While she gained mainstream success as a result of her role in Pitch Perfect, Rebel Wilson has been active in the active industry for many years before joining Hollywood. She was born in Sydney, Australia in 1980, one of four kids, noting that she was unusually shy during her childhood.
She recalls a time when she got dropped off to a community acting class, with her mother having to peel her off the car, as Wilson was holding on to the door, crying.
She managed to overcome her shyness, joining debate clubs in order to help herself speak up more. She recalls that in high school she was socially awkward, but was encouraged to enter the Tournament of Minds by her high school drama teacher. Read more: Isn’t Romantic Trailer – Hollywoodreporter and Isn’t Romantic Review
The tournament is an Australian creative competition that includes various segments, such as performing and improvising. She credits her high school drama teacher for helping her come out of her shell, noting that if it wasn’t for her, she would not be where she is today.
When she was 17 years old, Rebel Wilson worked for a year at Australia’s Rotary International Youth Ambassador Program, which lead to her contacting malaria during one of the trips to South Africa.
She recalls hallucinating in a fever-dream that she won an Oscar, which is when she started getting more interested in acting. She ended up attending the University of New South Wales, and also joined the Australian Theater for Young People, where she learned how to work on stage.
Her initial plan did not involve her doing comedy, as she was interested in playing serious roles.
However, she recalls going on stage and hearing people start laughing, which became frustrating, but lead her to rethink her plan, stating that “fat is funny, in a weird way”. Her change in attitude and new game plan resulted in her going to Hollywood.
Rebel Wilson highlights that after walking into his agent’s office, people noted that they didn’t have anyone in their books that looked like her, and she ended up getting signed on the second day in the United States.
Her big break came soon enough by taking the role of Brynn in the 2011 movie Bridesmaids.
While she is considered a mainstream star nowadays, she still recalls the time when she was working in a movie theater in Australia when her first movie premiered in 2003. She was holding the trash bag as people were leaving the cinema, which lead to her getting recognized and having to quit the job soon afterwards.
Besides her acting gigs, Rebel Wilson is also active in supporting a Tanzanian school in Africa, a place where she lived as a youth ambassador at one point, which notes that despite her fame she didn’t forget about her roots.
Click on the links below to learn more about Rebel Wilson:
https://www.glamour.com/story/isnt-it-romantic-trailer
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/10/pitch-perfect-4-rebel-wilson