Rachel Zegler: Rising Star and Trailblazer in Hollywood

2023-10-29 03:25:00

Rachel Zegler was born on May 3, 2001 in Hackensack, New Jersey (United States). This young woman has Colombian roots, on her mother’s side, and also Polish, on her father’s side.

Since she was little, Rachel showed her artistic vocation. In high school, at Immaculate Conception School, she participated in the musical theater group. During this time, she starred as Disney princesses in the musicals Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. She also acted in other works, such as Shrek, Legally blonde, Les Miserables, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Rent.

(Also read: This is what the human version of Snow White looks like for the new movie)

In 2015, Rachel began uploading videos to her YouTube account, performing covers of greatest hits as songs she composed herself. But her life changed when in 2018 Steven Spielberg called a casting call via Twitter to find the protagonists of his film adaptation of the musical West Side Story, for which he wanted actors of Latin descent and/or Spanish speaking.

Rachel responded by showing videos of her performances of the songs Tonight and I Feel Pretty, and, among more than 30,000 applicants, she was chosen. Thus, her debut as an actress was giving life to María.

The film’s young cast is led by Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler.

“I am very excited to play this iconic character alongside this incredible cast,” she said in statements published by Variety. “It was the first musical I encountered with a Latina protagonist and as a Colombian-American it is an honor to have the opportunity to play a role that means so much to the Hispanic community.”

Thanks to her work in West Side Story, the actress found something more than fame: love. Because, since they met on set during 2019, Rachel and her co-star Josh Andrés Rivera began a romance that still endures.

Recently, in March 2023, Rachel returned to the big screen in the film Shazam! Fury of the Gods. With her usual, sometimes controversial, sincerity, the actress admitted that she accepted the role because she “needed a job,” as she told The Hollywood Reporter. “The truth is that we were in the middle of a pandemic, I didn’t have a job and I mightn’t get one because West Side Story (which premiered in 2021) had not yet come out.”

(You may be interested: They predict that Snow White with Rachel Zegler, daughter of a Colombian, will be a success)

It was the first musical I encountered with a Latina protagonist and as a Colombian-American it is an honor to have the opportunity to play a role that means so much to the Hispanic community.

Through Twitter, the actress also took the opportunity to defend the film following its premiere, appealing to the fact that, despite the bad reviews, the public’s score was very good: “there are people who are being unfair and unnecessarily cruel,” she said. .

“And yes, I know, ‘if you can’t stand criticism…’ and all that, it’s true. But our film is really good. Nowadays, it is fashionable to hate for fun. Alright. Let’s be good,” she asked.

Once West Side Story was released, Rachel Zegler no longer had such a hard time finding work, because she was also chosen to star in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which will hit theaters on November 16.

But what has kept the actress in the media spotlight in recent months has been being chosen to play Snow White in Disney’s next live action: “I never imagined in a million years that this would be possible for me,” she said. the actress to Variety in 2022, explaining that “you don’t normally see Snow White of Latin descent.”

Rachel Zegler como Lucy Gray Baird y Tom Blyth como Coriolanus Snow.

The controversy

And the fact that the character was traditionally very pale-skinned (hence her name), and Rachel is Latina and dark-skinned, unleashed all kinds of reactions on the internet. In a similar way to what happened with Hailey Bailey and The Little Mermaid, the networks were divided between those who supported Zegler, accusing his detractors of racism, and those who showed his anger at the election.

The actress, to whom Bailey herself showed her support, responded a few months ago to the controversy through Twitter: “I greatly appreciate the love of those who defend me, but please do not label me in all this meaningless speech.” she wrote, and showed photos of her dressed as Snow White and other princesses as a child, adding her wish “that, no matter what happens, all girls know that they can be princesses.”
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The controversy, far from being settled, was fueled even more, and there were those who rescued a tweet that the actress published in 2021 following learning of her choice, but which she later deleted: “Yes, I’m going to be Snow White. No, I’m not going to bleach my skin for the role.”

(Also read: Rachel Zegler: the new Snow White with Colombian roots responds to racist attacks)

The original film focuses on a love story with a guy (the prince) who literally stalks Snow White.

In addition, the actress’s statements in recent months have fueled the comments. Rachel called the original 1937 film scary and strange, confessing that “before being cast, she had only seen it once” and claiming that the film “is really dated in terms of the role of women.”
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According to Zegler, “the original film focuses on a love story with a guy (the prince) who literally stalks Snow White.” And regarding the male role in this new version, he joked that the actor, “Andrew Burnap is a great guy,” but “all of his scenes might be eliminated.”

For the actress, this upcoming adaptation “isn’t regarding the love story at all, which is really wonderful,” but rather regarding how Snow White “becomes the leader that her late father told her she might become if “She was brave, fair and sincere.”

Additionally, Rachel has supported the recent strike of actors and screenwriters in Hollywood, attending the picket lines, and in a video posted on Toonando said: “If I’m going to spend 18 hours a day in a Disney princess dress, I deserve to get paid.” for each hour of online broadcast.”

All of these statements have made social media users more divided between detractors and defenders of the actress. However, she has not wanted to respond directly to the controversies and, it seems, she is still willing to bite the apple while she wishes, through Twitter, that “the world becomes a better place.”

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