Rachel Bloom

Rachel Leah Bloom (born April 3, 1987) is an American actress, comedian, singer, writer, and producer. She is best known for co-creating and starring as Rebecca Bunch in The CW musical comedy-drama series '' Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' (2015–2019). The role has won her numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a TCA Award, a Critics' Choice Television Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Bloom first became known for her YouTube comedy music videos, including the Hugo Award-nominated video " Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury". She has also appeared in films, including '' Most Likely to Murder'' (2018), ''The Angry Birds Movie 2'' (2019), and '' Trolls World Tour'' (2020). Her one-woman stage show turned comedy special ''Rachel Bloom: Death, Let Me Do My Special'' premiered on Netflix on October 15, 2024, after successful Off-Broadway runs at both the Orpheum Theatre (Manhattan) and Lucille Lortel Theatre. She also released a memoir titled ''I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are'', which was published by Grand Central Publishing on November 17, 2020.

Early life

Bloom was born on April 3, 1987, in Los Angeles County, California, and grew up in Manhattan Beach. She is the only child of Shelli (née Rosenberg), a musician, and Alan Bloom, a healthcare lawyer. She is Jewish.

She attended Manhattan Beach public schools including Mira Costa High School, where she was involved in the school's drama program. Bloom has said she used performance as a way to try to fit in. In 2009, Bloom graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Drama. While at NYU, she was a head writer and director with the school's sketch comedy group, Hammerkatz. During college, Bloom first performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York with the group, and later on her own at its venue in Los Angeles. She was once roommates with comedian Ilana Glazer after college in Brooklyn.

Career

Bloom recorded a video for her original song "Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury" in April 2010 and it was released in advance of the writer's 90th birthday in August that year. The song was inspired by Bloom's re-reading of her favorite Bradbury book, '' The Martian Chronicles''. Done as a parody of teen pop but in tribute to Bradbury, the viral video on her "RachelDoesStuff" YouTube channel had more than 600,000 views in its first week of release and Bloom gained a following from it and her subsequent videos. The video was a finalist for the Hugo Award in 2011. A photo of Bradbury, posted online Aug. 21, 2010, purported to show him watching the video.

In college, she worked as a writer's intern at ''Saturday Night Live'' and in 2012, she unsuccessfully auditioned for the show. The audition video she submitted included a bit as Katharine Hepburn doing the voice for Bugs Bunny in '' Space Jam''.

Bloom released her first album of musical comedy, ''Please Love Me'', on May 13, 2013. It featured the viral songs "Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury" and "You Can Touch My Boobies". Her second album, ''Suck It, Christmas'', was a collaboration with Dan Gregor (her husband) and Jack Dolgen. Released on November 19, 2013, the album is a comedic look at Chanukah with songs including "Chanukah Honey". Bloom provided the voice of Princess Peach in the song "Luigi's Ballad" on Starbomb's self-titled debut album, released in December 2013.

Bloom also worked as a television writer on ''Allen Gregory'' and ''Robot Chicken''.

On May 7, 2015, Bloom filmed a half-hour pilot for Showtime with co-executive producer Aline Brosh McKenna ( ''The Devil Wears Prada''), directed by Marc Webb. It was eventually picked up by The CW for the fall 2015–2016 season. ''Crazy-Ex Girlfriend'' became a critically acclaimed hour-long series with more network-friendly content when it transitioned from cable to network TV and features musical numbers. The show premiered on October 12, 2015, and ran until 2019.

Bloom co-starred in the film '' Most Likely to Murder'', opposite Adam Pally and Vincent Kartheiser. The film was directed by Dan Gregor, Bloom's husband. It premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in March 2018, and was released on Digital and on Demand in May 2018.

Bloom and her rescue dog Wiley appeared together in an #AdoptPureLove PSA for the Shelter Pet Project that began airing in 2019.

In November 2020, it was announced that Bloom would be releasing a memoir, titled ''I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are'', published by Grand Central Publishing. The book was released on November 17, 2020. It explores Bloom's own mental health struggles and experiences with bullying, both as a child and as an adult in the entertainment industry.

In 2022, Bloom co-starred in the Hulu show, Reboot (2022 TV series), in which she played “Hannah,” the bitter daughter and co-worker of Paul Reiser's character. The series, which first premiered in September 2022, was created by Steven Levitan, and was nominated for a Critics Choice Award for Best Comedy Series, and Bloom was nominated for a 2023 HCA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Comedy Series.

In 2022, Bloom began touring the country with a new standup/storytelling/musical called ''Death, Let Me Do My Show.'' It then ran off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in September 2023 to critical acclaim. The show received an encore off-Broadway run at the Orpheum Theatre (Manhattan) in December 2023. Bloom was co-nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Original Lyrics in 2024.

Her Netflix special, ''Death, Let Me Do My Special'' was adapted from the off-Broadway show and premiered on Netflix on October 15, 2024.

''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend''

On May 7, 2015, Bloom filmed a half-hour pilot for Showtime with co-executive producer Aline Brosh McKenna ('' The Devil Wears Prada''), directed by Marc Webb. It was picked up by The CW for the fall 2015–2016 season. ''Crazy-Ex Girlfriend'' became a critically acclaimed hour-long series with more network-friendly content when it moved from cable to network TV and began to feature musical numbers. The show premiered on October 12, 2015.

On January 10, 2016, Bloom won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy. The following week, Bloom won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. On September 23, 2019, Bloom won the 71st Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for her work on ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.''

"Holy Shit (You've Got to Vote)"

"Holy Shit (You've Got to Vote)" is a 2016 video created by Rachel Bloom to encourage people to vote in the 2016 election. The star-filled cast sang profane lyrics directed at Donald Trump, such as "Donald Trump is human syphilis/we could be the antidote". The video caught the attention of many news outlets, though some later questioned its effectiveness.

Personal life

In 2015, Bloom married her boyfriend of six years, writer, actor, producer and director Dan Gregor. Her cousin, a rabbi, performed the ceremony. They have a daughter, born in March 2020.

Bloom has a history of mental illness, having been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and OCD, about which she has candidly spoken.

On April 25, 2016, Bloom received the Visionary Award from the East West Players at their annual gala. The award seeks to honor "individuals who have raised the visibility of the Asian Pacific American (APA) community through their craft”; her show '' Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' was lauded for its decision to cast an Asian-American male in a trope- and stereotype-subverting lead role.

In 2016, on behalf of her work on ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'', Bloom was honored by Planned Parenthood with the Excellence in Entertainment award as well as by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for her work in promoting West Covina, the setting of the show''.'' Also on behalf of ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'', Bloom was given the key to the city of West Covina and raised funds for NAMI through a massive prop/costume auction. She also participated in The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company 2nd Annual CREATE-A-THON Fundraiser. In 2019, Bloom was honored by the Human Rights Campaign as an Ally for Equality, and received the Ana Huna Leadership Award from Miry's List, an organization that welcomes new arrival refugee families to America.

Bloom hosted Teen Line's 2018 Food for Thought Brunch as well as Girls Rock Camp Foundation's first annual Girls to the Front benefit. In 2022, she was involved in a push to demand abortion protections from major studios, and in August 2024, she signed an open letter asking for better disability representation in Hollywood.

On June 10, 2020, Bloom participated in the #ShareTheMicNow Instagram initiative. Fifty-two black women took over the Instagram feeds of 52 white women with large platforms, including Julia Roberts, Elizabeth Warren, and Diane von Fürstenberg to draw attention to their work to catalyze change. Bloom's Instagram account was taken over by author Christine Michel Carter.

On November 18, 2020, Bloom was awarded the Lifesaver Award from ELEM/Youth in Distress in Israel, a nonprofit aiding youth in distress in Israel, at its Hats off to Heroes virtual gala.

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

Studio albums

Soundtrack albums

Singles

Other appearances

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloom, Rachel
1987 births
Living people
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American screenwriters
21st-century American women singers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women writers
Actors from Manhattan Beach, California
Actresses from Los Angeles
American actors with disabilities
American comedy musicians
American comedy writers
American film actresses
American sketch comedians
American stand-up comedians
American television actresses
Television writers from California
American voice actresses
American women comedians
American women screenwriters
American women television producers
American women television writers
American writers with disabilities
Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (television) winners
Comedians from Los Angeles County, California
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American comedy writers
Jewish American comedians
Jewish women comedians
Jewish American feminists
Jewish American screenwriters
Jewish American songwriters
Jewish American television writers
Jewish women singers
Jews from California
Mira Costa High School alumni
People with obsessive–compulsive disorder
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Singers from Los Angeles
Songwriters from California
Television producers from California
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers
Writers from Los Angeles