Born October 4, 1979, in Minneapolis, Rachael Leigh Cook began modeling at age 10 and graduated to acting soon thereafter. For one of her earliest jobs, she freaked out with a frying pan in a memorable anti-heroin commercial.Upon arriving in Los Angeles, she landed her first screen role in The Baby Sitters Club (1995) and played Becky Thatcher in Tom and Huck that same year. Young filmgoers granted her stardom after seeing her opposite Freddie Prinze Jr.
in She's All That (1999). Cook played James Van Der Beek's girlfriend on TV's "Dawson's Creek" and also teamed on-screen with him in Texas Rangers (2001).She led the band in Josie and the Pussycats (2001), starred in the miniseries Into the West and had a recurring role on "Las Vegas." Other Cook films include Antitrust, Get Carter (2000) and Matters of Life and Death (2006).