Rachel Zegler

Rachel Zegler Bio

Rachel Anne Zegler (born May 3, 2001) is an American actress and singer who first drew international attention as a teenager when she was cast as María in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 adaptation of West Side Story. Selected from more than 30,000 applicants, she went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for the role, becoming the youngest winner and the first actress of Colombian descent to take the award in that category. Since then, she has built a career that spans major studio franchise films, animated features, and acclaimed stage work on both Broadway and the West End.

Rachel Anne Zegler has continued to expand her range with projects including the superhero sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023), the dystopian prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), and the live-action Disney musical Snow White (2025). On stage, she debuted on Broadway in 2024 as Juliet in a musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, and later took on the title role in a London Palladium revival of Evita. Alongside her film and theatre work, she is also known for speaking openly about issues including colorism, mental health, and political causes she supports.

Early Life and Background

Rachel Anne Zegler was born on May 3, 2001, in Hackensack, New Jersey, to Gina and Craig Zegler. Her mother is of Colombian descent, with a maternal grandmother who immigrated from Barranquilla to the United States in the 1960s, while her father is of Polish descent. She has an older sister, and the family raised Rachel Anne Zegler in nearby Clifton, New Jersey, where she grew up navigating her mixed heritage.

Rachel Anne Zegler has spoken about facing racial discrimination on social media during her childhood because of her background, an experience that helped shape her later advocacy. She has said she was named after the fictional character Rachel Green from the television series Friends, a small detail that has become a frequent topic in interviews. She attended Immaculate Conception High School, where she graduated on June 2, 2019, as salutatorian, and she also ran a YouTube channel from July 2015 to August 2023 that drew media coverage.

Rachel Anne Zegler’s love of performance began early. After seeing her first Broadway show, Beauty and the Beast, at the age of four, she became a fan of theatre. Her first acting role came at age 12, when she played Shprintze in a community production of Fiddler on the Roof, an experience that convinced her she wanted to pursue acting seriously. She then began taking voice and acting lessons, and went on to star in a string of high school musicals, including Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, 42nd Street, and Shrek the Musical, earning four Metropolitan High School Theater Award nominations in the Actress in a Leading Role category for those performances.

Path to Acting

Rachel Anne Zegler’s transition from local theatre to professional acting began with her high school productions and a series of regional performances. In 2017, she took on the role of María in a staging at the Bergen Performing Arts Center, an experience that became important when she later auditioned for a major film. Her YouTube channel, which featured covers of musical theatre songs, also helped showcase her vocal talents to a wider audience during her teen years.

In January 2018, director Steven Spielberg posted an open casting call on Twitter for his new adaptation of West Side Story. Rachel Anne Zegler, then 16, responded with videos of herself singing “Tonight” and “I Feel Pretty,” drawing on her previous stage experience with the material. She was selected from more than 30,000 applicants, a moment she has described as life-changing, and the casting marked her feature film debut.

The success of West Side Story opened doors to larger franchise work and stage opportunities. Rachel Anne Zegler quickly moved into superhero and dystopian territory with Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and she later made her Broadway debut in 2024 in a new musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Her West End debut followed in 2025 with a London Palladium revival of Evita, confirming her standing as a performer comfortable across screen and stage.

Rachel Zegler Career

Early Career (2016–2021)

Rachel Anne Zegler’s earliest professional credits came through her high school and regional theatre work in New Jersey. Beginning with her 2016 performance as Belle in Beauty and the Beast, she built a résumé of musical theatre roles, including Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street, and Princess Fiona in Shrek the Musical. These performances earned her consecutive Metropolitan High School Theater Award nominations for Actress in a Leading Role, marking her as a standout young talent in the regional theatre scene.

Her 2017 performance as María at the Bergen Performing Arts Center proved pivotal. The role gave her the experience and confidence she would later lean on for her film audition, and it was the version of the character she submitted to Steven Spielberg’s open casting call. By the time she graduated high school as salutatorian in 2019, Rachel Anne Zegler had already performed roles from Cosette in Les Misérables to Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie, establishing a strong foundation in both acting and singing.

Breakthrough (2018–2021)

Rachel Anne Zegler’s film debut came in December 2021 with Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, in which she played María opposite Ansel Elgort’s Tony. The film drew strong reviews from critics and audiences, and her performance was widely praised for its warmth and vocal precision. She earned a Critics’ Choice Movie Award nomination for Best Young Performer and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, becoming both the youngest winner in the category and the first actress of Colombian descent to receive the award.

Notable Works and Milestones

Following West Side Story, Rachel Anne Zegler joined two major studio franchises. In 2023, she played Anthea in the superhero sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods and the protagonist Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, a role for which IndieWire’s David Ehrlich wrote that she delivered “a marvel of multiplex acting.” She also took on the title role in Disney’s live-action Snow White (2025), a film that drew attention for both its scale and the public discussion surrounding it, and she made her Broadway debut as Juliet in 2024 and her West End debut as Eva Perón in Evita in 2025.

Rachel Zegler Award Nominations

Rachel Anne Zegler has earned recognition across film and theatre for her work since her breakthrough. In addition to her Golden Globe win, she received a Critics’ Choice Movie Award nomination for Best Young Performer for West Side Story (2021), and she collected four Metropolitan High School Theater Award nominations in the Actress in a Leading Role category for her high school musicals. She was also named to The Ringer’s list of the top 35 actors under 35 in 2021, included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2022, and named one of AP Entertainment’s Breakthrough Entertainers of 2021.

Rachel Zegler Awards Won

Rachel Anne Zegler has been recognized with several major honors early in her career. Her most prominent win came at the 2022 Golden Globe Awards, where she took home the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for her debut performance in West Side Story. At 20, she was the youngest winner in the category and the first actress of Colombian descent to receive the award, a milestone she has spoken about with pride.

Rachel Zegler Family

Rachel Anne Zegler was raised in a close-knit household in New Jersey. Her parents are Gina and Craig Zegler, with her mother of Colombian descent and her father of Polish descent. She has an older sister, and the family has been a steady presence throughout her rapid rise from high school musicals to major film roles. She has credited her mother and her Colombian grandmother, who immigrated from Barranquilla, as important influences in her life and in her connection to her Latino heritage.

Personal Life

Rachel Anne Zegler was in a relationship with actor Josh Andrés Rivera from 2021 until the end of 2024. The two met on the set of West Side Story and later appeared together in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. She began dating her Evita co-star Nathan Louis-Fernand in 2025 after they met during rehearsals. Rachel Anne Zegler has cited Barbra Streisand as one of her primary influences and has been open about her struggles with anxiety, saying she attends psychiatric sessions as part of her routine.