Rachel Reenstra was born in Grand Rapids, Mich., the youngest of four children, and her wanderlust began at an early age. Before she'd reached the first grade, her family had traveled to and lived in Nigeria, Ethiopia, London, Israel and Greece. Their adventures along the way included safaris, ocean swims, historical tours and some serious sunburn; as company, they had several pets including a turkey.

The Reenstra family eventually returned to West Michigan, and Rachel's love of animals manifested itself in the rescue of animals from just about everywhere: mountainsides, highways, under bushes and, of course, animal shelters. While in college, Rachel pulled all-nighters bottle-feeding an abandoned litter of kittens every two hours until they were old enough to be adopted into loving homes. After graduating from Hope College with a degree in theater, she set off on a European backpacking expedition, visiting England, Wales, Italy and places in-between.

In 1994, she finally left the cold and cloudy Midwest for good and moved to Los Angeles. Since living in L.A., Rachel has been active in almost every kind of acting: TV, film, commercials, voice-overs, hosting and stand-up comedy. When not busy auditioning and acting, she went back to school and earned a master's degree in spiritual psychology, and works as a life coach and relationship consultant. In her spare time, she takes care of her menagerie of animals and counts among her special skills her ability to laugh at anything, especially herself.

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