The entertainment industry is a tough nut to crack. Just ask box office record breaker Harrison Ford, who didn't get his big break until he was 36. Likewise, producers weren't beating down Kristen Wiig's door until she hit her thirties. It's a sad fact that young actors have a better shot at winning a major Power Ball prize than making it in the entertainment world. That's because it takes more than just talent to make a name for yourself; it takes opportunity and a little bit of luck.
Rachel Keller has all of that – and more.
Before her breakout role as Simone Gerhardt on the recently completed stellar second season of FX's "Fargo," Keller had popped up briefy in shows such as "The Mentalist" and "Supernatural." But the spotlight is now squarely on the up-and-coming actress like never before after she was recently cast as the female lead in showrunner Noah Hawley's upcoming X-Men spinoff series, "Legion." For Keller, 24, you'd imagine the last year might have gone to her head. After all, her "Fargo" character had some pretty starry eyes. Yet the young actress remains grounded and grateful in the face of her big successes.
"It's been a bizarre, strange dream," Keller told Headlines & Global News exclusively. "I'm so f------ lucky to be doing the work I want to be doing. I'm just very fortunate."
Though audiences can look at the polished finished product of today, Keller's path to mainstream success began long ago. As a child, she commandeered the director's chair, making her cousins put on plays in their basement in St. Paul, Minn. She may not have known it at the time, but a lifelong passion was beginning to develop. That path was later solidified during her four years at Carnegie Mellon, one of the most prestigious performing arts schools in the country.
"Carnegie prepared me in ways I didn't even realize," she said. "When it comes to edict and behavior, navigating this business can be pretty tricky...But I was just drawn to performing. It made sense to me."
And now, it makes sense to the rest of us.
Keller's Simone Gerhardt at first comes across as an ungrateful backstabber, a brat clinging to the idealistic and suddenly untimely notions of the 1970s (fun fact: Keller studied Polaroids of her mother from that time period to get a feel for the decade). Yet as the season unfolds, we slowly begin to understand her reasoning and even come to sympathize with her character as Keller's honest portrayal – "It wasn't my place to judge her," she explains – starts to take hold.
In any given scene, the young actress was asked to display the full range of emotions: fear, confidence, vulnerability and power. She glided into each emotion with the ease of a seasoned veteran, her eyes, a grayish blue, and her lightly freckled face conveying so much. But, of course, she won't take all of the credit for bringing Simone to life.
"The instruction is in the scripts; they really build these fully developed characters," she said. "The world is so textured and authentic. All I had to do was stay true to the character and perform it like Noah sees it."
Hawley has proven to be one of the most capable and unique showrunners in all of television with a knack for creative visuals, storytelling and an unparalleled handle of tone. Suffice it to say, entertainment junkies are excited for his take on the blockbuster-ish world of X-Men mutants. Keller will have the opportunity to continue showing off her skills in that world as a "scrappy, optimistic woman in her 20s," whose super powers may or may not be related to human touch. Either way, she's excited.
"I started to cry when I found out," she said of her reaction to being cast. "FX and Noah are so fearless. They aren't afraid of trying anything and I hope to do the same...When Noah told me, I asked him, 'Why are you changing my life?'...I'm just very fortunate."
Fortunate? Yes. But also talented and deserving. Keep an eye out for Keller. She's making the most of her opportunities.
