Rachel Zegler has had a year of two halves. She started it as a Disney princess who was labelled something of a bad apple by tabloid press and is ending it revered as the West End front woman du jour playing one of history’s most divisive characters, Eva Perón.
Glamour’s 2025 Woman of the Year has had quite the journey since she was plucked from obscurity at 17 years old to play Maria in Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story. “I’ve not necessarily had the easiest time in the industry from the word go,” the Golden Globe winner says. But it was her latest role as the charismatic Eva Perón in a London revival of Evita — which strips down and reimagines the Andrew Lloyd Webber–Tim Rice classic as a no-holds-barred pop concert and Zegler as its all-singing, all-dancing star — that has shifted the dial. Audiences descended in droves to watch her belt the musical’s signature song, Don’t Cry for Me Argentina, now restaged ingeniously for the public on the London Palladium balcony. To say that hearts have been stolen is an understatement; it’s hard to think of a more dramatic reversal of public opinion since Princess Diana came out in that revenge dress.
So where does one begin with the Zegler-verse, as some fans have dubbed the ever-expanding lore of this 24-year-old triple threat from suburban New Jersey? You could begin with @RachelZeglerLovesHugs, her YouTube channel that dates back to 2011 and shows a much younger Zegler belting Broadway ballads and sweetly strumming along to acoustic covers of Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa. You can talk about that fateful day in 2018 when Spielberg posted an open call for Maria in his take on the aforementioned classic musical. You might even reference her adept helming of the Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, or her Broadway debut with Kit Connor in last year’s revival of Romeo + Juliet.
But it was her casting as the titular princess in 2025’s live-action Disney reboot Snow White that truly positioned Zegler as a new kind of star: young, outspoken, and unwilling to kowtow to parts of the Hollywood machine that might prefer women to sit down, shut up, and be grateful. First came the right-wing backlash against someone of Latina descent — her mother was born in the US to Colombian immigrants — playing a princess with “skin as white as snow.” Then Zegler was pilloried for describing Prince Charming as a guy who “literally stalks” Snow White. When she posted “always remember, free Palestine” on X after the release of the film’s trailer, she was harangued for that too — and was frequently blamed for the film’s stumble at the box office.
“Honestly, I’m a duck,” she says today of criticism. “It rolls right off my back these days.” Her candour hasn’t been dented — this is a woman who clearly feels and cares deeply about the world. Zegler still thinks it’s important for actors to speak freely. “We just need to normalise our hearts’ not having boundaries,” she explains. “I think that there’s this idea that we as public figures can’t have thoughts or feelings because we are like paper dolls to a majority of the public.”
For the audacity of having opinions while being good at her job, she’s been branded “controversial” by tabloids. What keeps her grounded, despite all the noise? “My love for the work. I am the one who showed up and did my work every day. Nobody can ever take that away from me. I made lifelong friends on that job,” she says of her experience of Snow White. “That kind of family doesn’t get dissipated by online discourse.”
One of those friends forged on a film set is none other than the Oscar-winning British actress Helen Mirren, who first met Zegler while shooting the 2023 superhero caper Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which also starred Lucy Liu. Mirren now calls Zegler, rather sweetly, Little Rachel. Generations may separate them, but to Zegler, the intergenerational insights gleaned from these kinds of friendships are invaluable. “It’s a needed perspective when you find success at a young age to know that it could be very, very different,” she says, recalling a conversation she had with Mirren when they celebrated her 76th birthday with Liu at a nice sushi restaurant in Atlanta. “She was like, ‘When I was 20, I would have killed to just be doing what you’re doing. I was surviving meal to meal doing theatre at that time.’ I don’t often feel the need for a wake-up call, but a reminder is really, really important.”
On a recent call with Zegler — Mirren phoning in from her villa in Italy, Zegler in London about to take to the stage for one of her final performances in Evita — their mutual respect and admiration sparkles with undeniable fierceness. Glamour sat in on their conversation. — Zing Tsjeng
Helen Mirren: I’m so proud that my home city has taken you to their heart the way they have —and I just saw that you’re doing a concert [in a month]. Are you going to stay?
Rachel Zegler: Yeah, I’m going to hang out. I like it here. I don’t want to leave.
Good — we want you to be a Londoner. Did family come over to see you in the show?
They did. They came to press night, which was so lovely. I thought I was going to have to take them out on a stretcher because it was just so overwhelming.
You seem like you’re still full of energy, girl — I can’t believe how you do it.
I mean, you know exactly how I do it. You’ve done it too.
I’ve done eight shows a week. What I’ve never done is sung and dance. You’ve survived, which is spectacular.
I have three more [shows], knock on wood. But it’s been a lot of discipline. I come home and I steam my voice and I don’t really talk outside of the theatre. I don’t really have many conversations outside.
I know people think you have this wonderful [life], going out at night drinking, laughing, talking…
Not at all, no. I actually was talking about this yesterday because we had our end-of-contract party, and I was like, “I will have one glass of Prosecco,” because I usually only have one alcoholic drink every two weeks. Everybody around me was like, “Oh, Rachel took a drink tonight.” My tolerance is so low now, it takes one glass of wine and I’m like, “I have to go home.”
Who in your family do you think you inherited your talent from?
It is a running joke in the family: no one. It’s so funny, nobody sings! [But] my dad has a very great sense of musicality because he played music when he was a kid; he played the bass guitar. He also had a very deep love for musical theatre. I was four years old when I saw my first show, and so I was just obsessed from a very young age. But there’s nothing in the family lineage per se; nobody’s an actor. Nobody had that bug. My mum worked in stage crew when she was in high school and otherwise that’s really the only connection we have.
Now I’m going to tell the readers of Glamour that I had the privilege of working with Rachel on Shazam! Lucy and Rachel [and I] were playing sisters, so we became honorary sisters in real life. Lucy and I learned what a wonderful person Rachel is. Occasionally, one would be walking past Rachel on the set and this beautiful little tune would be coming out of her. And it was hearing an angel suddenly in the air around you because she was never performing. She was just singing for her own pleasure, and it was such a glorious thing. Me, who can’t sing at all, it was a completely magical thing! I just want to tell the readers that's [what she’s like] because she won’t tell you.
Certainly not! It was my second movie ever. Everything that I know about how to hold myself and how to advocate for other people [I learned from you and Lucy]. I remember you advocated for stunt workers, for extras when it was extra hot on those sets. It was just such a wonderful lesson – it’s a very intimidating environment.
Oh, absolutely. It can slip into bullying very easily.
Yes, 100%. I’ve carried those lessons into so much of the rest of my professional life, but also just in my life in general. I’m very indebted. It’s such a beautiful thing to get to witness, to see very strong women hold up a crew and cast the way you did.
Pussy power, as we called it. Don’t think we’re allowed to say it in Glamour magazine…? [Glamour: You can, absolutely. Please feel free to say it again.]
Zegler: And we did, a lot!
I’m often asked about the difference between film and television and theatre – which do I prefer? My answer is always the one I’m not doing at the time.
I feel the same way, where it’s like, Oh yeah, I could definitely do with having my Saturdays back and feeling like I actually have some sort of control over what my body feels like. But for me, it really is the instant gratification of performing in theatre versus having to wait so long to see what the finished product might end up being.
In film, you have to let go of it. In theatre, it stays yours, doesn’t it?
To a certain extent, you have complete control over your performance and you are showing the audience your version of the final cut every night.
So tell me what you do in London. What’s your London thing?
I take my dog to Primrose Hill, I let him off the leash, and he runs with reckless abandon. It is the most joy I think I’ve ever felt in my life. In New York there’s not a lot of that. I don’t want him to run free in Central Park; I get nervous! I get a coffee at a local place. I get a bagel – they remember me because they just see Lenny and they’re like, “Oh yes, this is Lenny [with] that crazy lady.”
Unless it’s a two-show day, I really just am enjoying living slowly. The amount of rest that I need is more than I’ve ever needed. I sleep for 10 hours a night. Sometimes I need a nap in the middle of the day before I go in. The thing that I’m really working on is not feeling guilty for that.
That is so Rachel Zegler, I may say. And watching you [onstage], I was going, Maybe it’s time to go back and do something again.
Time for Helen to play Eva Perón.
Very old Eva Perón.
But you get it. It’s one of those things where, and I felt this on Romeo + Juliet, too, where it’s like [puts on a tired voice], Okay, okay, okay. And then finally you get out there and you’re just like, Yes! It’s like the crunchiest apple you’ve ever had, and it’s so good and delicious and you just want to eat it down to the core.
That’s the Snow White in you talking, darling.
[laughs] Oh yeah, apple trauma.
Apple trauma, yeah. It’s unbelievable your achievements since [Shazam!]. Two movies – Hunger Games and Snow White, and all the shit you had to deal with incidentally, which you dealt with with such courage, grace and fortitude. I thought you handled all that so beautifully. I remember me and Lucy giving you advice about how to deal with publicity and stuff like that.
It was very sound advice.
But my God, you had to deal with such a lot. I was feeling for you so strongly from the sidelines. How old are you, 24?
I’m 24, yeah.
You’re 24, you’ve got many, many years of great energy, great achievement, and great creativity ahead of you. To have had this experience [of success] young could be dangerous in the sense of, “Well, of course I’m a star, because look at me.” But I know with you, that’s never going to happen.
I was raised by two very cool, normal people who worked really hard for what they have. Also: the knowledge of how quickly everyone can also really not like you.
Yes. I mean, you were thrown into a very unfair, deep end.
Every experience I’ve had so far has been such a wonderful lesson learned. I loved working on [Snow White], and I love that film. I’ve seen it a few times, and it [became] number one on streaming on Disney+, so I know that it’s celebrated. It was one of those experiences of sometimes negativity being louder than positivity.
What I took away from it is just to really, really soak in when it feels good and understand that it’s possible when it feels bad. The beautiful thing about Evita for me – beyond all of the wonderful people I met and all of the wonderful work we’re doing – is that I never thought I would be a part of something so celebrated, because of the way that I’ve been conditioned to believe that I wouldn’t be.
You were made to confront and deal with things people twice your age would find difficult. You’ve had that experience and now that’s in you. It’s made you stronger, made you wiser. And then the love [for you] in that theatre when I watched you [in Evita]...
We’ve had over 115,000 people come to see the balcony [scene] outside. By the end of the run, we’ll have seen 130,000 people out there.
Did they shout? Were any of them annoying?
You can hear a pin drop. It’s insane… I’m moved to tears every night by it. It’s a warm embrace of the place that I’m in, of the people that have chosen to spend their time there.
I felt the vibe of that when I came backstage to see you. You could feel the [sense of] family very strongly.
I certainly was very moved by you on Shazam! – you were just part of the crew. There was no sense of being above, no sense of anybody being below. I got a lot of people who were shocked that I would show up to warm up every day with everybody.
Really? On Evita?
I think that there was an assumption that because there was a quote-unquote celebrity lead that I would be like wind through a fence, in the shadows; I would do my thing, and then a body double would come in and do my job. I can’t imagine missing out on life like that because of some sort of air of importance. We are a crew.
We rely upon each other.
I really do feel like I witnessed that with you [and Lucy]. I carry that with me a lot. There was no world in which I was ever going to walk in with a pair of sunglasses and be like, “You’re never going to see me.”
I’d love to see you play that role – a real bitch. Are there any of the great musical roles that you think, Oh, one day – I know I’m not old enough yet…?
While I’m still young and sprightly, I would love to do Christine Daaé in Phantom of the Opera. That would be a dream come true because I don’t get the opportunity to return to my soprano operatic training roots. And if ever given the chance, I would love to be Javert in a gender-bent Les Miz.
Fabulous. I love the fact that now it’s a doable, thinkable concept. Darling, all I can say is I hope I’m alive to see it.
In my mind, you live forever, Helen.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Photographer: Fanny Latour Lambert
Stylist: Rachel Bakewell
Interview: Helen Mirren
Introduction: Zing Tsjeng
Set Design: Nicola Bell
Casting Director for Extras: Emma Somper Casting
Hair: Nao Kawakami at The Wall Group using Hershesons
Make-Up: Joey Choy at The Wall Group
Nails: Robbie Tomkins at LMC Worldwide using Rhode Beauty
Production: ZRD Production
Videographer: Nathaniel Rodriguez
Videographer: Charlie Moore
Digi Tech: Herman Pawel
Photographer Assistant: Jack Storer
Photographer Assistant: Luca Pellegrino
Stylist Assistant: Jack O’Neill
Stylist Assistant: Lorna Lane
Hair Assistant: Rogerio Da Silva
Hair Assistant: Frida Ibrahim-Dikko
Make-Up Assistant: Laisum Fung
Make-Up Assistant: Natasha T
With thanks to Soho Theatre Walthamstow
