Rachel Zegler (born on 05/03/2001) is an American singer, songwriter, student, and actress based in Clifton, New Jersey. On Monday, January 15, 2019, Zegler was announced as the new cast of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story reboot, which plans to revamp the classic 1957 Broadway musical and 1961 film. In January 2020, she signed a deal to be represented by ICM Partners. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Some of Rachel Zegler's previous acting roles include Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Serena in Legally Blonde, Cosette in Les Misérables, Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street. ^[3]

Zegler was nominated in 2016 for a Metropolitan High School Theater Award for her role in Beauty And The Beast at Immaculate Conception High School. ^[3]

Zegler was selected to play Maria in Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story from an audition pool of more than 30,000 actors from across the globe. West Side Story will open on December 18, 2020 via 20th Century Fox/Disney with Spielberg directing and Amblin producing. ^{[3] [13]}

Zegler first saw the audition notice for West Side Story in January 2018 for Latinx actors. She submitted a video of herself singing “Tonight” and “Me Siento Hermosa” (“I Feel Pretty”) from the hit Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim show, and landed the part of Maria (a role made famous by Natalie Wood in the 1961 movie) opposite Ansel Elgort who is playing Tony. Spielberg and his team were committed to finding the best actors within the Puerto Rican as well as the broader Latinx community casting a wide net. ^[13]

In January 2020, Zegler signed a deal to be represented by ICM Partners. Deadline Editorial Director Anthony D'Alessandro wrote that he heard Zegler was pitched by five agencies in Deadline:

Her YouTube channel has over 3 million total views. Zegler's Instagram, where she often posts covers such as A Star is Born's I'll Never Love Again and Shallow, has over 44,000 followers. She goes by the handle @rachelzegler on Twitter where she has more than 100,000 followers. ^{[2] [15]}