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.
