Rachel Zegler (Actor)

Rachel Zegler (born May 3, 2001) is an American actor and singer who starred in Steven Spielberg's remake of "West Side Story" (2021), for which she won the Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy or musical, and Disney's live-action remake of "Snow White." Zegler was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, and named after Jennifer Aniston's "Friends" character Rachel Green. In high school, she starred in several musicals, including playing Belle in "Beauty and the Beast" (2016), Ariel in "The Little Mermaid" (2017),  Dorothy Brock in" 42nd Street" (2018) and Princess Fiona in "Shrek the Musical" (2019), and received four Metro Award nominations but did not win. She also posted singing videos on YouTube, such as a video of her singing "Shallow" from "A Star Is Born" that received millions of views. Spielberg opened the casting call for "West Side Story" in 2018, and Zegler was chosen out of 30,000 applicants for the role of Maria. She won the National Board of Review's best actress award in 2021 and became the youngest person to win the Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy or musical. Her next role came in Warner Bros. and DC Comics' superhero movie, "Shazam: Fury of the Gods" in 2023 as the character Anthea. Following that, she landed a starring role in the "Hunger Games" prequel "A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" as the Hunger Games contestant Lucy Gray Baird in 2023. Zegler was also cast as the lead of Netflix and Skydance's animated musical "Spellbound" in 2024, and Disney enlisted her to star in the live-action "Snow White" remake in 2025.