Rachel Zegler: Get to know the fresh talent playing Maria in ‘West Side Story’

Steven Spielberg’s 2021 take on West Side Story arrived after a pandemic delay that pushed the release from late 2020 to December 2021. The musical retold the classic Romeo and Juliet tale through rival New York street gangs, and it marked Spielberg’s first foray into the genre. The cast mixed established names like Ansel Elgort with fresh faces, and the biggest surprise was nineteen-year-old Rachel Zegler stepping into Maria after an open online audition.

Rachel Zegler

Born May 3, 2001, in Hackensack, New Jersey, Zegler grew up in a bilingual household with an older sister, Jacqueline. Her mother is of Colombian descent and her father traces his roots to Poland. She attended St. Philip the Apostle Preparatory School before moving on to Immaculate Conception High School in Clifton, where she performed in four consecutive school musicals. Her roles included Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Dorothy in 42nd Street, and Fiona in Shrek the Musical. She earned multiple Metro Award nominations for leading actress and graduated in 2019. Additional stage credits at the school included Legally Blonde, Rent, and Les Miserables.

In 2018 Spielberg opened casting for Maria and Zegler responded with YouTube videos of herself singing Tonight and I Feel Pretty. She beat roughly thirty thousand other applicants for the part. At the same time she secured a role in the 2023 release Shazam! Fury of the Gods. After West Side Story opened she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy at age twenty, becoming the youngest winner in the category and the first of Colombian descent.

West Side Story

The musical premiered on Broadway in 1957 with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Set on the Upper West Side in the 1950s, the story follows the Jets, a white gang, and the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang, whose rivalry turns deadly when a Jet named Tony falls for Maria, the sister of the Sharks’ leader. The score includes Maria, America, One Hand One Heart, A Boy Like That, I Feel Pretty, and Something’s Coming. Spielberg’s version kept the songs intact while updating the production for modern screens. The film earned critical praise and seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and grossed seventy-six million dollars worldwide. Rita Moreno returned as a new character and Ariana DeBose won the supporting-actress Oscar for her performance as Anita.

Post-West Side Story Film Roles

Zegler’s first follow-up came in 2023 when she played the goddess Anthea in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Later that year she took the lead as Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. In 2024 she appeared in the comedy Y2K and voiced the title character in the animated feature Spellbound. She then starred as Snow White in the 2025 live-action remake, rounding out a rapid five-year stretch that moved her from newcomer to leading roles across major studio releases.

Stage Career and Awards

After the film success Zegler returned to live theater with her Broadway debut as Juliet in a 2024 revival of Romeo + Juliet. She followed that with a West End turn as Eva Perón in a 2025 production of Evita at the London Palladium, earning the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Those stage credits sit alongside her Golden Globe and place her among a small group of performers who have moved between blockbuster films and major theater awards in quick succession.

Reception and Legacy of West Side Story (2021)

Critics praised Spielberg’s staging for honoring the original score while sharpening the social tensions at the story’s core. The seven Oscar nominations reflected strong technical work in production design, costume, and cinematography. DeBose’s win and Moreno’s supporting turn created a direct link between the 1961 and 2021 casts. Though the pandemic kept theatrical earnings modest, the film found a lasting audience on streaming and remains a frequent reference point in conversations about musical revivals.

Recent Projects and 2026 Outlook

At twenty-five Zegler continues to balance screen and stage work. A new musical film is in early development, and she appeared at the 2026 Tony Awards to present and perform. Industry observers expect further concert stagings, possibly including The Last Five Years, along with another Broadway run before the decade closes. Her mix of awards recognition and consistent bookings suggests the open-call discovery has settled into a durable career path.