Rachael Leigh Cook - Career

Career

Cook began auditioning for acting work at the age of 14. She made her debut as an actress in the 1995 film The Baby-Sitters Club, based on Ann M. Martin's book series of the same name. Her second movie role was in Tom and Huck, where she portrayed Rebecca "Becky" Thatcher. In 1996, her modeling agency sent her to read for a short film, 26 Summer Street. In 1997, Cook appeared in a leading role in the film Country Justice as a 15-year-old rape victim who is impregnated by her rapist. She gained national attention in 1998, when she was featured in the famous This Is Your Brain on Drugs PSA television advertisement, in which she proceeds to destroy a kitchen with a frying pan as she lists the important things in life that heroin harms.

In 1999, Cook starred her breakout role in the sleeper hit film She's All That, a romantic comedy that adapted George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and so far the most financially successful film in her career. In 2000 she starred opposite Elijah Wood in the well-received The Bumblebee Flies Anyway. She took the lead role in 2001's Josie and the Pussycats, which turned out to be a box office failure. After that Cook mainly focused her work in independent films, resulting in some nicknaming her the next "Indie Queen" after Parker Posey. She also appeared as a main cast in the 2005 television miniseries Into the West produced by Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks.

In 2000, she was the cover girl for the premiere US issue of FHM, the March/April issue. She also starred in the music video for New Found Glory's 2000 single "Dressed to Kill" and singer Daniel Powter's "Love You Lately". In 2002, she was ranked #26 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World".

Cook provided the voice for Chelsea Cunningham on the Kids' WB animated series Batman Beyond in the episode "Last Resort" and in the animated film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Cook voiced Tifa Lockhart in the video games Kingdom Hearts II, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, as well as the CG movie Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. Cook's latest voice-over role is for the video game Yakuza where she voices the role of Reina.

Cook owns her own production company, Ben's Sister Productions (in reference to her younger brother Ben Cook, an aspiring filmmaker). Cook eventually stepped away from the spotlight to focus on spending time with friends and family. She later returned to mainstream films when she signed on to a new casting agency. Cook was cast in a role in the big screen adaptation of Nancy Drew, the female lead in the independent sports drama The Final Season, and playing a small supporting lead in Blonde Ambition starring Jessica Simpson and Luke Wilson.

She has appeared in numerous episodes of the Seth Green comedies Titan Maximum and Robot Chicken. On the latter she parodied the "This Is Your Brain on Drugs" role she made famous, by destroying everything she encounters with her frying pan.

In 2008, she guest-starred in an episode of the USA Network series Psych as Abigail Lytar, an old flame of Shawn Spencer. She returned in the season finale where Abigail and Shawn start dating and appeared in many more episodes the following season.

In February 2010, Cook signed on as the female lead in Fox TV's comedy pilot Nirvana. She will star in the Western horror film Vampire, which is the English-language feature debut of Japanese director Iwai Shunji.

In 2011, she voiced the character of Jaesa Willsaam in the MMO game, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

In 2012, Cook signed on as the female lead role in the TNT crime drama series Perception opposite Eric McCormack. She starred in the independent film Broken Kingdom, which was directed by her husband Daniel Gillies and premier on October 2, 2012. She also appeared in a Funny or Die sketch with Chad Michael Murray.