Actor: Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon won Best Actress for Walk the Line, singing her own vocals as June Carter, and had earlier established herself in Election, playing Tracy Flick as a genuinely alarming figure.

Legally Blonde is the commercial signature and is smarter than its reputation, structured so that the joke is always on the people underestimating her.

She founded Hello Sunshine specifically to develop material with female leads, producing Big Little Lies, Gone Girl and Wild, which brought another nomination. The company sold for a very large sum.