Side-By-Side Pics Of What The Legally Blonde Cast Looks Like Now

The worlds of law and fashion collided in 2001 when "Legally Blonde" hit theaters and became an instant hit. The movie was met with critical acclaim — iconic film reviewer Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars — and opened at number one, bringing in $20 million its first weekend. The story, which follows fashion-forward Elle Woods as she heads off to Harvard Law School with nothing more than her wits, her pink ensembles, and her endlessly adorable Chihuahua Bruiser, captured the hearts of audiences around the world and gave a boost to the careers of the movie's stars. 

Starting off as a manuscript that was rejected by every publishing house, "Legally Blonde" has gone on to become a certified classic, with a sequel and spinoff released in 2003 and 2009, a fourth film announced in 2020, and a TV series, "Elle," for Amazon Prime. It was even turned into a Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical. Meanwhile, the original movie's cast has continued to entertain audiences, but, in some cases, in ways that fans of the film may not have expected.

While it seems impossible to believe anyone else could have played Elle Woods, Reese Witherspoon was not the studio's first choice. MGM was considering a number of rising stars at the time, including Charlize Theron, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, and even Britney Spears, but director Robert Luketic was dead set on casting Witherspoon, who was already a known commodity, having starred in "Pleasantville" and "Election." But it would be "Legally Blonde" that turned her into a superstar. 

Witherspoon has not slowed down since "Legally Blonde" was released. Along with starring in the sequel, "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde," which she also produced, the actor has won an Academy Award for her role in "Walk the Line" and starred in the hit movies "Sweet Home Alabama," "Water for Elephants," and "Sing." She has also built an impressive TV resume, starring in "Big Little Lies" and "The Morning Show." If that isn't enough, Witherspoon has become a powerhouse producer as well; her production company, Hello Sunshine, has created a number of hit movies and shows, including "Gone Girl," "Where the Crawdads Sing," and "The Last Thing He Told Me." 

Outside of film and TV, Witherspoon has her own retail brand, Draper James, and has written the "Busy Betty" children's book series. While it may seem like Witherspoon's massive rise to fame came fast and easy, the truth is that the star had a number of hurdles she had to overcome to keep her career moving forward. But, in the end, the hard work has paid off, and now it looks like she has started a Hollywood dynasty; Witherspoon's look-alike daughter, Ava Phillippe, has started her own acting career.

2001 was a big year for Luke Wilson. The actor had already started to build a name for himself after starring in "Bottle Rocket" and playing Cameron Diaz's love interest in 2000's mega hit "Charlie's Angels," but the one-two punch of playing Elle's friend-turned-boyfriend, Emmett Richmond, in "Legally Blonde" and the emotionally broken tennis phenom Richie Tenenbaum in "The Royal Tenenbaums" showed off the actor's range. From there, Wilson's career took off with hits like "Old School" and "The Family Stone," but he still made time to keep playing the dutiful boyfriend role in "Legally Blonde 2" and "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle."

Wilson continued to work throughout the 2000s and 2010s, but started to take on smaller roles and use his starpower to bring attention to independently made films, seemingly shying away from lead roles in bigger budgeted movies and instead paving his own path — one that he hadn't really thought about. Speaking to Backstage in 2019, Wilson explained his method, or lack of one, saying, "People have these designs for life, and I kind of envy people like that." 

As he aged out of the boyfriend roles, Wilson moved into playing father figures and grizzled cowboys, most notably in the critically acclaimed series "Enlightened," the CW superhero series "Stargirl," where he played stepdad-turned-sidekick Pat Dugan, and in Kevin Costner's "Horizon: An American Saga." Wilson has also taken on the challenge of voicing one of the most famous fictional detectives of all time, playing Batman in the "Bat-Fam" animated series.

Selma Blair had the hard job of playing Vivian Kensington in "Legally Blonde." In the course of the movie, Vivian goes from hating Elle to becoming her friend, and Blair needed to make the character mean enough at the start that the audience wouldn't like her, but not so mean that they wouldn't understand why Elle would befriend her later on. Luckily, Blair and Reese Witherspoon had already worked together in "Cruel Intentions" and had a clear chemistry that could be seen between their "Legally Blonde" characters. The role helped solidify Blair as an actor to be on the lookout for, and her talent shines in cult classics like Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy," John Waters' "A Dirty Shame," and the very dark comedy "Mom and Dad" with Nicolas Cage.

Tragically, Blair revealed her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2018, and has since been focused on her health, cutting back on the roles she takes on. While she may not be making as many movies as she did before, Blair has stayed in the spotlight, using her fame to help bring attention to issues that matter most to her. In 2022, she became the chief creative officer of GUIDE Beauty. Founded by makeup artist Terri Bryant, GUIDE Beauty offers a line of beauty products designed for people with mobility issues. The actor was also the subject of the 2022 documentary "Introducing, Selma Blair," which chronicled her life and the struggles she has faced.

Jennifer Coolidge had been a working actor for years, but it was her role as Stiffler's Mom in the 1999 R-rated teen comedy "American Pie" that caught the attention of audiences. And while that role solidified Coolidge's place in cinema, she really got to show off her comedic skills playing trophy wife and two-time dog show winner Sherri Ann Cabot in Christopher Guest's "Best in Show." Coolidge followed that amazing performance by bringing manicurist Paulette Bonafonté to life in "Legally Blonde." With three classic roles under her belt, Coolidge's career hit new highs. She continued to work with Guest, appearing in "A Mighty Wind," and reprised her roles as Stiffler's Mom and Paulette in the sequels to "American Pie" and " Legally Blonde." 

Unfortunately, Coolidge's success led to a problem: Hollywood kept offering her the same kind of role over and over again. Speaking to Us Weekly, she explained, "When I did 'Best in Show,' for the longest time, I was just offered these sort of trophy wife parts over and over." It would take 20 years and Coolidge's role in the first two seasons of "White Lotus" — a part that won her two Emmys and a Golden Globe — before she was able to truly break out of the typecasting she found herself caught up in. 

After starting off as a teen model, Ali Larter first gained Hollywood's attention in 1996 when she appeared in a joke article in Esquire as Allegra Coleman, whom the magazine dubbed "Hollywood's Next Dream Girl." While the article was making fun of magazines rushing to name who the next up-and-comers were, that didn't stop studios from calling the magazine, trying to get in contact with the fictional rising star. 

Larter made her professional acting debut a year later and hit it big in 1999 with the one-two punch of "Varsity Blues" and "House on Haunted Hill." She followed those hits up with 2000's franchise starter "Final Destination" before showing up in "Legally Blonde" in 2001. Casting her as the woman Reese Witherspoon's Elle looked up to — even though Larter and Witherspoon are the same age in real life — made sense; at the moment, Larter was the bigger name in Hollywood, even if Witherspoon had the critics on her side. 

Larter followed up "Legally Blonde" with the sequel to "Final Destination" before appearing in a few smaller films. In 2006, she moved to TV and played sisters Niki Sanders and Tracy Strauss on the hit series "Heroes." On the big screen, Larter joined the "Resident Evil" franchise, playing Claire Redfield in three movies. In 2024, Larter joined the cast of Taylor Sheridan's "Landman," working alongside Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, and Sam Elliot.

A generation of inquisitive TV watchers first came to know Alanna Ubach for her role as Josie, the first assistant on the educational and fun "Beakman's World." In "Legally Blonde," Ubach played Serena McGuire, the most loyal and enthusiastic of Elle Woods' Delta Nu sisters. Ubach and Reese Witherspoon had previously worked together in the 1996 thriller "Freeway," and neither of them could believe they had been cast as college students five years later. Ubach recalled how she and Witherspoon felt being on the set of "Legally Blonde," telling People, "We were like, 'What is this? We're 27-year-olds playing 18-year-olds. What is this? No one's going to believe we're that age and this and the other.'" Ubach went on to reveal that, more than two decades later, people still run up to her and quote her character's famous "I got bangs!" line, saying, "I light up every single time, so excited."

Ubach has continued to lend her comedic talents to movies and TV shows since "Legally Blonde," appearing in "Meet the Fockers" with Ben Stiller, "Waiting" alongside Ryan Reynolds, and on HBO's "Hacks." She is also a talented voice actor, giving life to Manny Rivera on Nickelodeon's "El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera" and Mamá Imelda in "Coco." In 2024, Ubach also made people laugh by showcasing her comedic talents on Peacock's hit series "Ted." Her role as Susan Bennett has become an internet sensation, with clips of her work on the show getting millions of views on YouTube. 

Osgood Perkins, who was credited as Oz Perkins in "Legally Blonde," made his acting debut playing a young Norman Bates in "Psycho II." The casting made sense: his father, Anthony Perkins, made Norman Bates a horror icon in the original Psycho, and continued to play the character in the three sequels. Aside from his part in "Psycho II" and a small role in the Jack Nicholson werewolf movie "Wolf," Osgood seemed to avoid horror as an actor and gravitated toward comedic roles early in his career. Along with taking on the iconic role of Dorky David in "Legally Blonde," Osgood also appeared in the spoof comedy "Not Another Teen Movie" and the so-bad-it's-good Gary Busey family comedy "Quigley: An Angelic Tail." 

Osgood continued to act in small roles, but his true talents lay elsewhere, and it was in 2015's "The Backcoat's Daughter," a horror film starring Emma Roberts and Kiernan Shipka that Perkins wrote and directed, that the world first caught a glimpse of what he was capable of behind the camera. Since then, Osgood has become one of horror's hottest names, with his 2024 film "Longlegs" scaring audiences to the tune of $128 million at the worldwide box office with a budget under $10 million. But even now, as he spends his days crafting nightmares for the masses, Osgood still has fans who tell him how much they love "Legally Blonde." "People recognize me for that at least five times a week," he told Vulture.

Linda Cardellini's acting career started in 1996 when she starred in the short-lived children's horror series, "Bone Chillers," but it would be her role as Lindsay Weir in the critically acclaimed 1999 show "Freaks and Geeks" that would put her on the map. Sadly, "Freaks and Geeks" was canceled after one season, but Cardellini wouldn't have to wait long for her next big role: Chutney Windham in "Legally Blonde." While Cardellini isn't in much of the movie, her part is important to the story, and her character becomes Elle's greatest challenge in her pursuit to prove that she belongs at Harvard Law School. 

Cardellini followed up "Legally Blonde" by playing iconic Mystery Inc. member Thelma in 2002's "Scooby-Doo" and joined the cast of "ER," playing Samantha Taggart for six seasons. Cardellini was nominated for an Emmy for her nine-episode arc on "Mad Men" in 2013, then received another nomination in 2020 for the critically acclaimed Netflix series "Dead to Me." 

The actor has also played two roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, showing up as Clint Barton's (Jeremy Renner) wife in two Avengers films as well as the "Hawkeye" Disney Plus series, and playing Lylla, the genetically altered otter who is tragically killed in front of Rocket (Bradley Cooper) in "Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3." In 2026, Cardellini co-starred in HBO's critically acclaimed miniseries "DTF St. Louis," and in 2025, she was cast as Pamela Voorhees, mother of famous fictional killer Jason Voorhees, in the "Crystal Lake" TV series, based on the "Friday the 13th" movies.