ComScore

13 Best Reese Witherspoon Performances, Ranked

Reese Witherspoon is America’s sweetheart. She’s blonde, she’s feisty, she’s Southern, she’s fashionable. She’s also made a whole lot of movies (61 to be exact). Some were great, others were...not.

Here are 13 of Witherspoon’s best roles, ranked.

election reese witherspoon
Paramount Pictures

1. Election (1999)

We pick Flick. You should, too.

reese witherspoon man in the moon
MGM

2. The Man In The Moon (1991)

One hell of a debut film. Then again, how can you resist tragic young love on tractors?

walk the line reese1
20th Century Fox

3. Walk the Line (2005)

She won an Oscar for a reason.

reese witherspoon wild
Fox Searchlight Pictures

4. Wild (2014)

Again, she was nominated for an Oscar for a reason.

reese witherspoon big little lies
Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/courtesy of HBO

5. Big Little Lies (2017)

Madeline Martha Mackenzie...need we say more?

reese witherspoon morning show
Apple TV+

6. The Morning Show (2019)

After getting snubbed in 2020, Witherspoon received an Emmy nomination for this memorable role. #JusticeForBradleyJackson

legally blonde
MGM

7. Legally Blonde (2001)

“It has come to my attention that the maintenance staff is switching our toilet paper from Charmin...to generic. All those opposed to chafing, please say ‘Aye.’” Solid gold.

reese witherspoon little fires everywhere
ERIN SIMKIN/HULU

8. Little Fires Everywhere (2020)

Another Emmys snub. But that doesn’t make us love her performance as Elena Richardson any less.

reese witherspoon sweet home alabama
Buena Vista Pictures

9. Sweet Home Alabama (2002)

If only we could all go from getting engaged to the mayor’s son at Tiffany’s to opening a Soho boutique with your glass-blowing ex-husband.

reese witherspoon mud
Lionsgate

10. Mud (2012) 

Girlfriend should ditch rom-coms more often, especially when Matthew McConaughey is involved as a weirdo fugitive.

reese witherspoon inherent vice
Warner Bros. Pictures

11. Inherent Vice (2014) 

Trippy as hell but any Reese/Joaquin Phoenix collab is always welcome.

reese witherspoon pleasantville
New Line Cinema

12. Pleasantville (1998)

The film is about two high schoolers in the ’90s who are mysteriously transported to the suburban, idyllic 1950s that may or may not also hypnotize you. You know, the usual.

reese witherspoon a wrinkle in time
Walt Disney Studios

13. A Wrinkle In Time (2018)

With Mindy Kaling and Oprah Winfrey at her side, it was bound to be legendary.



greta

Senior Editor

Greta Heggeness is a California-based editor at PureWow and has been writing about entertainment since 2015. She covers everything from awards shows to exclusive celebrity...