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While it is easy to find talented acts in professional fields, it can be quite difficult to find multitalented players whose specialization cut across a variety of niches. One of these multitalented acts, Rachel Zegler, is our focus in this piece. Who is Rachel Zegler and how did she find her way to the top in Hollywood? This and more you will find out if you keep reading.
Who Is Rachel Zegler?
Via Flickr/Boris Colletier
Rachel Zegler is an American actress, singer, YouTuber, and content creator who was born on the third day of May 2001 in Hackensack, New Jersey, to her parents, Craig and Gina Zegler. While her father Craig is a Polish Jew, her mother who is a homemaker is of Colombian descent. Rachel grew up in Clifton, New Jersey with her parents and older sister Jacqueline Zegler who she is very fond of. New Jersey was where she also had her education at St. Philip the Apostle Preparatory School after which she proceeded to Immaculate Conception High School from which she graduated in June 2019. Her career as an actress, singer, and YouTuber has earned her a net worth of about $2-3 million.
Starting Young: Rachel Zegler’s Career
It is noteworthy that Rachel Zegler started her career at an early age. Although she didn’t get her first film and television debut until 2021, she has immersed herself in this career path by featuring in a number of musicals while she was at Immaculate Conception High school. She received the Metro Award nominations for Actress in a Leading Role category for playing different roles such as Belle in the 2016 musical Beauty and the Beast, Ariel in the 2017 musical The Little Mermaid, Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street, and Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical. Other notable musical roles she played in high school include Cosette in Les Miserables, Serena in Legally Blonde, and Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie.
In 2015, while in high school, Rachel created a YouTube channel that has garnered about 218 thousand subscribers and millions of views over the years. In 2020, Zegler, now out of college, made a video of herself singing a cover of Lady Gaga’s Shallow from A Star Is Born which has since garnered well over 11 million views on YouTube.
Breaking Through The Ice
While she was still in high school in 2018, Rachel responded to director Steven Spielberg’s casting calls for a new movie adaptation of West Side Story. She responded to his Twitter casting calls with two videos of herself. In one video, she was singing the song Tonight while in the other, she was singing I Feel Pretty which she had performed at the Bergen Performing Arts Center back in 2017. Of the 30 thousand prospects that showed interest, Rachel Zegler was selected to play the role of Maria. This role marked her proper breakthrough in Hollywood being her film debut and she undoubtedly did justice to it as she won the Golden Globe Award for the Best Actress - Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. She was just 20 years old when she won this award, making her the youngest winner ever in that category as well as the first actress of Colombian descent to win it.
Zegler’s Other Appearances
Aside from her great performance in West Side Story, Rachel Zegler has also appeared in a lot of works ranging from television shows and theater performances to music videos and podcasts. In 2021, she featured in two episodes of The George Lucas Talk Show for which she was given special thanks. She also performed Chelsea in the 2021 theater performance of Newton’s Cradle: A Ghost Story. That is not all, Rachel Zegler also appeared as a friend and dancer in Kathryn Gallagher’s music video for the 2020 song Nostalgic for the Moment (Dance Party Edition) and as the voice on phone in Pomplamoose’s music video for the 2021 song Sam’s Idea.
In 2021, she also appeared in the #IWriteMusicals: Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge (2020 Edition) in which she performed Days From Long Ago alongside Alejandro Rodriguez, Anna Ebbeson, Shakina Nayfack, and Solea Pfeiffer. In the same challenge, she performed Your World/Safe alongside Alexia Sielo, Anna Ebbeson, Anna Jacobs, Henry Crater, Jared Goldsmith, Jason Gotay, Nick Cartell. Rachel also has singles in her name as she released her music single Let Me Try in 2021 and also sang Tonight in the balcony scene of West Side Story with Ansel Elgort.
Rachel Zegler’s Nominations And Awards
Via Flickr/Celebrity Photos Daily
This talented actress has won quite a number of awards and has been nominated for a lot more. Many of her awards and nominations come from her extraordinary showcase of talent in her role as Maria in West Side Story. In 2021, she won the National Board of Review Awards for Best Actress and the North Texas Film Critics Association Awards for Best Newcomer. In 2022 she won her biggest award yet when she received the award for Best Actress - Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globe Awards. Considering her youthful exuberance and enthusiasm coupled with her youthful energy, we expect more awards and performances from Rachel Zegler as she features in Shazam! Fury of the Gods and an adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which will premiere in 2023.
Sources: IMDb, Biographics World, Newsunzip
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