Name: Rachael Leigh Cook
Birthday: October 4, 1979
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Height: 5'2"
Fact: Rachael is left-handed
 

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 4, 1979, Rachael Leigh Cook was shy as a child. She knew early on that she wanted to become an actress. Before jumping onto the big screen, Rachael began acting by the time she was 7 in commercials and school musicals, and modeling at age 10.

Rather than being a fashion model, Rachael used her beautiful face and talent in more beneficial ways: in public service announcements. She appeared in a non-speaking part in a PSA about adopting foster children, while her most notable work was in the famous anti-drug PSA that simulated how the brain is affected by drugs, by smashing eggs with a frying pan and then destroying the kitchen.

Although Rachael was receiving work as a print model during her 4-year modeling stint, Minnesota was not the hub of acting. Rachael headed to the West Coast, to pursue an acting career.

Once in Los Angeles, Rachael didn't have much trouble landing roles. In 1995, she made her feature film debut in the film adaptation of the popular children's book series, The Baby-Sitters Club. Remaining true to her younger fans, she followed up that performance with a role in the film Tom and Huck, co-starring Home Improvement's Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

The rest of the 90's were marked by independent films such as Carpool, the short feature 26 Summer Street, The Eighteenth Angel, and The House of Yes, which earned recognition at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival.

After a couple more films, including Living Out Loud and Strike!, Rachael bounced onto the big-screen in the sleeper hit She's All That, and landed in the hearts of many a young man. As the nerd-turned-high school sweetheart in the modern day adaptation of Pygmalion, Rachael gave a credible performance, although she couldn't fool audiences into believing that she was really the scrawny, awkward girl she portrayed.

The success of She's All That gave Rachael the recognition she needed to become the in-demand star that she is today. She appeared in Six-Pence None the Richer's video for "Kiss Me" (off the She's All That soundtrack) with co-star, Freddie Prinze Jr.

Television audiences must have been accustomed to seeing Rachael on the television screen by then, as she also had a guest-starring recurring role in the high school series Dawson's Creek; an appearance on The Outer Limits; as well as roles in made-for-TV movies such as True Women, The Eighteenth Angel and Country Justice.

What's next for the young doe-eyed beauty? Since She's All That, she appeared in the film Texas Rangers, and she will next star in a string of upcoming films, including Blow Dry, Northanger Abbey, Get Carter (co-starring Sylvester Stallone), as well as the film adaptation of the popular cartoon, Josie and the Pussycats.

Besides acting, Rachael is passionate about art, especially drawing. She would like to eventually try screenwriting and she will get her chance to co-produce an independent film entitled Tangled.

Rachael lives mostly in her L.A. apartment, and she has a boxer dog and two cats. She's a vegetarian and has a tattoo on her left arm.