Who is Rachel Zegler, the new lead in Hunger Games’ prequel? She got her break in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, walks red carpets in Dior, and covers Lady Gaga on YouTube
- Zegler will star in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, to release in 2023, and December’s Shazam! Fury of the Gods with Lucy Liu, Zachary Levi, Helen Mirren and Adam Brody
- The Maria to Ansel Elgort’s Tony in West Side Story, Zegler is dating co-star Josh Andrés Rivera in real life and plays Snow White in Disney’s new adaptation opposite Gal Gadot
It’s been 10 years since The Hunger Games franchise first kicked off – a total of four films drawn from a trilogy of novels by Suzanne Collins. The saga came to an end in 2015 with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 … or so we thought.
Much to fans’ delight, the author wrote a prequel in 2020 and it was quickly confirmed for adaptation by Lionsgate, the producer behind the previous blockbusters that featured a cast including Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth.
Here’s what we know so far about the Colombian-American rising star …
She’s a newbie who debuted in 2021
The young starlet has enjoyed a fantastic two years. According to her IMDB, she only made a short appearance on The George Lucas Talk Show in 2021 before landing her debut role in Spielberg’s musical the same year.
Since then it’s been ever upwards for Zegler who, besides the The Hunger Games prequel, has an impressive line-up of films. That includes another main role in Shazam! Fury of the Gods alongside Lucy Liu, Zachary Levi, Helen Mirren and Adam Brody, which is in post-production. Zegler is also in the midst of filming Spellbound, as the major voice talent, as well as Disney’s anticipated reboot of 1937’s Snow White, where she plays the main character opposite Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. Safe to say, you can expect to see her face much more in the near future.
She has an incredible vocal range and a theatre background
