Rachel Zegler Gets Playful in New Photos as Her Broadway ‘Evita’ Era Approaches
Few young stars balance stage, screen, and social media quite like Rachel Zegler, and her newest Instagram photos show off her more relaxed, playful side. Born in Hackensack, New Jersey, and raised in nearby Clifton, the 25-year-old landed her first acting role at just 12, playing Shprintze in a production of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. A few years later, she was chosen from more than 30,000 applicants to play Maria in Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’, marking her film debut.
That performance earned her a Golden Globe and paved the way for a leading role in ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ and Disney’s live-action ‘Snow White’. The latter proved rocky, with backlash surrounding her casting and disappointing box office results. Since then, however, Zegler has quietly built one of the most impressive stage résumés of her generation.
In one of the photos, Zegler lies back on a gray couch in a cropped gray top trimmed with lace, flashing a thumbs-up while making a goofy, puckered face at the camera, with snacks and a water bottle scattered behind her. In another photo, she shifts to a moodier feel, as she poses in a fitted red graphic tank top with her dark hair falling in loose waves around her face.
The contrast between silly and sultry is exactly what makes the set so charming. It’s a reminder that, for all her accolades, Zegler still posts like someone who doesn’t take herself too seriously.
The new snapshots follow another attention-grabbing Instagram carousel from earlier this month. Captioned as a cheeky end-of-summer post, it gave fans a peek at her holidays, including a faceless selfie in an ivory crinkle-textured monokini whose side cutout framed her honeybee tattoo.
She’s also been out and about in New York. Photos showed Zegler attending day 8 of the US Open Tennis Championships on September 6.
Her biggest professional milestone is just around the corner. Zegler will reprise her Olivier Award-winning performance as Eva Perón when director Jamie Lloyd’s revival of ‘Evita’ transfers to Broadway, with performances starting February 27 ahead of a March 25 opening at the Winter Garden Theatre.
She’ll be reunited with familiar faces, too. Her London co-stars Diego Rodriguez and James Olivas will join her as Che and Juan Perón, respectively, with Bella Brown playing The Mistress and serving as the alternate for Eva Perón.
Zegler’s screen career is just as busy. She’s set to star alongside Marisa Tomei and Dan Bucatinsky in ‘She Gets It From Me’, a comedy-drama about a teenager searching for her ex-punk rocker birth mother. She’ll also lead the thriller ‘NDA’ opposite Amy Ryan and Penn Badgley, and join Adrien Brody and Ben Platt in the musical feature ‘Last Dance’.
She’s also attached to play Gloria Estefan in the biographical drama ‘On Your Feet’, directed by Lissette Feliciano. In a recent TIME interview, Zegler explained that her upcoming films, including ‘Octet’, are all led by women or Latino filmmakers, reflecting her commitment to uplifting creatives whose paths have been limited in the industry.
Between Broadway rehearsals on the horizon and a stacked lineup of films, Zegler clearly knows how to carve out time for fun. Her latest photos capture that balance perfectly, giving fans a relatable glimpse of the star behind the spotlight.
Which Rachel Zegler project are you most excited to see next?
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