Reese Witherspoon's Daughter Ava Is Making Her Acting Debut
Her role is so Elle Woods-coded!
Ava Phillippe is ready to follow in her famous parents’ footsteps, and it looks like one of her mom’s most iconic roles could serve as a bit of inspiration for her acting debut. Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe’s daughter will take on her first scripted performance in a Spring Break-themed episode of ABC’s Doctor Odyssey.
Phillippe will play a Veronica in the campy medical drama’s April 3 episode. Her character is one of several college students celebrating spring break on board the show’s eponymous ship The Odyssey. It appears her casting is a knowing wink to her status as a well-known “nepo baby,” since Veronica’s close friends in the episode are played by other young stars with very famous parents: Paris Jackson and Charlotte Lawrence.
Phillippe announced her first on-screen role in a TikTok on the Doctor Odyssey account. In the clip, Phillippe sported a hot-pink bikini that looks like it was pulled straight from Elle Woods’ closet. While she may not be playing the younger version of her mom’s litigious Harvard bombshell in the new Legally Blonde prequel, it does sound like there may be a little nod to Elle in Phillippe’s big episode. Kathryn Newton, who is also guest starring in the Spring Break special, revealed her character is in the thick of preparing for her LSATs. Could Phillippe’s college student also be majoring in law?
The April 3 episode will also guest star Noah Beck and Anthony Turpel. It will airs at 9 p.m. ET on ABC, and will be available to stream on Hulu the next day.
Witherspoon has previously hinted that her daughter may not be interested in acting. “She’s not an actress,” Witherspoon said of Phillippe in 2021. “She’s so happy with her life and I am just so enormously proud of her and the incredible, compassionate young woman she’s become.”
Ava’s first taste of a being on a Hollywood production comes a little over two years after her younger brother Deacon Phillippe made his acting debut in the Netflix series Never Have I Ever. You just can’t fight the acting gene!
