Actress Rachael Leigh Cook was part of so many defining movies of the '90s and 2000s. She played Mary Ann in The Baby-Sitters Club in 1995, Laney Boggs (aka the She) in the 1999 hit She's All That, and Josie in 2001's Josie and the Pussycats. But after so many huge roles in the '90s and aughts, where is Rachael Leigh Cook today? In the 15 years since Josie and the Pussycats, Cook has appeared in many different TV and movie roles, in addition to becoming a mom.
Can you believe it's been 15 years since Josie and the Pussycats came out? Neither can I. In an interview with Wetpaint, Cook looked back fondly at the movie. "It was a great experience. I can’t believe that that was so many years ago now!" she said in 2014. "I like to think that I made some lifelong friends on that film, no matter how infrequently we see each other." Most recently, Cook starred in the direct-to-VOD films Red Sky, First Kiss, Falling Up, Blonde Ambition, The Family Tree, and The Final Season. On TV, she starred in the TNT drama Perception, which ran from 2012 until 2015. Cook played Special Agent Kate Moretti opposite Eric McCormick's Dr. Daniel J. Pierce.
"She commands and gets a whole lot of respect," she told Wetpaint about her character in 2014. "She’s a sh*t kicker and she usually gets her man at the end of the day. That’s not my real life. I’m more Midwestern and retiring and that’s why she’s so much fun to play. I’ve ended up learning something from playing the character and I’ve sort of taken that into my own life."
In 2005, she played Penny Posin on the NBC series Las Vegas and Abigail Lytar on the USA show Psych as recurring roles. As a guest star, Cook appeared in Ghost Whisperer, Team Unicorn, and Robot Chicken. She even ventured into the Star Wars universe as a voice actor for the video games Star Wars: The Old Republic, Star Wars: The Old Republic - Rise of the Hutt Cartel, Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan.
Cook was selected by the White House as an advocate for Arts and Education in the Champions for Change program. In 2004, Cook married Vampire Diaries and The Originals actor Daniel Gillies and starred in the 2012 movie Broken Kingdom opposite one another. Together, they have a daughter born in 2013 and a son born last year. "We're as happy as we were surprised by this wonderful news! We haven't slept since 2013 and welcome advice from all parents who survived Two Under Two," they told E! News after the announcement of Baby No. 2.
But although time has moved on, Cook recently tweeted a photo of a Baby-Sitters Club reunion occurring on an escalator in Austin, where the cast reunited for a 20th anniversary screening of the movie last year.
So will there be a Josie and the Pussycats reunion sometime soon? I guess we'll have to see. After all, reunions are so in right now.
