Elle Woods first appeared as the protagonist of Legally Blonde, a novel by Amanda Brown. Later, Woods was portrayed by Reese Witherspoon in the films Legally Blonde and . The character was then portrayed in a Broadway theatre adaptation of the first film, Legally Blonde - The Musical. Elle Woods is also the basis of a series of young adult fiction novels featuring the character and written by Natalie Standiford. The character is mentioned but not seen in a later direct-to-video sequel, Legally Blondes, which portrays the adventures of her twin British cousins. In 2018 Ariana Grande referenced Elle in several scenes of her "Thank U, Next" music video.
''Legally Blonde'' films
Entertainment Weekly put Elle Woods on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "She's blond, bubbly, and carries a tiny Chihuahua. But despite the inevitable Paris Hilton comparisons, Reese Witherspoon's Legally Blonde dynamo managed to be taken seriously. Case closed!"
In the film, Legally Blonde, Elle Woods is a sorority sister living at Delta Nu at the fictional California University Los Angeles where she maintains a 4.0 GPA. Woods' boyfriend, Warner Huntington III, breaks up with her the night she expects him to propose, claiming that he needs "to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn." Warner is bound for Harvard Law School, and Woods becomes determined to gain admittance to the school to win him back. Once at Harvard, Woods learns that Warner has a new fiancée. Woods is able to exonerate a sorority sister accused of murder, and decides she does not need Warner. In the film's conclusion, Woods gives the commencement address to the law school class after proving herself and earning the respect of her peers. In the sequel to the original film, Elle is in the middle of planning her wedding while in line for a promotion at work. She decides to track down the birth mother of her beloved dog, Bruiser, and discovers that she is being used for animal testing. After getting fired for trying to bring up the testing facility, Elle goes to work on Capitol Hill, seeking to advance animal rights. She begins the film with naïve expectations about the motivations of members of Congress, and although these expectations are dashed, she perseveres and succeeds in the passage of the desired animal rights legislation. At the end of the movie, she marries Emmett in Washington, D.C., and is seen looking at the White House when she is asked where she wants to live.
