Rebecca Leigh Mader (born 24 April 1977) is an English actress, best known for her roles as

Charlotte Lewis Charlotte Lewis (born 7 August 1967) is an English actress. Early life Lewis attended Bishop Douglass School in Finchley. Her mother is Irish-English, while her father—a doctor whom she never met—is half-Chilean and half-Iraqi. Career L ...

in the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

series ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'', and as Zelena, the

Wicked Witch of the West The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character who appears in the classic children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), created by American author L. Frank Baum. In Baum's subsequent ''Oz'' novels, it is the Nome King who is ...

, on ABC's ''

Once Upon a Time "Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 (according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'') in storytelling in t ...

'', 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 bec ...

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 b ...

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

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, ...

, Colgate and

Wella Wella AG is a German hair care company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1880 by Franz Ströher, it specialises in hair care, styling and colorants sold to individuals as well as hairdressers and was controlled by Procter & Gam ...

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 American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 20 ...

'' as Morgan Gordon, and ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...

'' as

Margaret Cochran Margaret Cochran is a fictional character on the soap opera, '' One Life to Live''. Casting The character was originated by Rebecca Mader from March 26 until June 8, 2004. Tari Signor assumed the recurring role on June 9, 2004 through June 16, 200 ...

. She also appeared on the soap opera ''

Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...

'' 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''). Twelve sp ...

legal drama ''

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

''. In 2008, Mader began starring as anthropologist

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 ''No Ordinary Family'' is an American television series that aired on ABC in the United States and CTV in Canada. The one hour science fiction comedy drama was produced by ABC Studios for the 2010–2011 television season. The series ran from ...

'', and in 2012, she made a guest starring appearance on the Fox science-fiction series ''

Fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts * Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe" * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * The Fringe, the ...

'' 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 The Hollywood Fringe Festival is an annual fringe theatre festival in Hollywood, California. Most indoor venues for the festival are in and around Hollywood Theatre Row, a stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. Founder Ben Hill ...

. 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 "Leaving Storybrooke" is the series finale of the American fantasy-drama series ''Once Upon a Time''. It is the twenty-second episode of the seventh season and the 155th and final episode overall. Written by the show's creators, Edward Kitsis a ...

". In May 2020, during the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

with ''Once Upon a Time'' co-star

Sean Maguire Sean Maguire (born 18 April 1976 in Ilford, London) is a British-American actor and singer, who rose to fame in 1988 when at the age of eleven he took on the role of "Tegs" Ratcliffe on the BBC children's drama ''Grange Hill'', in which he r ...

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