An Ode to Reese Witherspoon
It was a hot summer day in August as the school year began in TN. As I would on regular days at my grandparent’s house, I walked around the farm through the cornfields. I greeted the pigs I had spent so much time with and paced the ponds while watching intently for snakes. Snakes are synonymous with living in the country. I was often alone and always talked out loud to myself. “Has anyone from Tennessee ever left and moved to Hollywood?” “Are there any famous actors or actresses from Tennessee?” “Is it even possible to be an actor?” “Lisa Turtle could really use a little brother or cousin on Saved by the Bell,” I thought.
I was inundated with questions, possibilities, and potentials racing through my head. “JD, this is why you get in trouble in school because your imagination and daydreaming are uncontrollable,” I shouted. We didn’t have a personal computer at home and barely had operating computers in school. But, once again, in true Justin Key fashion, I became best friends with my high school librarian, Judy John. She was kind, intelligent, and quick-witted and always gave me book recommendations and extra computer time. Mrs. John was one of my high school mentors. The next day at school, I got that computer time and started researching via #AskJeeves. In the search bar, I typed, “Hollywood actors from Tennessee.” Reese Witherspoon was the first name that popped up. She had starred in Freeway just two years prior. It said Reese was from Nashville, just two hours north of my hometown of Rossville. Reese was young, relatable, and, most importantly, she sounded just like me. We both had Tennessee accents. That was the first moment in my life that I realized my secret dream of acting in Hollywood was possible.
I have followed Reese’s career since that moment in the library at Fayette-Ware Comprehensive High School in 1998. A seed was sown that I would subtly water for the next eight years. I didn’t speak of it to anyone for at least five years. How would the grandkid of a farmer with an elementary school education make it to Hollywood? Reese’s dad was a doctor, and her mother was a professor. She had options. She was from a big city, and I was from a small farm town. I was terrified to utter a word to anyone. So, church plays and choir would have to do for now.
As Reese’s career skyrocketed even more, so did my ambition, desire, and mindset. I needed to get to Hollywood. I started my professional training in Memphis before moving to LA to get a degree in Acting. I even paused my career in Hollywood to do a stint in San Francisco to study and train again at the prestigious American Conservatory Theater.
If Reese hadn’t accepted her calling, I don’t know how I would have been motivated to accept mine. Almost 17 years later, I am still here. Happy, creatively fulfilled and living a life that little kid on the farm would be so proud of. Thank you so much, Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon!
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