Rachael Leigh Cook, born October 4, 1979 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a petite American actress and former child model. She is best known for demolishing a kitchen with a frying pan
in a famous anti-heroin PSA in the 1990s and for starring in the films She's All That and Josie and the Pussycats (2001).
Cook has also done some voiceover work, perhaps most notably playing Tifa Lockhart in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Kingdom Hearts II, Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy, and World of Final Fantasy; as well as doing some work on Robot Chicken. She also voiced Jaesa Wilsaam in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
In 2004, she married The Vampire Diaries star Dan Gillies, with whom she has two children, though the couple announced in June 2019 that they were splitting up. They're still on good terms, however.
Her roles include:
- The Baby-Sitters Club - Mary Anne Spier
- Tom and Huck - Becky Thatcher
- Carpool - Kayla
- The House of Yes - Young 'Jackie-O'
- The Hairy Bird - Abigail "Abby" Sawyer
- She's All That - Laney Boggs
- Get Carter - Doreen Carter
- Antitrust - Lisa
- Blow Dry - Christina
- Josie and the Pussycats (2001) - Josie McCoy
- Tangled (2001) - Jenny Kelley
- Into the West - Clara Wheeler
- He's All That - Anna Sawyer
Tropes associated with Rachael Leigh Cook include:
- Adam Westing: She reprised her infamous PSA role when it was parodied on Robot Chicken.
- Curtains Match the Window: The poster girl for doe-eyed brunettes everywhere.
- Frying Pan of Doom: The "This is your brain on drugs" PSA has her use one to smash up a kitchen.
- Hollywood Hype Machine: She got a pretty big push in the late-1990s, early-2000s era, as Hollywood wanted her to be the next big star- magazines, TV shows, and anything else celebrity-related followed suit, but then Josie and the Pussycats (2001) happened. And that was it. All she's gotten since then are parts in other failed movies and roles on TV, though at least unlike some victims of the Hype Machine she has been working steadily and hasn't turned into a celebrity joke. She's also landed one of the main roles in Perception (2012).
