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. She has an older brother named John, who works as a real estate broker. After graduating high school from Nashville's prestigious Harpeth Hall School, she attended Stanford University as a literature major. After completing a year of her studies, Reese left Stanford to pursue her acting career.