Madelaine Grobbelaar Petsch (born August 18, 1994) is an American and South African actress and social media personality. She is best known for portraying Cheryl Blossom on

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

television series '' Riverdale'' (2017–2023).

Early life

Petsch was born on August 18, 1994 to Timothy and Michele Petsch, in Port Orchard, Washington. At the age of three, she began dance classes, and two years later enrolled in theater classes. Petsch's parents are from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, and she spent the first ten years of her life dividing her time between South Africa and the state of Washington. She attended the Tacoma School of the Arts and relocated to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

after graduating. Petsch has one older brother, Shaun, who is three years her senior.

Career

Petsch appeared in a national advertising campaign for

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

in 2014. In February 2016, she was cast as Cheryl Blossom in

's '' Riverdale'', having been pinned for the role since late 2015 after meeting the casting director, who was at the time working on '' Legends of Tomorrow''. The series began filming in September of that year. It premiered on January 26, 2017, and ended on August 23, 2023, after seven seasons. In March 2017, she joined the cast of the film '' Polaroid'', which was released in 2019. In January 2019, it was announced that Petsch would star in and executive produce the horror-comedy film '' Saint Clare'', but in 2022, Bella Thorne took over the role. In April 2018, Petsch collaborated with sunglasses company Privé Revaux and released her own collection of sunglasses. Petsch has a

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channel, stating that the inspiration to start one was so fans could know the “real her” outside of acting.

Personal life

At age 14, Petsch began speaking out as a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

, after having been raised

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

. She has also participated in an awareness campaign for PETA. From early 2017 to February 2020, Petsch was in a relationship with musician Travis Mills. Since August 2022, Petsch has been in a relationship with music manager Anthony Li. As of March 2025, she has been linked to

Tyga Micheal Ray StevensonMicheal Ray Stevenson

Filmography

Music videos

* " Malibu" (2020, at home edition) by Kim Petras

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Petsch, Madeline 1994 births 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Washington (state) American people of South African descent American television actresses Living people People from Port Orchard, Washington American YouTube vloggers American women video bloggers American video bloggers YouTubers from Washington (state)