Few actresses have had such a spectacular film debut as Rachel Zegler did. The granddaughter of a Colombian immigrant from Barranquilla knew how to make the most of her Latin features to win the role of María in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, winning a Golden Globe for her performance.
Who was only 16 years old when she showed up for the open audition, with enough advantages such as having played him in a performance at her high school theater, having a remarkable command of Spanish for a second-generation American, and having a spectacular voice with which had already conquered thousands of followers on its YouTube channel, has continued to be right in each of its subsequent decisions.
Zegler, who signed a contract with the powerful CAA representation agency as soon as he got a place in the big league of Hollywood, took advantage of the anger generated in the Latin community by his absence from the Academy's list of nominees to sign up among the presenters of the Oscars. of 2022.
His return to the billboards occurred in March of last year with a supporting role in the DC blockbuster Shazam! The Fury of the Gods, in which she played Anthea, the youngest daughter of Atlas. The film was successful, leaving 121 million euros at the global box office, not bad considering that the cost was 27 million of that currency.
And in November, the New Jersey native who will turn 23 in May took another solid step on her path to superstardom when she released The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
The film that marked the return of the franchise that established Jennifer Lawrence a decade ago was a great box office success, taking first place at the United States box office for two consecutive weeks. Reviews praised Zegler's work as Lucy Gray Baird, the new heroine created by Suzanne Collins in her prequel set 64 years before her first book.
However, the role that will certainly mark a before and after in her career is that of the new Snow White, which she got when West Side Story had just been released, and which is part of Walt Disney Studios' strategy of creating ambitious adaptations. of his animated films with an emphasis on diversity.
The film, which will be released in Spain on March 22, 2025, is already in the post-production stage and has been directed by Marc Webb, director of the two Spider-Man films that starred Andrew Garfield, while the script has been co-written by triple Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig.
With an estimated budget of 191 million euros, the new version of the 1937 classic also stars Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, while the seven dwarfs have been created on the computer.
For now, only one photo of Zegler as a Disney princess has been seen, but her hiring generated a furious attack from the same fans who were horrified when the studio chose the African-American Halle Bailey as the new Little Mermaid for the film released in 2023.
In an article recently published by Variety magazine in which she talks with Bailey, the Latin princess says that she appreciates the controversy because it has made her feel as strong as Teflon. “They have said the worst thing that can be said about me, so nothing can hurt me anymore. The harmful comments have helped me realize that I have a lot of love in my life. “I must let my work speak for me,” she said.
In addition to her good work streak, which has already allowed her to accumulate a personal fortune close to three million euros, Rachel Zegler has already been in a relationship for two years with the American actor of Puerto Rican origin Josh Andrés Rivera, who played Chino in West side story and then worked with her again in the prequel to The Hunger Games.
The next few months promise to be restful for the couple, since while he must wait for the release date of the horror film Inhabitants to be announced, of which he is one of the protagonists, Rachel, who has no new projects, awaits Let A24 decide when the science-fiction comedy Y2K, on which he worked with Alicia Silverstone, will hit theaters. Nor has Apple said when the animated film Spellbound can be seen, made in Spain and in whose English version Zegler has dubbed the protagonist, another princess named Ellian.
