Rebecca Leigh Mader (born 24 April 1977) is an English actress, best known for her roles as Charlotte Lewis in the ABC series '' Lost'', and as Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West, on ABC's '' Once Upon a Time'', for which she garnered critical acclaim.

Life and career

Mader was born in 1977 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. She worked as a model in New York City for a year, appearing in adverts for

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, Colgate and Wella Hair. She began her television career on the ABC daytime soap operas ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2013, via Hulu, Hulu Plus, and ...

'' as Morgan Gordon, and '' One Life to Live'' as Margaret Cochran. She also appeared on the soap opera '' Guiding Light'' in 2003. Mader has made a number of guest appearances on television shows. In 2006, she had a series regular role on the short-lived

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

legal drama ''

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''. In 2008, Mader began starring as anthropologist Charlotte Lewis on ABC series ''Lost''. She appeared in the show from 2008 to 2009 and in two episodes in 2010. In 2011, she had a recurring role on '' No Ordinary Family'', and in 2012, she made a guest starring appearance on the Fox science-fiction series '' Fringe'' as Jessica Holt. Also in 2012, Mader starred in the short-lived ABC comedy series '' Work It''. In June 2013, Mader made her stage debut in the role of Barrie in the one-act comedy ''The Third Date'' at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. In December 2013, Mader was cast as the Wicked Witch of the West, a new antagonist for the second half of the third season of ''Once Upon a Time''. She also made guest appearances during the second half of the fourth season and was later promoted to a series regular for the fifth and sixth seasons. In May 2017, Mader announced that she would not be returning for the seventh season of the show due to a creative decision by the showrunners. However, in September 2017, it was announced that Mader would be reprising her role as Zelena in a recurring capacity for the second half of the seventh season. In all, she made seven appearances in the seventh season, including the series finale " Leaving Storybrooke". In May 2020, during the

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lockdown in California, Mader created the "At Home with Sean and Bex" interview series on

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with ''Once Upon a Time'' co-star Sean Maguire.

Personal life

Mader's first husband was businessman Joseph Arongino. They divorced in 2008. On 29 December 2014, Mader announced her engagement to producer Marcus Kayne. The two were married on 23 November 2016 and she gave birth to their first child Milo, a son, in November 2019. Mader announced on 7 April 2021 that she was expecting her second child, a girl. Mader announced the birth of her second child, a girl, Bailey, who was born September 2, 2021.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mader, Rebecca English female models English film actresses English television actresses English soap opera actresses Living people English expatriates in the United States People from Cambridge Actresses from Cambridgeshire 1977 births English emigrants to the United States