Rachel Zegler has revealed she was repeatedly asked to prove her Latina heritage when auditioning for West Side Story.
The 23-year-old actress, who’s at the moment selling the live-action remake of Snow White through which she stars, shot to fame in 2021 when being solid alongside Ansel Elgort in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the beloved 1957 musical.
Based on Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story is ready in New York within the mid-Fifties and follows the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage road gangs of various ethnic backgrounds (Puerto Rican and White).
However, issues are difficult why former member of the Jets – Tony – falls in love with Maria, the sister the chief of the Sharks.
The movie marked Zegler’s first on-screen look, securing the function after responding to an open casting name on Twitter.
Although she was finally chosen from over 30,000 candidates, Rachel has now detailed how ‘white executives’ questioned her Colombian heritage throughout the casting course of.
‘There’s confusion as a result of I don’t have a single ounce of Latin in my identify,’ she advised Allure in a brand new interview.
‘When I was in the running for Maria in West Side Story, they kept calling to ask if I was legit. I remember thinking, “Do you want me to bring my abuelita (grandmother) in? I will. I’ll convey her into the studio if you’d like to meet her”.’
While she didn’t find yourself needing to go that far, Rachel discovered it bemusing at ‘having a bunch of white executives have you prove your identity to them’.
‘It’s an fascinating expertise being a part of that diaspora within the present local weather we dwell in. But I like being Colombian,’ she added.
Zegler’s mom is of Colombian descent, with her maternal grandmother immigrating from Barranquilla, Colombia, to the United States within the Nineteen Sixties.
Previous remakes of West Side Story have come beneath hearth for casting non-Hispanic actors as Maria, together with Natalie Wood.
However, the function noticed Zegler met with essential acclaim, profitable a Golden Globe for greatest actress in a musical or comedy movie.
Following her break-out function in West Side Story, she was solid within the Snow White remake however was met with backlash from some who complained concerning the character – who has ‘skin as white as snow’ – being portrayed by an individual of color.
Despite this, early critiques of the movie have been glowing with Metro describing the actress as an ‘enchanting lead’.
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