Best Known As: The star of the movie She's All That
Rachael Leigh Cook was a hit in the 1999 teen romance She's All That, playing the ugly duckling transformed by Freddie Prinze, Jr.. Her first feature role was in 1995's The Baby-Sitters Club and she later appeared in The House of Yes (1997) and opposite Sylvester Stallone in the 2000 remake of Get Carter. In 2001 she starred as Josie in the movie version of the 1970s cartoon Josie and the Pussycats.
Cook is often said to resemble actress Winona Ryder... Cook is no relation to actress Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Career Highlights: She's All That, Josie and the Pussycats, Nancy Drew
First Major Screen Credit: The Baby-Sitters Club (1995)
Biography
Born October 4, 1979 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the doe-eyed, fine-boned Rachael Leigh Cook has invited frequent comparisons with the young Audrey Hepburn. The actress began her career at the age of ten as a model, and then broke into acting in 1995 with her role as Mary-Ann Spier in The Baby-Sitters Club. Her next memorable appearance was in The House of Yes (1997), where she played the young Parker Posey. Coincidentally, Freddie Prinze Jr., with whom she would later co-star in She's All That, was also in the film, although they had no scenes together.
After The House of Yes, Cook acted in a few forgettable films, the exception being Living Out Loud (1998), in which she played the young Holly Hunter. It was her next film, 1999's She's All That, that garnered her significant attention. As Laney Boggs, Cook went from geek to chic under the tutelage of the most popular boy in school (Prinze Jr.). As the film was essentially billed as an update of My Fair Lady (1964), the comparisons between Cook and Audrey Hepburn seemed particularly apt. Only time will tell if these comparisons extend beyond physical appearance to career trajectory. Taking to the stage (on the screen at least) with her turn in the live adaptation of Josie and the Pussycats, audiences would soon find the attractive actress travelling back in time to the old west in Texas Rangers. An attempt to revive the western from celluloid oblivion, the film documented the true story of the founding of the Texas Rangers and found Cook cast alongside popular actors James Van Der Beek and Oded Fehr. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide
Cook was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Thomas H. Cook, a social worker and
former stand-up comic, and JoAnn, a cooking instructor and weaver.[1] Cook attended school at Laurel Springs School and Minneapolis South High School. She began working as a print model at the age of 10, most notably in nationwide advertisements for Target and appearing on the boxes of Milk-Bone dog biscuits for
medium sized dogs.
Career
At the age of fourteen, Cook began auditioning for acting work. Her modeling agency sent her to read for a short film, 26
Summer Street (1996). She first gained national attention when she was featured in a memorable This is Your Brain on Drugspublic-service
television advertisement, in which she proceeds to destroy a set with a frying pan as she listed the things that drugs
harms (in 1998). Cook began her feature film career some years earlier, debuting in The Baby-Sitters Club (1995) as shy 13 year old baby-sitter Mary Anne Spier. The movie
was based on Ann M. Martin's book series of the same name.
In 2000, she was the cover girl for the premier issue of FHM US (March/April issue). Cook
also provided the voice for Chelsea Cunningham on the Kids' WB animated series
Batman Beyond in the episode "Last Resort" and in the animated film
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. In 2002, she was ranked
#26 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World".
Cook owns her own production company, called Ben's Sister Productions (in reference to her younger brother, an aspiring
filmmaker). Cook eventually stepped away from the spotlight to focus on spending time with friends and family. She later returned
to mainstream films when she signed on to a new casting agency. Cook was later cast in a role in the big screen adaptation of
Nancy Drew, the female lead in the independent sports drama The Final Season, and playing a small supporting lead in Blonde Ambition.
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She has appeared in numerous amounts of episodes of the Seth Green created comedy,
Robot Chicken.
Interestingly, she did the voice of some characters in the episode of Robot Chicken
that included a parody of Final Fantasy VII, which
involved characters from the game including Cloud Strife, Sephiroth and Tifa Lockhart, for which in the
recent adaptations she has portrayed the voice of. However in this parody there were
no voices but simply text like in the original game.
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