Birthdate: May 3, 2001
Birthplace: Hackensack, New Jersey, USA
Rachel Zegler (birthname: Rachel Anne Zegler) burst onto the big screen in her attention-getting debut as Maria in director/producer Steven Spielberg’s (and screenwriter Tony Kushner’s) revisioned remake of the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim musical classic, West Side Story (2021), starring Ansel Elgort, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist and Rita Moreno, earning seven Oscar nominations but proving a rare Spielberg box-office disappointment with only a $75 million return against a $100 million budget.
Zegler appeared in a major role in another box-office loser, Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023), the poorly received DC Films sequel starring Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan’s Grazer, Adam Brody, Lucy Liu, Djimon Hounsou, and Helen Mirren under David F. Sandberg’s direction, grossing $134 million for Warner Bros. (with a $125 million).
Zegler co-starred with Tom Blyth in Lionsgate Films’ successful reboot, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), with Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Peter Dinklage, Jose Andres Rivera, and Viola Davis under Francis Lawrence’s direction, and grossing a solid $349 million on a $100 million budget. Zegler co-starred in the more modest black comedy Envisioning a Disaster that Never Happened, Y2K (2024), with comic actor Kyle Mooney in his director/writer debut, and co-stars Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison, Fred Durst, and Alicia Silverstone, and which was released wide by A24.
Rachel Zegler landed the plum title role of Disney’s Snow White (2025), based on the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale and a re-conceived live-action version of Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), co-starring Gal Gadon as the Evil Queen, and with Andrew Burnap, Ansu Kabia and Martin Klebba, co-written Greta Gerwig and Erin Cressida Wilson and directed by Marc Webb.
Rachel Zegler was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, and was raised in Clifton, New Jersey by parents Craig and Gina Zegler. Zegler has an older sister, Jacqueline. Zegler’s father is of Polish descent; her mother is of Colombian descent, with her maternal grandmother having emigrated to the U.S. from Colombia in the 1960s.
Zegler studied at St. Philip the Apostle Prep School, and then Immaculate Conception High School in Lodi, New Jersey, from which Zegler graduated in 2019. At Immaculate Conception, Zegler starred in lead roles in several musical productions, including Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, 42nd Street, and Shrek the Musical. Zegler’s height is 5’ 2”. Zegler’s estimated net worth is $3 million.
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What’s in a Name?: Rachel Zegler’s first name is in honor of the character Rachel Green on NBC’s hit comedy series, Friends.
Audition: Zegler submitted an audition tape to director Steven Spielberg for the character of Maria in West Side Story which included a Spanish language version of “I Feel Pretty.”