Rachael Leigh Cook was born on October 4, 1979 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Rachael began her career as a model at the tender age of 10. At 14, her modeling agency sent her to read for a short film, "26 Summer Street" (1996) and changed the course of her young life. From that moment on, Rachael was hooked on acting. When she reached Los Angeles later that year, Rachael bypassed the wannabe stage and nailed her first audition, for the part of a budding entrepreneur in "The Baby-Sitters Club" (1995).
Rachael returned to theaters three months later in "Tom and Huck" (1995), then filled her calendar with appearances in independent and made-for-TV movies. She divided her time between Minneapolis and Tinseltown, shuttling from school events to movie shoots.

Rachael's starlet status crystallized in 1999, when she starred opposite Freddie Prinze Jr. in "She's All That" (1999). Her on-screen transformation from ugly duckling to ravishing beauty scored several teen-oriented awards and made Rachael a hot commodity in Hollywood. She signed for a handful of plum follow-up roles, including a troubled adolescent in "Get Carter" (2000), a frontier gal in "Texas Rangers" (2001), and the caterwauling lead in the live-action version of "Josie and the Pussycats" (2001).

Rachael Leigh Cook now lives primarily in Los Angeles, but she returns home frequently to visit family and friends.
 

Misspellings & aliases:
Rachel, Reichel, Racel, Rahcel, Rachell, Lee, Leig, Leihg, Leih, Li, Cooke, Coock, Coocke, Coke, Cooc.