Rachael Leigh Cook's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Into the West Clara Wheeler I Love Toys Rachael Lei…

Main Movie Roles 2009 - Bob Funk 2007 - Nancy Drew 2007 - All Hat 2007 - The Final Season 2007 - Blonde Ambition 2007 - Descent 2005 - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children 2004 - Stateside 2003 - Bookies 2003 - The Big Empty 2003 - 11:14 2001 - Texas Rangers 2001 - Josie and the Pussycats 2001 - Antitrust 2001 - Blow Dry 2000 - Get Carter 1999 - She's All That 1998 - Living Out Loud 1998 - The Naked Man 1998 - Strike! 1997 - The House of Yes 1996 - Carpool

BIOGRAPHY:

Minneapolis native Rachael Leigh Cook began her career as a model at the tender age of 10, gracing Milk-Bone(R) boxes and Target(R) ads nationwide. She also appeared in a now-famous anti-drug TV spot in which, armed with a frying pan, she bashed her way through a kitchen to show the disastrous effects of heroin. At 14, her modeling agency sent her to read for a short film (26 Summer Street (1996)) and changed the course of her young life--from that moment on, Cook was hooked on acting. When she reached L.A. later that year, Cook bypassed the wannabe stage and nailed her first audition (for the part of a budding entrepreneur in The Baby-Sitters Club (1995)). She returned to theaters three months later in the Jonathan Taylor Thomas vehicle Tom and Huck (1995), then filled her calendar with appearances in independent and made-for-TV movies. She divided her time between Minneapolis and Tinseltown, shuttling from school events to movie shoots with her mother in tow. Cook's starlet status crystallized in 1999, when she starred opposite Freddie Prinze Jr. in the Pygmalion retelling She's All That (1999). Her on-screen transformation from ugly duckling to ravishing beauty scored several teen-oriented awards and made Cook a hot commodity in Hollywood. She signed for a handful of plum follow-up roles, including a troubled adolescent in Sylvester Stallone's Get Carter (2000), a frontier gal in Texas Rangers (2001), and the caterwauling lead in the live-action version of Josie and the Pussycats (2001). Cook now lives primarily in Los Angeles, but she returns home frequently to visit with friends and family. Her father, Tom (a former stand-up comic), is a social worker in the public school system, and her younger brother, Ben, is an aspiring filmmaker.


TRIVIA:

• Dated _"Boy Meets World" (1993)_ (qv) star 'Rider Strong' (qv).
• Noisy underground British artist 'Firexit' has created two songs especially for Rachael Leigh Cook. The two songs are called 'This is for Rachael Leigh Cook' and a rare acoustic track called 'Dear Rachael'. In a interview, Gareth Gerrard (aka Firexit) was asked about the songs, he replied "Rachael is everything, I love her very much".
• Her mother is of Italian ancestry
• Her guitar teachers were Fast Freddie & Phil X.
• Owns her own production company called Ben's Sister Productions.
• Played the younger version of 'Parker Posey' (qv)'s character in _The House of Yes (1997)_ (qv). Posey plays the villain in _Josie and the Pussycats (2001)_ (qv).
• Was recommended to the producers of _"Dawson's Creek" (1998)_ (qv) by _Texas Rangers (2001)_ (qv) co-star 'James Van Der Beek' (qv). She guest starred with him in 3 episodes.
• There is a Minneapolis rock and blues band called "Budding Hollywood Starlet" that is named in honor of her and other budding Hollywood starlets.