Rachel Zegler, star of the upcoming live-action Snow White, has revealed that she was repeatedly asked to prove her Colombian-American heritage during the casting process for her breakout role in West Side Story. The actor, whose mother is Colombian-American, told Allure that 'a bunch of white executives' kept calling to ask if she was 'legit' for the part of María.
Zegler, born in New Jersey, said: 'There's confusion because I don't have a single ounce of Latin in my name. When I was in the running for María in West Side Story, they kept calling to ask if I was legit. I remember thinking, Do you want me to bring my abuelita in? I will. I'll bring her into the studio if you want to meet her.' Her mother, Gina, is the US-born daughter of Colombian immigrants, while her father, Craig, is of Polish descent.
The Snow White film has been a source of controversy, with film academic Stephen Galloway calling it 'hard to imagine a picture in this DEI, or post-DEI, post-woke age could be more controversial and polarising'. Zegler's ethnic background has drawn criticism from some quarters, similar to the reaction to Halle Bailey's casting in The Little Mermaid.
Zegler has also faced backlash for political statements, including support for the Palestinian cause and criticism of Donald Trump supporters after the 2024 election, for which she later apologised. Additionally, she commented that the prince in the original Disney cartoon 'literally stalks' Snow White. The British Board of Film Classification has given Snow White a PG certificate, with content notes including 'a woman is deliberately poisoned' and 'a character threatens to shove something up another's backside'.
