1. Comedic actress Rebel Melanie Elizabeth Wilson, was born on March 2, 1980, in Sydney, Australia.
2. She didn’t have the most conventional childhood. Her parents were professional dog handlers. The family constantly traveled across the country to sell canine products from a caravan, a lifestyle Wilson later compared to carnie life.
3. Surprisingly, Wilson was a shy kid but great at people-watching, which helped her develop her comedy later on.
4. After graduating from the University of New South Wales, Wilson went to South Africa as an Australian youth ambassador, where she contracted malaria
5. She claims that during a fever-induced hallucination, she saw herself winning an Academy Award and took it as a sign to act.
6. Wilson studied at the Australian Theatre for Young People and became known for creating and starring in her own comedy theater productions.
7. Her screen debut happened down under in the series Pizza (2003) as a girl gang leader.
8. More television as well as film work followed in her homeland. Eventually, Wilson won a scholarship with The Second City Training Centre and moved to New York City.
9. After a cameo in the action flick Ghost Rider (2007) with Nicolas Cage, Wilson got her U.S. breakthrough role in the 2011 Judd Apatow comedy Bridesmaids.
10. She auditioned for the Melissa McCarthy role but got the part of Kristen Wiig’s hellish roommate instead. Wilson was an absolute scene-stealer with antics like explaining how she mistook her roommate’s diary for a “sad handwritten book.”
11. The starlet soon found herself along big-name Hollywood types in such movies as Bachelorette (2012), Struck by Lightning (2012), What To Expect When You’re Expecting (2012) and Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012).
12. Those led to her shining moment in the 2012 musical comedy Pitch Perfect with Anna Kendrick. Those led to her shining moment in the 2012 musical comedy Pitch Perfect with Anna Kendrick.
13. Wilson appeared alongside Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson in the action comedy Pain & Gain in 2013.
14. She also signed on to be a voice in Kung Fu Panda 3 with co-stars Jack Black and Angelina Jolie.
15. Her charisma on the silver screen led to a hosting at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards.
16. Wilson’s ability to keep up with A-list actors in her back-to-back roles on film didn’t go unnoticed. In October of 2013, she took on the lead role in the series Super Fun Night, with Conan O’Brien acting as the executive producer, along with the leading lady.
17. In 2014, she appeared in another comedic role as Tilly, a museum security guard in Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.
18. She reprised her role playing Fat Amy in the highly anticipated sequel Pitch Perfect 2 in 2015.
19. Around the time of Pitch Perfect 2’s release, Wilson found herself in the middle of a media maelstrom over her age. An Australian publication presented information that she was, in fact, a few years older than she claimed to be. Her real birth date was later confirmed to be March 2, 1980, which meant she was actually 35 years, according to People magazine. Wilson took to Twitter to make light of the controversy, writing “I’m actually a 100 year old mermaid formerly known as ‘CC Chalice.'”
20. Wilson isn’t just an actress; she could be a legal eagle. She attended law school as a backup plan to performing.
21. She served as a Jenny Craig spokesperson in Australia and launched a cheeky fashion line. Her label, “Fat Mandi,” consists thus far of T-shirts with cupcakes and doughnuts strategically placed across the wearer’s chest. It’s designed for plus-sized women. What she’ll do next is anyone’s guess, but expect laughter ahead.
22. Two of her siblings, Liberty and Ryot, appeared on The Amazing Race in Australia. Her third sibling is named Annachi.
23. She lives with her Bridesmaids costar Matt Lucas. The actors, who played Wiig’s less-than-accommodating sibling roommates, recently rented an apartment together in West Hollywood. “We played roommates so well in Bridesmaids we thought we’d do it for real,” Wilson explained on TBS’ Conan August 29. “Except instead of annoying Kristen Wiig, we’re now annoying all the neighbors nearby.” In fact, one resident wrote the actors a letter asking them to be quiet after 10 p.m. and “stop singing show tunes from Annie” because they “are way too old to ever be cast as child orphans.”
24. Wilson perfected her American accent for Bachelorette by watching TLC’s Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. Mimicking 7-year-old beauty pageant pro Alana Thompson and her 33-year-old mother, June Shannon, “I watch them and repeat them when they talk,” said Wilson, also a Real Housewives of Beverly Hills addict. “Then you hope eventually by osmosis that it sticks.”
25. Her biggest comedic influences are Jennifer Saunders, who plays Edina on English sitcom “Absolutely Fabulous,” and Tina Fey. She admires them as “true writer-performers.”
26. Rebel has a rap star alter ego called Rebelicious. Rebelicious says of accusations that she is “attention-seeking,” “That’s why I’m rapping and not, like, working in an office being boring and speaking proper-like and wearing un-elasticized pants like you.”
27. In July 2015, Wilson stated her support for stricter American gun laws following the 2015 Lafayette shooting, stating, “I don’t like getting political but America you really have to follow Australia’s example re gun laws. I don’t remember a mass shooting in Australia since they overhauled the gun laws. It seems like every week in America there’s a shooting. I just want people to be safe, especially people that are doing one of my favorite things in the WORLD – going out to the movies 2 have fun.”
28. Wilson next appeared in the ensemble comedy How to Be Single, released in February 2016. Nigel M Smith of The Guardian wrote “Wilson is the standout, nailing every pratfall she’s dealt, but How to Be Single doesn’t make strong use of her character”.
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