Whether she’s playing Bridget Jones—the prototypical Frazzled Englishwoman™—or Chicago’s scintillating Roxie Hart, the soft-spoken Beatrix Potter or a spiralling Judy Garland, Renée Zellweger always, at least to some extent, feels like herself on screen: there’s a certain endearing sweetness to all her creations, as well as a quietly tough scrappiness and a sometimes bumbling, highly relatable vulnerability that has made audiences consistently fall head over heels for her over the past three decades.
Now, as the Texas-born two-time Oscar winner returns to embody her most beloved character as she navigates dating in her 50s in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, we revisit Renée Zellweger’s eight most memorable performances to date.
Empire Records (1995)
Watch Allan Moyle’s record shop-set romp for the stellar soundtrack, irresistible ’90s fashion, and a luminous young Liv Tyler, but also an equally radiant, 26-year-old Zellweger as her razor-sharp, vivacious best friend. Her climactic blowout is really something to behold—and put her firmly on the map for critics and audiences alike.
Jerry Maguire (1996)
Then came the phenomenon that was Cameron Crowe’s Tom Cruise-fronted sports saga, which saw Zellweger play his endlessly supportive partner, a role that catapulted her to stardom and resulted in a SAG nomination as well as a win at the Critics Choice Awards for breakthrough artist. With her expert comic timing, effortless charm, and a fascinating steeliness underneath her gentle, girl-next-door effervescence, she had us at hello.
Nurse Betty (2000)
A Golden Globe for best mctress in a motion picture: musical or comedy came her way soon after for Neil LaBute’s quirky, pitch-black comedy, which cast her as a resourceful and eternally optimistic diner waitress who witnesses a horrific crime, enters a fugue state, impersonates a nurse from her favorite soap opera, and pursues her on-screen crush. Chaos ensues, but it all works because of Zellweger’s charisma and wholehearted commitment.
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
Oh, Bridge. After almost a quarter of a century and a flurry of increasingly unhinged sequels, it seems that the world will never get enough of the quippy, vodka-downing, chain-smoking, delightfully hapless everywoman, with the delicious franchise’s latest installment, helmed by Michael Morris, finding Bridget balancing her new life as a widowed single mother with a crush on her children’s teacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and a fling with a dashing younger man (Leo Woodall). Bring it on.
Chicago (2002)
Alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones’s vampy, long-legged Velma Kelly and Richard Gere’s oily, tap-dancing lawyer Billy Flynn, Zellweger dazzled as the syrupy sweet and gleefully venomous Roxie Hart in Rob Marshall’s lavish rendering of the classic musical. She belts big numbers, nails her choreography, and rightfully collected yet another Golden Globe and two SAG Awards, as well as Oscar and BAFTA nominations.
Cold Mountain (2003)
That Oscar—not to mention a BAFTA, and a third Golden Globe and SAG Award—finally came with Zellweger’s scene-stealing supporting part in Anthony Minghella’s sweeping period piece, as a no-nonsense, wild-haired, thick-Southern-accented farmer who comes to the aid of Nicole Kidman’s fragile landowner during the Civil War. Fleet-footed, fast-talking, and furious about the state of the world, she’s a total force of nature.
Miss Potter (2006)
As literary legend Beatrix Potter in Chris Noonan’s charming biopic, Zellweger adopted puff-sleeved Victorian blouses, bowler hats, and a cut-glass British accent, portraying the ingenious writer and illustrator’s rise from ambitious amateur to revered bestseller. She’s delicate but formidable, eccentric but clear-eyed—and the performance earned her a sixth Golden Globe nod.
Judy (2019)
Following a six-year hiatus from acting, Zellweger returned to the limelight in extraordinary fashion: as the barnstorming lead in Rupert Goold’s shimmering account of Judy Garland’s final years, as she relocated to London in an attempt to revive her then-floundering career. Capturing the silver screen goddess’s joys and heartache, her immense talent and crippling anxiety, she’s simply masterful. No wonder, then, that she was once again rewarded with an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, SAG, and Critics Choice Award. Long may the Renée-sance continue.
