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Reese Witherspoon: A Look Through the Years

In honor of her 37th birthday on March 22, we're looking back at how she went from a scene-stealing teen to an Oscar-winning mom of three (23 Photos)

Kim Potts on Mar 22, 2013 at 9:31AM

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Reese Witherspoon: A Look Through the Years

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Little Miss Type A

Her father John is a doctor, her mother Betty is a nursing professor at Vanderbilt and she's a descendant of Declaration of Independence signer John Witherspoon. So it's no mystery where the New Orleans-born, Nashville-bred Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (pictured in 1991) got her famous drive. She was even nicknamed "Little Miss Type A" -- as in type-A personality -- by her mom after she declared, as a third grader, that she was going to be the first female president of the United States. The nickname stuck (Witherspoon eventually named her production company Type A Films), but she has pooh-poohed the notion that her commitment to achieve is anything special. "I just don't see any of it as that remarkable," the actress told Interview magazine. "I grew up in an environment where women accomplished a lot. And if they weren't able to, it was because they were limited by society."

Read on to see how Reese Witherspoon has gone from teen star to an Oscar-winning actress throughout the years!