FINDING HER VOICE RACHEL

CAST IN STARRING ROLES IN WEST SIDE STORY AND SNOW WHITE, A HIGH SCHOOLER BECAME AN OVERNIGHT CELEBRITY. WHAT COMES NEXT FOR RACHEL ZEGLER?

- ADRIENNE GAFFNEY

Rachel Zegler is a modern movie star. She exploded onto the scene with a stunning performance in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and a fairy tale of a Hollywood origin story—unknown New Jersey schoolgirl beats out 30,000 with self-taped audition! Before the movie was released, she had filmed the superhero sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods alongside Helen Mirren and had been cast in a live-action adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As befitting a celebrity tale of today, though, she has also walked headfirst into a fame machine where glamour and accolades are undercut by trolling and online attacks. The spotlight on her has led to an intense scrutiny of everything from her looks and personality to her ethnicity.

“I got cast as Maria in West Side Story on 1/9/19. And I just won a Golden Globe for that same performance, on 1/9/22. Life is very strange,” Zegler tweeted after winning the award. She’s still getting used to the strangeness. While Zegler became an overnight celebrity after landing the role of Maria, being cast in Snow White caused a more world-changing shift. “I felt more of my anonymity go out the window after