Reese Witherspoon has one of the most successful and diverse careers in Hollywood. The Academy Award-winning actress has starred in everything from rom-coms to intense dramas in both film and television. She is best known for her leading role as Elle Woods in the iconic 2001 rom-com Legally Blonde and has received major critical acclaim for her performances in works, such as Walk the Line, where she starred alongside fellow Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix, and the HBO series Big Little Lies.

In addition to acting Witherspoon started her own media company, Hello Sunshine, which is dedicated to telling women’s stories and creating projects that are thought-provoking and forefront women's opportunity in film. Hello Sunshine's critically acclaimed series The Morning Show was, in fact, just renewed for a third season at Apple. Most recently, Witherspoon starred in the family/musical animation Sing 2, in which she plays Rosita alongside Bono, Scarlett Johansson, Matthew McConaughey, Halsey, and more. Ultimately, Reese Witherspoon has given many incredible performances over the course of her career — here are the best ones, ranked.

Related: The 5 Best Musical Numbers in Illumination's Sing

8 Little Fires Everywhere

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Little Fires Everywhere is one of the many successful television series Reese Witherspoon has starred in. Adapted from the book Little Fires Everywhere written by Celeste Ng, the first season of this Hulu drama series was a success right from the start. The show received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations in 2020 for Lead Actress in a Limited Series (for Kerry Washington) and Best Limited Series, and has a 79% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. In addition to Witherspoon's great performance, Washington gives one of the best performances of her career as Mia Warren.

7 The Man in the Moon

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One of the first movies that made Reese Witherspoon a household name was the 1991 romance/drama The Man in the Moon. The film marked the actress' movie debut at the young age of fourteen. The movie follows two super close sisters, Maureen and Dani, who have an unshakable bond until the boy Dani is seeing, named Court Foster, falls for Maureen. Reese Witherspoon, Jason London, Sam Waterston, and Emily Warfield all shine in this fan-favorite film.

6 Sing

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Sing is one of the most successful family/musical animations we've seen in a while. The film was originally released in December 2016 and, with a 70% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, grossed over $630 million. Part of the reason why the movie was so successful was due to the catchy songs and huge cast that was involved in the project ,including Taron Egerton, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Matthew McConaughey, Tori Kelly, Nick Kroll, and Seth MacFarlane. Recently in December 2021, the film's sequel Sing 2 was released and has been getting just as much praise as the original.

5 The Morning Show

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Coming back to Reese Witherspoon's successful television run, The Morning Show is the Apple TV+ drama series that was just renewed for a third season. Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston are the face of the series playing Bradley Jackson and Alex Levy, respectively, two women who work at a morning show and help represent what it's really like in today's modern workplace. The two actresses have great chemistry previously worked together on the hit sitcom Friends where Witherspoon guest-starred as one of Rachel's sisters, Jill.

4 Wild

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In 2014, Reese Witherspoon starred in the late Jean-Marc Vallée's drama/adventure Wild. She plays Cheryl Strayed, a woman at her breaking point who finds the drive to get her life back together and decides to go on one of the country's most difficult trails with only a backpack and no previous nature experience. This film is really beautiful and one of Vallée's best works. Witherspoon earned her second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her portrayal of Cheryl and her co-star in the film Laura Dern recieved an Oscar nomination as well for Best Supporting Actress.

3 Big Little Lies

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Jean-Marc Vallée's adaption of the Liane Moriarty novel Big Little Lies is a masterpiece and a beautiful dramatic story of love, murder, affairs, and the depths that strong women characters will go to protect the people they love. Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, and Laura Dern star in both seasons of HBO Max's Big Little Lies and give incredible performances that seem to get better and better with each episode. Drama and suspense are a huge aspect in this show that help carry the audience from one storyline to the next.

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2 Legally Blonde

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There is no question that Reese Witherspoon's portrayal of Elle Woods in the 2001 comedy/romance Legally Blonde is her most iconic role to date. Elle is a dramatic, emotional, and self-involved college student, who despite her seemingly "dumb blonde" stereotype-demeanor is actually extremely smart. When her long term boyfriend breaks up with her for not allegedly being sophisticated enough for her, she is determined to prove him wrong by getting into Harvard Law School. After managing to get accepted, Elle proves everyone in her life wrong and turns out to be great lawyer. This movie and Reese's performance will forever be referenced. The movie spawned two sequels: Legally Blonde 2, which was released in 2003, and Legally Blonde 3, which is currently in the works.

1 Walk the Line

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Coming in at number one on the list of the best Reese Witherspoon performances is the 2005 musical/drama Walk the Line. Joaquin Phoenix and Witherspoon star as Johnny Cash and June Carter, respectively, in this James Mangold film. The movie follows the two musicians' life together and the struggles they endured to get to this place of huge success. Walk the Line was nominated for five Academy Awards in 2006 and was a monumental moment in Witherspoon's career as it won the Academy Award for Best Actress.