Biography
Date of Birth
4 December 1979, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Nickname
The Indie Queen
Cook
Height
5' 2" (1.57 m)
Mini 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 in the USA. She also appeared in a now-famous (in the USA) 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
Was a print model for 5 years before becoming an actress.
Was a student of the Laurel Springs School, a school for young actors who can't attend a more regular school due to time commitments.
Was in a memorable anti-drug commercial where she smashes an egg with a frying pan ("this is your brain on heroin") and proceeds to trash the room with the frying pan ("this is your family, friends, career, etc."). Arguably one of the few effective anti-drug spots ever made.
Owns her own production company called Ben's Sister Productions.
Attended Minneapolis South High School, the same school as actor Josh Hartnett and Genevieve Gorder.
Played the younger version of Parker Posey's character in The House of Yes (1997). Posey plays the villain in Josie and the Pussycats (2001).
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".
Was recommended to the producers of Dawson's Creek (1998) by Texas Rangers (2001) co-star James Van Der Beek. She guest starred with him in 3 episodes.
In early 2001, she met actor Ryan Reynolds and the two immediately hit it off. However, she had to fly to England shortly after to film Blow Dry (2001). Ryan ended up suprising her, pulling out of his filming schedule and following her all the way to London. It was a success and they ended up dating for a year.
Her mother was a cooking instructor and is currently a weaver.
There is a Minneapolis rock and blues band called "Budding Hollywood Starlet" that is named in honor of her and other budding Hollywood starlets.
Ranked #26 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002).
She's All That (1999) was the second time she had worked in a film with Freddie Prinze Jr., although in their first project together, The House of Yes (1997), they shared no scenes together.
Her mother is of Italian ancestry.
After reading R. Lee Fleming Jr.'s script for She's All That (1999), Rachael began to like the storyline more and more, and soon after was asked to play the role of Laney Boggs.
Her guitar teachers were Fast Freddie & Phil X.
Had little interest in modeling by the time she was 15 and tried to focus more on school of which she became fonder.
Did a school senior paper entitled "Politics, Shmolotics, and 10 other reasons I'll never be President".
Stephenie Meyer wrote the Twilight character of Alice Cullen with her in mind.
Got engaged to Daniel Gillies after dating for ''maybe five months'' and they got married a couple of months after that, on August 14, 2004.
On the set of The Final Season (2007). [July 2006]
Filming Nancy Drew (2007) starring alongside Emma Roberts. [January 2006]
With Kal Penn, appeared at Keene State College on November 3rd to campaign for Barack Obama. [November 2008]
(August 14, 2004) Married her boyfriend Daniel Gillies after less than a year of dating.
Was 6 months pregnant with her daughter Charlotte when she completed filming the 2nd season of Perception (2012).
(June 13, 2019) Announced her separation from husband of nearly 15 years Daniel Gillies.
Mother, with her ex-husband Daniel Gillies of two children a daughter Charlotte Easton Gillies (b. September 28, 2013) and a son Theodore Vigo Sullivan Gillies (b. April 4, 2015).
Quotes
I'm not small, I'm space-efficient.
I'd love to do a sequel. Even if it was 'Ernest Goes to Mars 3'- if these girls were in it, I'd do it in a minute". [Referring to Josie and the Pussycats (2001) in an interview she gave to TV Guide (Issue #2505, 31 March 2001; article title "What's new, Pussycats? by Josh Rottenberg)]
I would love to work with Rosario Dawson & Tara Reid again. We were a team on the set of Josie and the Pussycats (2001), our chemistry was great from the first day of filming & you don't really expect that when you work with new people. I still call them everyday, like sisters to me!
My height was never a factor.
When I came into the business, things changed a lot, and my life was in a real state of flux.
Hours fly by while I'll just be in my apartment, and somehow it will be messy later. I'll clean it up and eat cereal and watch Ricki Lake and call friends I haven't talked to.
Sometimes I'm just a disaster! Other times it seems like I'm one of the most normal people I know.
Acting just sort of happened and I found that I loved it. It was such a challenge.
You wouldn't recognize me from one project to the next.
On Josie and the Pussycats (2001); I guess I've done one other movie with a group of girls (Strike! (1998)), but we weren't as close.
On Josie and the Pussycats (2001); I'm learning to play guitar. It's very difficult, but I'm determined to do it right so I don't make anybody mad.
I always say that even if this were the worst movie in the world, I'd do it again because it was such a good time.
Once I tried highlighting my brother's hair, but I think I mixed it wrong. It was as if someone poured kerosene on his head.
You know, we have to take these characters who, granted, have their separate personalities but, on a lot of levels, are pretty two-dimensional and make them into people with flaws, with insecurities.
