Rachel Brosnahan is best known for her role in the instant hit Amazon series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in which she plays a vivacious and talented comedian living in the 1950s trying to cope with a failing marriage while simultaneously taking care three children. Rachel got her start in the film The Unbornin 2009 and soon landed reoccurring roles in television on The Blacklist, House of Cards, Blackbox and Manhattan.
Rachel was born on December 15, 1990, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was raised in Highland Park, Illinois, and is the oldest of three. Her parents, Carol and Earl Brosnahan, didn’t know it at the time, but they had given birth to one of the most iconic actresses of our generation. Rachel Brosnahan was the niece of late designer Kate Spade. In honor of her late aunt, Rachel is the new face of Kate Spade’s new line Frances Valentine.
Years after landing her first role in The Unborn(2009), Rachel landed another major role in the 2013 movie Beautiful Creatures. She also managed to land minor television roles and some other movie roles in between landing these two big roles. Her first recurring role on television was on the show The Blacklist in 2014 as Jolene Parker. She also landed her second recurring role in 2014, as Delilah Buchanan on Black Box, and later she landed a recurring role on House of Cards. Most articles call her role in House of Cards her breakthrough. Finally, she landed a starring role on the show Manhattan, which lasted two seasons and ended in 2015. After wrapping up Manhattan, Rachel went on to land roles in The Finest Hours, Burn Country, Crisis in Six Scenes, Patriots Day, Boomtown and Change in the Air before landing the starring role on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Rachel has also recently gotten the chance to host Saturday Night Live!
Sometimes, all it takes is one role to make an icon, and the role of Midge Maisel is one of those iconic roles that changes the life of the actress who plays her forever. An article published in The New York Times Magazine describes how a flu-ridden Brosnahan refused to miss her audition and how Rachel herself can’t remember a thing about it, but her producers were extremely impressed. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was produced by Amy-Sherman Palladino, the creator of shows like Gilmore Girls and Bunheads, and her husband Daniel Palladino. With such a talented producer, how could she pass up the role? Adversely, with such a talented actress, how could the producers give the role to anyone else?
Woody Allen
I mentioned Woody Allen and the #MeToo movement briefly in my Timothée Chalamet post, and I hate to have to mention it again, but Rachel Brosnahan was also affected by Woody Allen and his connection to the #MeToo movement. In 2016, when the #MeToo movement was barely growing its wings, Rachel starred as Ellie in four episodes of Woody Allen’s Crisis in Six Scenes.
IMDB describes Crisis in Six Scenes as “a comedy that takes place in the 1960’s [sic] during turbulent times in the United States and a middle class [sic] suburban family is visited by a guest who turns their household completely upside down.” This limited Amazon series also starred Miley Cyrus and Woody Allen himself. At the time Rachel got the role it probably would have been impossible to know for sure what the ramifications of working with Allen would be considering that there are rumors that just about every man in Hollywood is a pig. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Rachel has addressed the issue by saying “Honestly, it’s the decision that I have made in my life that is the most inconsistent with everything I stand for and believe in.” She has gone on record to say that she regrets her decision to work with him.
Love and Marriage
Rachel is married to Jason Ralph, who plays Quentin in SyFy’s Magicians. The two met on the set of the show Manhattan. Rachel was a leading character on the show and Jason had landed a six-episode recurring role. They’ve kept their relationship pretty private; they somehow managed to keep their wedding a secret for months, maybe even years. According to an article in Marie Claire, in a world with so many double-standards, where a girls love-life is questioned more than her significant other, Rachel and Joseph chose to keep the private life exactly that: private.
Photo By: Getty / Astrid Stawiarz 
Photo By: Getty / Matt Winkelmeyer 
Photo By: Getty / Mark Ralston
Rachel Brosnahan is currently 28-years-old and has had 5 nominations and 10 wins. Two of the wins were Golden Globes and one was for a Primetime Emmy. Though she has received most of her accolades from her role in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Rachel had also been nominated for a Primetime Emmy because of her performance in her recurring role in House of Cards.
I don’t have much else to say about Rachel Brosnahan, except that she is simply marvelous. I first encountered her while watching Beautiful Creatures. I’m not going to lie and say I was starstruck, but I was enchanted. Whether it was the movie itself or Rachel Brosnahan that captivated me I’ll never really know, but I do know that she is a brilliant actress; every role she plays reels you in. Her performances seem effortless, and I think that’s what makes her so easy to love as an actress.
Movie/ TV Show Recommendations:
Beautiful Creatures: (2013) It’s your classic good vs. bad tale mixed with your classic high-school love story. A girl blessed with powers beyond the natural is trying to escape her destiny to turn evil. While fighting her inner darkness, in a town that hates her and her family, she finds love. It is a little haunting, in the best way possible. If you’re into romantic movies and movies about witches, this is a must-see.
House of Cards: This Netflix Original is… well, I’ve heard it’s good. I personally haven’t seen it, but it has been recommended to me countless times. Its a political show about ambitious people in Washington D.C. Rachel Brosnahan received her first Emmy nomination for her performance as a call girl on this show. The show itself was filled with so many talented actors. The show and it’s actors recieved 33 wins and 206 nominations.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: (I’m just going to copy and paste what I said about it earlier) A vivacious and talented comedian, Mrs. Maisel, is living in the 1950s and trying to cope with a failing marriage while simultaneously taking care three children. Midge Maisel is loveable, funny and relatable in the strangest way; if you’re a girl, you almost want to be her even all the heartbreak and struggles she faces. The show and its cast have received 36 wins and 45 nominations in just two seasons.
The Finest Hours: (2016) Starring Chris Pine, The Finest Hours tells an epic story about survival. Men on a sinking ship have three hours till they sink. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard is to the rescue facing issues of their own. It has everything, from near-death experiences to love. The cast of the film was nominated for various awards, and the film itself was nominated for two.
2019 Releases: Ironbark
Fun Interviews: Rachel on Jimmy Fallon, Rachel’s SNL Monologue, Rachel for W Mag.
Living Icons 