What Has Rachael Leigh Cook Been Up to Since 'The Baby-Sitter's Club' Days?

As a successful actress, Rachael Leigh Cook is enamored with an impressive resume. She is an American actress who has over 97 acting credits on her IMDB profile. Also, as a producer, she has over ten production credits attributed to her name.

She was born on October 4, 1979 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Her dad, Thomas Cook, was a stand-up comedian, while her mom, Joanne Cook, was a cook.

Per her ancestry, her dad belonged to an English descent whereas her mom was of Italian descent. Therefore, Cook's ancestry was English-Italian.

Before fame, Cook did print ad modeling before trying her luck on the motion picture for five years. Cook has been active in the entertainment industry since 1995 when she debuted as Mary Anne in "The Baby-Sitters Club."

As of now, the actress has starred in blockbuster movies such as "My First Wedding," "Descent," and many more.

Apart from acting, Cook also played the role of a voice actor. She gave her voice to various video games such as "Final Fantasy VII," "Kingdom Hearts II," and many others.

Unfortunately, married life did not work out for thr actress. She separated from her long-term husband, Daniel Gillies in June 2019. The couple split after 15 years of marriage.

Cook began auditioning for acting jobs when she was 14 years old. After she cleared the auditions, she made her debut in the 1995 film "The Baby-Sitters Club."

This film was based on Ann M. Martin’s book series with a similar name. The book series transcended into other novels, merchandise, and eventually TV series and movies.

The first on-screen adaptation of the series was in 1990, however, it was short-lived.

Cook played the role of  Mary Anne Spier, the shy and quiet babysitter raised by a single father.

That is until he met and married Dawn Schafer’s mom. Dawn was also a part of the club with her friends, Kristy Thomas, Claudia Kishi, Stacey McGill, and boyfriend Logan Bruno.

The movie followed the club and their adventures in holding a camp for their babysitting charges. Meanwhile, each club member faced personal challenges.

This included divorced parents, a discouraging diabetes diagnosis, and an innocent crush on an older boy.

They were also faced with interpersonal conflicts as well as conflicts from a group of mean girls who wanted to see the club go down. One of the ringleaders of this band of bad girls was played by Marla Sokoloff.

Even though the movie was more than two decades old, Cook and Sokoloff still remained good friends throughout the years. It is a delight to see that time hasn't eroded their friendship.

In a recent New York Times article, Sokoloff spoke of Cook in a good light. She talked about how genuine she was all the time, whether in her professional or personal life.

“All of that is completely genuine,” Sokoloff told the magazine. “She’s exactly who you want her to be. Multiple times, she’s forwarded me a meeting that she’s gotten for herself and been like, ‘I don’t think this is for me. You need to play this part.’ Who does that? She doesn’t have a bad bone in her body," the actress concluded.

The duo had also been very vocal about their friendship from the get-go. Every time they hung out, they posted photos of each other together. This included one that showed them on the flight to the reunion for "The Baby-Sitters Club."

Fans of the movie as well as fans of both actresses are happy to know that these two have so much in common, and genuinely love spending time with one another.

Marla Sokoloff was born on December 19, 1980, to Howard and Cindi Sokoloff. Her father was a podiatrist, while her mother worked as a caterer.

She studied and graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.

She started acting at a very young age. When she was 12 years old, she acted in the series "Full House," and appeared in eight episodes.

She also acted in "Boy Meets World," but was later replaced by another actor. This steadied her feet in the industry and she got to work on a plethora of other movies.

In 2004, She started dating an American, Alec Puroin who is a drummer and guitarist. They later tied the knot on November 7, 2009. The couple share two daughters, Elliotte Anne and Olive Mae.

In 2004, Cook married actor Daniel Gillies, who was best known for his role as Elijah Mikaelson on "The Vampire Diaries."  Although they are divorced now, they share two children, a son and a daughter.

During an interview with She Knows in 2016, Cook spoke about the challenges of being a working mom in Hollywood and noted that it didn't always make sense to take on smaller roles.

“Logistically it’s just plain complicated. Also, deciding if a project makes sense not only as a career but financial sense, now plays a role. A lot of the fun, smaller movies will cost us money to do by the time we pay for additional care," Cook concluded.