Reese Witherspoon is an actress who is just as comfortable with dramatic roles as with comedy - and it’s dram to which she returns to this week with Water For Elephants.
Water For Elephants is the big screen adaptation of the Sara Gruen novel and also stars Robert Pattinson and fellow Oscar winner Christoph Waltz.
So with Witherspoon back on the big screen we take a look at some of her best roles over the years.
Cruel Intentions
1999 proved to be the breakthrough year for the actress as she starred alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe in a modern day remake of Dangerous Liaisons.
Directed by Roger Kumble the movie follows Kathryn who makes a bet that her step-brother, Sebastian, won't be able to bed Annette (a virgin, who wants to wait until love).
If he loses, Kathryn gets his Jaguar, if he wins, he gets Kathryn.
The movie went on to gross in excess of $75 million worldwide - easily making back it’s $11 million budget.
The film has gone on to gain cult like status and in the cast of Witherspoon a star was born.
Election
Election brought Witherspoon her first critical acclaim as she starred alongside Matthew Broderick in an adaptation of the 1998 novel by Tom Perrotta.
A high school teacher's personal life becomes complicated as he works with students during the school elections.
Witherspoon’s performance as Tracy Flick brought her Best Actress Awards from the National Society of Film Critics and the Online Film Critics Society - she also picked up her first Golden Globe nomination.
Legally Blonde
By 2001 Witherspoon had gained both cult and critical success with some of her early work but Legally Blonde was a turning point in her career as she gained worldwide recognition.
The role of Elle Woods perhaps remains Witherspoon’s most famous as she tackled comedy with great aplomb - showing that she was quite a natural.
When a blonde sorority queen is dumped by her boyfriend, she decides to follow him to law school to get him back and, once there, learns she has more legal savvy than she ever imagined.
Legally Blonde was both a critical and commercial hit and Witherspoon picked up another Golden Globe nomination.
She went on to reprise the role of Elle Woods two years later in Legally Blonde 2.
Walk the Line
While Legally Blonde may be the performance that Witherspoon is mostly associated it’s Walk The Line that was her greatest triumph.
The role of June Carter back in 2005 raised Witherspoon to a whole other level in her career as she starred alongside Joaquin Phoenix in the biopic of singer Johnny Cash.
Directed by James Mangold the movie was a chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.
Witherspoon’s central performance as Carter brought her critical acclaim as she went on to win the Best Actress Oscar - one of just many awards that she picked up that year.
Rendition
Rendition, which was released back in 2007, was the last time that we saw the Oscar winner take on a dramatic role - starring in a string of comedies since.
A CIA analyst questions his assignment after witnessing an unorthodox interrogation at a secret detention facility outside the US.
Rendition was one of a series of war on terror movies that were released in the late noughties and was directed by Gavin Hood.
The movie produced a powerful performance from Witherspoon who desperately tries to find out what has happened to her husband.
Water For Elephants is out now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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