Rachelle Lefevre biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Rachelle Lefevre was born on February 1, 1979, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. One of four daughters, Lefevre grew up in a house full of women. Her father's family is French, and she learned to speak both English and French as little girl.

In high school, Lefevre worked as a waitress at a local sushi restaurant. While talking with coworkers one day about her aspirations to become an actress, she was overheard by a regular customer, who also happened to be a Canadian movie producer. The man spoke with Lefevre, and offered to mention her to a casting director friend of his.

The casting director connected with Lefevre right away, and the aspiring actress was soon auditioning for a role on the FOX Family Channel series Big Wolf on Campus, a teen werewolf spoof. In spite of her inexperience, at the age of 20, Lefevre was cast as one of the program's leads. She had just been accepted to McGill University when she was cast in the Canadian teen series.

Commercial Success

Lefevre spent the early part of her acting career in Montreal, but grew frustrated with the lack of English-speaking roles available there. As a result, she moved to Los Angeles, where she began to find success in both movies and on television.

Lefevre earned her first couple of roles in the United States in 2005: She was cast in a lead role on the little-seen TV show Life on a Stick, and earned a part in the Ed Burns film The River King. Lefevre went on to land small roles on big TV shows, including Bones, Veronica Mars, How I Met Your Mother, The Closer, CSI: NY and Boston Legal. Additionally, she earned reccurring roles on the TV series What About Brian and Swingtown.

Lefevre's big film break came when she was cast as the cat-like vampire Victoria in Twilight (2008), the first chapter of the popular film series based on the best-selling novels by Stephenie Meyer. The film became an international blockbuster, earning Lefevre enormous recognition. She went on to reprise the role in the second installment of the series, The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Due to scheduling difficulties, Bryce Dallas Howard replaced the actress for the franchise's third installment.

Lefevre continues to find success outside of Twilight, appearing in the films Barney's Version with Paul Giamatti and Casino Jack with Kevin Spacey, both released in 2010, among other recent roles. In 2011, she earned a lead role on the TV drama Off the Map.

Personal Life

Off the set, Lefevre loves to travel and to spend time outdoors.