Renée Zellweger Trivia | 40 facts about the famous actress

Renée Zellweger is an American actress. She’s the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards and two British Academy Film Awards.

Let’s find out more about the actress!

1. With no dance or voice training, she learned how to perform for Chicago (2002) by watching co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones. She endured a grueling training regime of vocal coaching and dance training for 10 months to rise to professional standards.
2. Worked as a cocktail waitress in a strip club while trying to catch her “big break” in acting.
3. Engaged to Jim Carrey from July 2000 to December 2000.
4. Prior to the filming of Chicago (2002), Renee had only sung previously in public in the last scene of Empire Records πανδαιμόνιο (1995) and in the comical karaoke scene in Bridget Jone’s Diary (2001). However, critics were amazed how good her voice was in the movie.
5. She became the first performer to win two individual (excluding best acting ensemble) SAG Awards in film categories.
6. Attended and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin (1991), majored in English.
7. Gained 20 pounds for her role in Bridget Jone’s Diary (2001).
8. Was in the bathroom when this was announced that she won the Golden Globe for her role in Nurse Betty (2000).
9. Becomes the 7th actress to win both leading and supporting actress Oscars. The other 6 are: Helen Hayes, Cate Blanchett, Maggie Smith, Ingrid Bergman, Jessica Lange and Meryl Streep.
10. Friends with Reese Witherspoon, and Nicole Kidman.
11. Inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame on March 10, 2011 in Austin, Texas.
12. Renée’s parents met on a boat when her father was crossing to the U.S. Renée’s father, Emil Erich Zellweger, was born in Switzerland, and lived in a village called Au, in the canton of St. Gallen. Right after World War II, he and his parents moved to Australia and then to the U.S. Renée’s mother, Kjellfrid Irene (Andreassen), was born in Norway, to Ove Magnar Ingolf Andreassen and Bjørga Johanna Hildonen, and has Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, and possible Sami ancestry. The Sami are a minority originating mainly from the northern parts of the Scandinavian peninsula often referred to as Lappland.
13. Is one of 13 actresses to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics’ Choice Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance.
14. Purchased a four bedroom house in the Pacific Palisades community in California at $4 million with boyfriend Bradley Cooper. (December 2009)
15. First on-screen kiss was with Ethan Hawke in Reality Bites (1994).
16. Was voted ‘Dream Date’ of her class before she graduated from high school in 1987.
17. Met her future husband Kenny Chesney at a tsunami relief benefit in January 2005.
18. Was originally chosen to portray Carla in Nine (2009) but Penélope Cruz, who went on to receive a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.
19. She visited Argentina in 1996 to promote the film The Whole Wide World (1996) with Vincent D’Onofrio at the Mar del Plata Film Festival, where she won the Best Actress Award for this film.
20. Was considered for the role of Satine in Moulin Rouge (2001) but Nicole Kidman, who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.
21. She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on May 24, 2005.
22. (March 26, 2011) Was in attendance at the wedding of Reese Witherspoon to Jim Toth.
23. Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World (2001).
24. Is one of 11 actresses to have won a Best Actress Oscar for a movie in which they sing in character, hers being for Judy (2019).
25. She was a part of the Katy High School Bengal Brigade and Cheerleaders.
26. Her wedding ceremony lasted 15 minutes.
27. Is accompanied to many award shows and other functions by her long time agent John Carrabino.
28. Is a huge fan of Chelsea FC (England soccer club).
29. Married country singer Kenny Chesney on the resort island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
30. Honored as Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year for 2009 on February 5, 2009.
31. Her father’s family comes from Au in canton St. Gallen/Switzerland. This is just a few minutes away from Rorschach where Emil Jannings was born, the very first actor to receive the Academy Award for Best Actor.
32. She wore a gown designed by her favorite designer, Carolina Adriana Herrera, for her wedding to Kenny Chesney.
33. In 2004, she accepted the Screen Actors Guild Award for “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role” on behalf of Johnny Depp, who was not present at the awards ceremony.
34. December 4, 1993 is a date Renée remembers clearly as the day she moved to Hollywood at age 24.
35. Dyed her hair brown for her role in Cinderella Man (2005).
36. Was the 124th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Cold Mountain (2003) at The 76th Annual Academy Awards (2004) on February 29, 2004.
37. She had “a couple of lines” as a beauty shop customer in My Boyfriend’s Back (1993) but the scene was cut.
38. Named one of E!’s “top 20 entertainers of 2001”.
39. Was considered for the role of Jessica Kimble in Jason goes to hell(1993), which went to Kari Keegan.
40. Is one of 27 actresses to have received an Academy Award nomination for their performance in a musical; hers being Chicago (2002).