RACHEL BERRY
☆ FULL NAME: Rachel Barbara Berry ☆ GENDER: Ciswoman ☆ PRONOUNS: She/Her ☆ AGE: 28 (December 18th, 1996) ☆ TYPE: Full sibling; solo (open to twin) ☆ HOMETOWN: Worcester, New York ☆ JOB: Musical Theatre Professor at PSU; Private Singing Teacher ☆ SCHOOL: Other ☆ SEXUALITY: Bisexual ☆ FACECLAIM: Victoria Justice
ABOUT RACHEL
TW: Pregnancy, Miscarriage
Growing up in New York City was a dream for Rachel, she was brought up with musicals and performing in her life. It was kind of inevitable she was going to fall into it. From a young age she was thrown into singing lessons, acting lessons and dance lessons and she loved all of it. There never was a day that she didn’t look forward to going to those classes, she enjoyed improving skills she already knew she could do. From a young age people called her overconfident and she honestly didn’t care or couldn’t care in the slightest because honestly she knew that she didn’t have to prove to them how good she was.
Her attitude was always that she was the best in a room, no matter where she was and this held her back for a long time, she never liked to think there was someone better than her and for a long time in her classes no one went up to compete against her and at that time gave her a big head. Until one day someone came in who wasn’t afraid to challenge her and go for the same parts as her in shows, at first it annoyed her but she soon realised the thrill of this, it gave her a chance to do better and prove she was best. However not all the time it worked in her favour. It was at this moment she started to realise it wasn’t always about being the best and just about being part of something great.
When she was 15, her theatre group put on the musical of Joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat. She had auditioned for the Narrator however someone else got the role and this was probably the second time that she didn’t get a lead role and although she could have got something else, she had decided she would agree to be part of the ensemble of the show. It felt a bit strange but it had hit her, she had been part of that theatre group since she was a child and she didn’t really have any friends because she had put on this persona that she was the best and she didn’t let anyone in. If you asked her today, doing that one show where she had no named part and let others do it, it was the best experience she had, she learnt how to be more humble and calm down around others and instead of bragging to people she learnt to help them and give them tips on how to grow as a performer.
It wasn’t a shock to anyone when Rachel said that Broadway was her dream and she would make it happen. So when she graduated high school, she got into the New York Performing Arts Academy and she went there with the skills she had learnt growing up but ready to learn more. As well as still being confident in herself, she was no longer going to think she was the best but instead learn all the skills to better herself and know that when she goes into the world there will be people who are as talented as her but prove to herself and others she deserves the roles she goes for.
She made several friends in college and stayed friends with a few people from her theatre group, she never realised how lonely she was when she was trying to be the best and wanted everyone to know she was a Star. She was but there was other ways to prove that. During college she finally got a boyfriend for her sophomore and junior year however, he soon broke her heart when he said she no longer fit into his life because he apparently was wanting to be single. Yet she believed it until a month later he had a new girlfriend. Getting her heart broken for the first time was brutal but she remembered her earlier motto that no-one was going to get into the way of her living her dreams.
When she graduated college, she auditioned for show after show whilst working at Ellen’s Stardust Diner as a singing waiter. Getting No’s hurt for a long time until she auditioned for the musical Parade which was a beautiful musical based on a real story and she got in as Ensemble and Understudy Lucielle which was shocking to her but it was the start of a crazy career. By the age of 26 she had done roles such as covering Lucielle, Maureen in Rent Off Broadway, Alternate Sally Bowles in Cabaret and then getting her first ever official lead on Broadway of Wendla in Broadways Revival of Spring Awakening which was a crazy and incredible experience. She did 6 months of that show before the show shut but it was an emotional but incredible experience. She then went on to do the musical of Heathers at the age of 27 where she got the role of Veronica Sawyer which was iconic and crazy, she met someone she fell in love with who played her JD and they really did fall in love.
When Heathers shut her and her boyfriend moved in together and it was like everything she ever imagined. She had never felt the way she did about him. A Year into living with him and most recently, she got the chance to play her dream role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl and of course she took on the role, no hesitation. She was contracted to be in Funny Girl for 7 months and she started in June, however 2 months into the show being opened, she found out she was pregnant and she could have played the role for a bit longer but she didn’t want to risk it and after lengthy chats with her big boss, agent and boyfriend, she made the decision to leave the show early since Fanny Brice is a very busy character.
Her boyfriend and her were excited to be parents and this was a part of life she didn’t realise she wanted or needed until it happened. She wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen. A couple of weeks after she left Funny Girl, she had a miscarriage and she was heartbroken, it was like she had lost two things she loved at once and had no clue how to carry on. This was when she realised she needed to get away from everything for a while, so she decided to look into teaching and out of the city. She didn’t expect to even get a big teaching job but she applied to a place called Privilege to be a musical theatre teacher as they had an opening for that. When she got offered the job, in shock she packed her bags, broke up with her boyfriend who was also grieving and didn’t understand why she was giving Broadway up. It wasn’t that she was giving it up, she was just taking a break for now she needed it.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
The Berry Family is a household name in many ways more than once. Through their prestige, accolades, and accreditations with critics they have earned their mark in the entertainment industry. Through many tours with traveling Broadway companies and musical acts their name has been implemented. And that was before they even met, when they met it was like fire and ice clashing and that steam was worth the showcase. That led to a romance that took the two on a romance that enhanced their lives and careers. After a few more devoted and acclaimed years in the industry they decided to retire and start up a family. This lead them to surrogating and adopting a few children and creating a tightly knit family that they are extremely active and loving in. But of course it wouldn’t be them if they weren’t still out doing work in the music community from doing vocal lessons at local Broadway shows, high schools, and even University programs.
