Reese Witherspoon

Tinseltown’s hottest blonde on stage fright, motherhood and how being a good ol’ Southern gal gave her an Oscar-winning edge.

Reese Witherspoon is running late. Stuck in rush-hour traffic, the actress is desperately trying to get to her hotel, where a concerned publicist is pacing up and down in the lobby. She’ll be here in 10 minutes, I’m told, so please be patient. When Witherspoon finally walks th rough the door, looking immaculate in a black dress, black stockings and high heels, the annoyance of not making our meeting on time is etched on her face.

“Let me just put my coat somewhere and we can get started right away,” she says, adjusting the dark headband holding back her blonde locks. “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting.”

Over the next 30 minutes, it becomes clear why the most sought after actress of the moment genuinely cares about punctuality. For starters, Witherspoon, who was born in Louisiana and raised in Tennessee, takes enormous pride in whatever she does and being late is, well, simply bad manners. then there’s the small matter of raising two young children while making movies and running a production company—a juggling act that has taught the star, who only turned 30 in March, not to waste a single minute.

“It’s about trying to find balance in your life,” Witherspoon tells me. “And, at the moment, it feels like I have to make a really hard decision that no one would want to make every week. For instance, while I’m here I’m missing someth ing important at my daughter’s school and that makes me feel sick inside. Still, the benefits outweigh the bad parts, and I have to th ink that I’m lucky to have these problems.”

the Oscar-winning actress has had her plate full from an early age. Her father worked as a military surgeon and moved the family from Baton Rouge to Germany, where he worked on an army base, before settling in Nashville. It was while growing up in Tennessee that Laura Jean Reese Witherspoon was bit by the showbiz bug.

“I always wanted to be Dolly Parton when I was a little girl,” she says with a broad grin. “I was just obsessed with Dolly. So, one summer, I begged my mother to send me to a camp in upstate New York where you sing, dance and act. At the end of the camp, they tell you whether you’ve got a shot. I was told I should never sing again.”

Deflated but not defeated, Witherspoon turned to acting, and by the age of 14 landed her first film role in the Man in the Moon. Bigger movies like Jack the Bear and A Far off Place soon followed but, despite early success, she put her career on hold in 1994 to attend Stanford University, majoring in English literature. Witherspoon’s love for acting was too strong, however, and by the late 1990s she was being touted as a bona fide rising star after solid performances in Fear, Freeway and Pleasantville. Off-screen the young actress struck gold as well. About nine years ago, she was introduced to fellow actor

Ryan Phillippe, who was a guest at her 21st birth day party. the two instantly fell in love and have been together ever since.

“We just have a really great relationship,” Witherspoon says. “We both have the same perspective when it comes to our careers. I th ink it’s important to realize that in this business you go up and down, particularly as a woman when your career starts a lot earlier than a man’s.
I’m sure Ryan will be around a lot longer than I will, so I’m trying to make the most of it while I’m here.”

the couple, who starred together in the th riller Cruel Intentions, got married in 1999 and have two children, Ava, six, and Deacon, two. For Witherspoon, being a mother has had a profound effect on her career. “I use my children for my own personal gain,” she says, chuckling. “I had my kids so young that I’m growing up with them. the th ings they’re interested in really influence me. My daughter would talk about the sorts of th ings that she really enjoys and I would th ink: ‘that’s a good idea.’ Or she would mention fictional characters she likes and I would go out and try and trace the book.”

To ensure their kids have a stable upbringing, Witherspoon and Phillippe have come up with a system of parenting that puts their family life first.

“While he’s working, I don’t work and vice versa,” she explains. “Ryan is at home with the kids at the moment, but actually he has been the main breadwinner all this year. He’ll be working on the Clint Eastwood film Flags of our Fathers, about the men who raised the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima while, for the time being, I’m completely unemployed.”

Witherspoon has earned her break after putting her heart and soul into what may well be remembered as a signature role. Two years ago, director James Mangold told her he was making a film about Johnny Cash (which would eventually be called Walk the Line) and asked the actress whether she would play the singer’s long-time partner, June Carter.

“I th ought my eyes were going to pop out of my skull,” Witherspoon says. “I’m from Nashville, Tennessee, the center of country music. Not only do I know everyth ing about Mr Cash, but i also know everyth ing about June Carter-Cash and the entire Carter family. I even played June’s mother in a fourth -grade play, so I was very excited about making the film.”

Witherspoon channelled her enth usiasm into a striking, career-best performance worth y of the Best Actress Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.

“Making Walk the Line was a very personal experience for me because it was shot in Memphis,” she explains. “I just knew the music so well and I knew the feeling, the attitude and the culture of the place, which is a huge part of getting into the character. I had an immediate connection with June’s background. We grew up with the same religion and, in a lot of areas, we have the same sort of values.”

By far the most challenging aspect of making Walk the Line was learning how to carry a tune. But five month s of work with a vocal coach paid off so well that Witherspoon has been inundated with requests to start a career in music.

“When the movie came out, I started getting calls from people working for country music labels saying: ‘You wanna make a record?’ I have no desire to do that again,” she says with a smile, “partly because performing live was so challenging. I could sing in a recording studio, but having to go onstage where th ousands of extras were waiting for me to entertain them was terrifying.”

While stage fright may keep Witherspoon from becoming a recording artist, she doesn’t rule out singing on screen again.

“I would love to do a film musical,” she says. “I love classic shows like Oklahoma! and I th ought Chicago was a great movie. I would love to be involved in someth ing like that.”

the problem Witherspoon faces is that when a good script does come along, she may have to turn it down if her husband is working at the same time. For someone who reportedly commands up to $15 million a film after the success of comedies like Legally Blonde and Just like Heaven, it has to be frustrating. One way to deal with the irritation of missing out is to play an active part in finding killer roles for other actresses, someth ing she does th rough her production company Type A Films.

“I initially created the company just to start developing films that I wanted to make with Universal Studios,” she says. “Now it has become a process of finding great parts for people. there’s a project called Penelope, about a girl who has to come to terms with having a pig face, that I was th inking of starring in, but we ultimately decided it would be better for somebody else. Christina Ricci is playing the part and it recently started shooting in London.”

Ask Witherspoon how she sees herself growing as an actress and she shrugs. “To be honest, I’m not sure what I’ll be doing next. I’m producing a remake of the th riller Bunny Lake is Missing, which I will star in, but apart from that, I’m open to suggestions.”

Witherspoon’s easygoing attitude toward her career may seem strangely at odds with the drive she shows on a movie set, but listen to her talk about family life and you realize it simply comes down to prioritizing what’s really important.

“I th ink movies are great, but they don’t keep you warm at night,” she says. “And it’s not, ultimately, the most important th ing in anyone’s life. I feel blessed to have two wonderful, health y children who keep me grounded—and th row up on my shoes before I go to an awards show. It’s God telling me to keep it real.”

Words by Pierre De Villiers