Renee Zellweger has now won twice at the Academy Awards. Her first victory was for Best Supporting Actress in “Cold Mountain” (2003) and then 16 years later as Best Actress victory for “Judy” (2019). Where does the Judy Garland biopic fall in with the rest of her filmography? Tour through our photo gallery of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.
The Texas-born actress began her career in commercials and bit parts in films like “Dazed and Confused” and “Reality Bites” plus lead roles in less than acclaimed films such as one of the many Texas Chainsaw Massacre films. She managed to turn that career trajectory around and earned three consecutive Oscar nominations in 2001, 2002 and 2003 for “Bridget Jones’ Diary,” “Chicago,” and “Cold Mountain” respectively. She would win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for that latter Civil War drama.
In retrospect and even before that, it was winning the lead in the film “Jerry Maguire” opposite Tom Cruise over many more famous actresses that set Zellweger on the path to stardom. She seemed to have a knack for securing roles that on paper she didn’t seem right for. Her casting as the popular British fiction character Bridget Jones caused doubters to wonder if the American actress could pull off such a uniquely British role, but she won over the British public and press, making the film one of the all-time top grossers in the United Kingdom.
She faced similar doubts when she was cast in the lead in “Chicago” opposite an experienced dancer and singer like Catherine Zeta-Jones. She managed to hold her own and proved a wise choice by director Rob Marshall since she brought a sly vulnerability to the role that had been played by many much more experienced dancers and singers for many years on Broadway.
The same was certainly true of “Judy,” which tasked her with slipping into the ruby red slippers of troubled movie star and performing powerhouse Garland. Her latest gamble payed off with a second Oscar victory, plus wins at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice, SAG and BAFTA.
Enjoy our photo gallery above featuring Zellweger’s 15 greatest film performances, and see where your favorite ranks.
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15. LOVE AND A .45 (1994)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Trimark Pictures Director and writer: C.M. Talkington. Starring Gil Bellows, Ann Wedgeworth, Peter Fonda.
Zellweger first gained attention for this small independent film for which she earned an Independent Spirt Award nomination for Best Debut Performance. (She famously said she almost wasn’t able to attend the ceremony since she couldn’t find a co-worker to cover her bartending shift.) Zellweger plays the fiancée of a small-time criminal who joins him on his escape to Mexico.
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14. THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD (1996)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Director: Dan Ireland. Writer: Michael Scott Myers. Starring Vincent D’Onofrio, Ann Wedgeworth, Harve Presnell.
Zellweger received a Best Actress nomination at the Independent Spirit Awards for this biopic about Novalyne Price, a young school teacher who aspires to be a professional writer. She meets Vincent D’Onofrio (who also gained some awards attention from critic’s groups) who plays a successful writer who writes stories for the “Conan, The Barbarian” series. The two begin a romance but face a rocky road in their relationship.
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13. ME, MYSELF AND IRENE (2000)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Directors: Peter and Bobby Farrelly. Writers: Peter Farrelly, Mike Cerrone, Bobby Farrelly. Starring Jim Carrey, Chris Cooper, Richard Jenkins.
Zellweger plays a woman accused of involvement in a hit and run accident who insists she is being framed by a mobster boyfriend. She is assigned to be escorted across the country by a police officer played by Jim Carrey who suffers from dissociative identity disorder or what is more commonly referred to as a split personality. Zellweger never knows who she is dealing with as Carrey’s personality fluctuates back and forth. The film drew some complaints that it was exploiting the mentally ill.
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12. DOWN WITH LOVE (2003)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/Shutterstock Director: Peyton Reed. Writers: Eve Ahlert, Dennis Drake. Starring Ewan McGregor, Sarah Paulson, Tony Randall.
This comedy was made as a homage and in the style of the old Doris Day/Rock Hudson films of the fifties such as “Pillow Talk.” Shot in the vibrant colors of those film’s style the movie casts Zellweger in a romantic plot opposite co-star Ewan McGregor. Tony Randall makes a cameo appearance in the film as he was often a staple of those comedies of the fifties.
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11. BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON (2004)
Image Credit: Laurie Sparham/Universal/Studio Canal/Miramax/Kobal/Shutterstock Director: Beeban Kidron. Writers: Andrew Davies, Helen Fielding, Richard Curtis, Adam Brooks. Starring Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent.
The second film in the Bridget Jones series once again finds Bridget torn between her love for nice guy Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth) and her lothario boss played by Hugh Grant. Zellweger is quite funny suffering Bridget’s seemingly endless series of humiliations including a very funny moment when she is wrongly held in a Thai prison for suspected cocaine smuggling and teaches the other inmates how to sing and dance to Madonna’s song “Like a Virgin.”
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10. CINDERELLA MAN (2005)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Director: Ron Howard. Writers: Cliff Hollingsworth, Akiva Goldsman. Starring Russell Crowe, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko.
This biopic from director Ron Howard focuses on the life of world heavyweight boxing champion James J. Braddock who became a boxing champion during the Great Depression. Zellweger has a somewhat standard role as the supportive wife but the high quality of the film and work of co-stars Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti likely attracted her to the film. Crowe and Giamatti received Golden Globe nominations and SAG nominations and Giamatti received an Oscar nomination and won the SAG award.
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9. MISS POTTER (2006)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/Shutterstock Director: Chris Noonan. Writer: Richard Maltby Jr. Starring Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson, Phyllida Law.
Zellweger received a Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Golden Globe nomination for this inventive biopic of Beatrix Potter the woman who wrote “The Tale of Peter Rabbit.” The film takes us inside the mind of Potter as she struggles with life and eventually comes to the inspiration for her popular story.
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8. ONE TRUE THING (1998)
Image Credit: Eli Reed/Universal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Carl Franklin. Writer: Karen Croner. Starring Meryl Streep, William Hurt, Tom Everett Scott.
Meryl Streep stars and of course was Oscar nominated for this film about a suburban housewife dying of cancer. Streep said she made the film as a tribute to her own mother and other housewives who devoted their lives to the care of their families. Zellweger plays her daughter who steps away from her professional life to care for her mother and comes to reevaluate who she thought her mother is.
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7. WHITE OLEANDER (2002)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Director: Peter Kosminsky. Writer: Mary Agnes Donoghue. Starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Robin Wright, Alison Lohman.
“White Oleander” tells the story of a 15-year-old girl caught up in the Los Angeles foster care system after her mother is incarcerated for the murder of her boyfriend. The film follows the girl through a series of foster homes all of which have their problems. Zellweger plays a sensitive former actress who takes the girl in and bonds with her only to have their relationship ruined when the girl’s mother (Michelle Pfeiffer) insists on meeting her and cruelly manipulates Zellweger’s already fragile mental health.
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6. NURSE BETTY (2000)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Director: Neil LaBute. Writers: John C. Richards, James Flamberg. Starring Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, Greg Kinnear.
Zellweger is understatedly hilarious in this dark comedy about a woman whose drug dealing husband is viciously murdered. In shock from the trauma of the incident Zellweger begins to think she is the lead character of a soap opera she loves. She takes off for Los Angles not knowing her husband has stashed his drug supply in her car and that his murderers are in pursuit of her. Zellweger won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for the film.
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5. JERRY MAGUIRE (1996)
Image Credit: Columbia Tri Star/REX/Shutterstock Director and writer: Cameron Crowe. Starring Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Kelly Preston.
“Jerry Maguire” was the film that really thrust Zellweger into the limelight. With only a few film credits to her resume Zellweger was entrusted with the romantic female lead opposite Tom Cruise at the peak of his stardom. She plays a single mother raising a young son who devotedly follows her sports agent boss to another job after he self-destructively tries to inject more humanity into the world of sports star salary negotiations. Zellweger’s delivery of the line “You had me at hello” became a classic movie moment of the era.
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4. COLD MOUNTAIN (2003)
Image Credit: Miramax/REX/Shutterstock Director and writer: Anthony Minghella. Starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman.
Zellweger won the Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and SAG award as Best Supporting Actress for this civil war drama. In a transformational role Zellweger plays an uneducated but resourceful young woman who arrives to help a struggling woman (Nicole Kidman) take care of her home while all the men are away fighting the war. Zellweger and Kidman had been the prime contenders for the Best Actress Oscar the year before this film was released with Kidman winning for “The Hours.” Kidman later said she didn’t feel guilty winning because she had already seen what Zellweger was doing with her role in this film and knew that Zellweger would get her turn the following year.
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3. JUDY (2019)
Image Credit: Pathe Director: Rupert Goold. Writer: Tom Edge. Starring Finn Whitrock, Jessie Buckley, Rufus Sewell, Michael Gambon.
Who’d have thought Renee Zellweger would be such a dead ringer for Judy Garland? Rupert Goold’s biographical drama finds the troubled actress-singer performing to sold-out crowds in London in the winter of 1968, just months before her untimely death in 1969 at age 47. Zellweger’s uncanny embodiment brought her Best Actress victories at the Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTA, SAG and Critics Choice Awards, solidifying a career-comeback for Hollywood’s sweetheart.
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2. BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY (2001)
Image Credit: Barbra Streisand movies: All 19 films ranked from worst to best Director: Sharon Maguire. Writers: Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies, Helen Fielding. Starring Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent.
Zellweger scored a huge triumph in this role under almost unprecedented pressure. Bridget Jones was one of the most popular characters in British fiction selling huge numbers of books. When it was announced that the role would go not to a British actress but instead to the Texas born Zellweger the British press fiercely turned on the casting. Amazingly Zellweger delivered the goods and received superlative reviews and apologies from the often-brutal British press. Not only did she master the British accent Zellweger brought a deft comedic hand to the neurotic British heroine who can’t seem to find peace in her love life or professional life. A drunken Zellweger standing on a table at the company Christmas party flatly belting out the song “I Can’t Live if Living Is Without You” is just pure comedy gold.
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1. CHICAGO (2002)
Image Credit: REX/Shutterstock Director: Rob Marshall. Writer: Bill Condon. Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah.
It took 25 years for a film version to be made of the hit Broadway musical “Chicago.” Zellweger won the lead role of Roxie Hart who turns the murder of a lover into a successful show business career. The role had been played on the Broadway stage by such accomplished Bob Fosse dancers as Gwen Verdon, Liza Minelli and Ann Reinking. What was sort of miraculous about Zellweger’s achievement in the role was that she had no significant dance or singing experience prior to this film. She won a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy and the SAG Award as Best Actress in a Leading Role. She was also Oscar nominated for the part.
