Rachael Leigh Cook Biography

Summary

"Rachael Leigh Cook" (born October 4, 1979) is an American actress. She came to fame after her role in the 1999 teen romantic comedy, "She's All That", and has since appeared mostly in lower-profile films.

Biography

Early life

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. 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 Drugs" public-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.

Cook's two highest-profile lead roles to date have been in the films "She's All That" (1999) and "Josie and the Pussycats" (2001). Cook has also appeared in a number of independent films and in the 2005 television miniseries "Into the West".

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 has provided the voice of Tifa Lockhart in the video games "Kingdom Hearts II" and "Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-", as well as the CG movie, "Final Fantasy VII Advent Children". She also starred in the video for New Found Glory's 2002 single, 'Dressed to Kill'. Cook's latest voice-over role is for the video game, "Yakuza", where she voices the role of Reina, a beautiful barkeep. She has also appeared in Daniel Powter's "Love You Lately".

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".

She is being considered for the role of Alice Cullen in the upcoming movie, Twilight, based on the book by Stephenie Meyer.

Personal life

Cook has dated actors Vincent Kartheiser, Ryan Reynolds, Shane West, Rider Strong and Colin Hanks. She is now married to actor Daniel Gillies. Cook, a vegetarian, lives mostly in Los Angeles, but frequently goes back to visit her family in Minnesota.

Trivia

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.