Latino actress Zegler to play Snow White in live-action Disney film

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Colombian-American actress Rachel Zegler will play Snow White in Disney’s latest live-action adaptation, the company said Tuesday.

Zegler, 20, is currently largely unknown to audiences but will soon star as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s much-delayed remake of “West Side Story,” out in December, having seen off 30,000 rivals in an arduous open audition process.

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The casting of a Latino actress for a Disney princess role traditionally portrayed by white actresses follows Disney’s 2019 announcement that RB singer Halle Bailey, who is Black, will play Ariel in “The Little Mermaid.”

“Rachel’s extraordinary vocal abilities are just the beginning of her gifts,” said Marc Webb, director of the Snow White adaptation, in a statement to AFP.