Rachel Skarsten
Birth Date: April 23, 1985
Birth Place: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Current Residence: Canada
Height: 5' 10"
Her Hobbies Include: Drawing, painting, dancing, piano,
cello, singing, being with her family & friends, swimming, ballet, tap dancing, horseback riding, cycling,
and rollerblading. She also likes watching hockey, reading about hockey, and
playing field hockey (she is a goalie for an ice hockey team).
Younger Brother: Jonathan ("John")
Mom: Mary (who spent years as a missionary to India)
Pets: Two Dogs (Cocoa) and (Jett), and a hamster (Deo). She used to
have two cats (Princen and Micio), but they died.
Other Info: Rachel is a graduate of Toronto's
prestigious Claude Watson School for the Arts and is fluent in Norwegian.
She is also of Norwegian descent.
Other Significant Info: Rachel played in several dance school plays such as "Peter Pan" and "Romeo and Juliet." Sadly, Rachel's father died from colon cancer when she was nine.
Interesting Info: Rachel is in actuality a very gifted singer, so when she sang "Beautiful Dreamer" in Brothers and Sisters she had to purposely try to sing poorly.
(Rachel in Twice in a Lifetime)
Actress - Filmography
Other T.V. Appearances:
"Twice In A Lifetime" on September 13, 2001 in ep. Curveball.
She had a part in the Global television movie titled: "Justice".
She also played in a Cascade TV ad.
Young Artist Award: Best Performance in a TV
Series - Young Ensemble
for: "Little
Men" (1998)
Nomination shared with:
Trevor Blumas
Alexander Campbell (II)
Brittney Irvin
Corey Sevier
(Rachel in Little Men)
Quotes from Rachel:
TeenHollywood: You played Bess in a production of "Little
Men" on TV. How old were you?
Rachel: I was 14. I was the sort of bouffant one. This is really my first
big acting thing. It’s exciting. I like to dress up and wear pretty clothes
and, at the same time, I like to be physical. It’s just exploring different
parts of myself I guess.
TeenHollywood: You lost your dad when you were nine. Were things tough after
that? It’s been said that you didn’t have enough money for a portfolio.
Rachel: Well, when my dad first died, yeah. It’s not like we were living
on the streets but we didn’t have enough money for something frivolous like a
portfolio when I didn’t even want to do acting at that point really.
TeenHollywood: So if acting wasn’t it, what was the plan?
Rachel: My whole plan, and I’m hoping to still stay somewhere close to it,
is to graduate from high school and go to university. I’d like to go into
something to do with psychology, maybe get my Masters, become a teacher. I
wanted to have the mini-van, the dog and the two kids. So, that was the plan but
this [acting] is a surprise.
TeenHollywood: So are you in "normal" high school?
Rachel: Well, I’m cheating a little. I’m in an arts school but it’s
not for actors. It’s just a normal arts school but I don’t do drama. I’m a
visual artist and I minor in the cello. It’s my senior year next year and
I’ll be commuting back and forth from L.A. to Canada to go to school. Let’s
see how that jetlag works.
(A screenshot of Rachel in Birds of Prey)
Describing her character, Bess, on the TV series, Little Men:
"She was very snooty and kind of at the
shallow end of the pool, but then she got nicer, and developed more depth."
Commenting on what it was like to be on Little
Men.
"At the beginning it was kind of weird, having this camera in your face,
but then as time went on, I got really comfortable with the crew and the
directors."
Information for this page was from www.imdb.com, Rachel's The Plumfield Family page, The Clocktower, Teen Hollywood, ZENtertainment, and Alicia's previous Official Rachel Skarsten Website. The first photo was taken by John Medland, the second photo I took from Dan's Sights and Sounds Page, and the third photo is from Alicia's previous Official Rachel Skarsten Website. For more photos of Rachel, check out this site: Santa Barbara Film Festival (for Virginia's Run).
Read the article dictated by Rachel Skarsten, in which she talks about her life, her faith, and her relief in leaving Birds of Prey!
