First Look: Meet Steven Spielberg’s New Maria, Rachel Zegler
Written by Tiffany Wilkie
January 15, 2019
Concluding a worldwide search of more than 30K people, Steven Spielberg’s remake of the classic West Side Story has found its Maria a 17-year old High School student from New Jersey Rachel Zegler who will make her feature film debut opposite already cast Ansel Elgort as Tony.
In January 2018, Zegler spotted a casting notice on Twitter for Latinx actors and submitted a video of herself singing “Tonight” and “Me Siento Hermosa” (“I Feel Pretty”). The rest is history. Zegler, who has an active Youtube account where you can watch videos of her singing classic Broadway as well as contemporary songs and most recently, videos of her singing the songs of Freddie Mercury, whom she calls a significant influence in her life.
We wish Rachel all the best. You can see why Rachel will be the perfect Maria in the videos below:
Zegler Performs Maria’s Iconic Final Monologue
Zegler Performs “A Boy Like That/I Have a Love” from West Side Story
Zegler Performs “Somebody to Love” by Freddie Mercury
Zegler Performs “La Vie En Rose” by Édith Piaf
Zegler Performs “Gimmie, Gimmie” from Thoroughly Modern Millie
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