Renée Zellweger Brightened Up the Red Carpet in Elegant Yellow Gown

Renée Zellweger brought the sunshine to the red carpet premiere of her new movie Same Kind of Different as Me Thursday night.

Posing for photographers at the Westwood Village Theatre in Westwood, California, the 48-year-old actresses was all smiles in a fitted canary yellow Carolina Herrera dress with square neckline, puffed sleeves and a knee-high center slit. She had her hair loosely pulled back in a bun and added a cocktail ring and metallic heels.

She was joined at the premiere by her co-stars in the film, Greg Kinnear, Djimon Hounsou, and Jon Voight.

Djimon Hounsou and Renée Zellweger in <em>Same Kind of Different as Me</em>
Djimon Hounsou and Renée Zellweger in Same Kind of Different as Me

Based on the bestselling memoir of the same name by Ron Hall, Denver Moore and Lynn Vincent, Same Kind of Different As Me casts Zellweger as the wife of international art dealer Ron (Kinnear), who is struggling to save their marriage after he cheats. In hopes of moving one step closer to repairing the damage, Zellweger, as the pious Deborah, requests her husband volunteer at an inner city homeless shelter where they meet an underprivileged man (Hounsou) she believes will change their lives.

Along with The Whole Truth and Bridget Jones’s Baby, the film marks one of Zellweger’s first films since taking a six-year hiatus from acting.

“When you have nothing to go home to, no one to celebrate these things with, it’s time to maybe reassess and figure out what you’re not doing right,” she told PEOPLE last year. “I had made so many promises to myself about things that I wanted to explore, things I wanted to try, and how I would like to grow as a person that I had made no time for. And I thought, ‘That’s enough.’”

Zellweger has also been showing her charitable side off-screen. The Texas native visited animal rescue organization Houston Pets Alive! after Hurricane Harvey struckto help with recovery efforts.

“She had already been there for a couple of hours, totally incognito,” the rescue’s founder Andrea Birkelbach told TODAY Sept. 21, explaining that she originally hadn’t noticed Zellweger. “She was here four days literally cleaning crates, doing laundry and walking the dogs.”

The Oscar winner also helped out at Austin Pets Alive! and returned to Los Angeles with eight dogs she promised to find homes.

Same Kind of Different as Me hits theaters on October 20.