Rachel Brosnahan

Rachel Elizabeth Brosnahan (born July 12, 1990) is an American actress. She is recognized for portraying Lois Lane in the DC Universe (DCU), a role she first played in the film Superman (2025). She rose to fame for her performance as Midge Maisel in the Amazon Prime Video period comedy series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–2023), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2018 and two consecutive Golden Globe Awards in 2018 and 2019.

On screen, she was Emmy-nominated for the political thriller series House of Cards (2013–2015) and acted in the drama series Manhattan (2014–2015) and the comedy miniseries series Crisis in Six Scenes (2016). Brosnahan made her film debut in the horror film The Unborn (2009), and had starred in The Courier (2020), I'm Your Woman (2020), and The Amateur (2025).

On stage, she made her Broadway debut in the 2013 revival of the Clifford Odets play The Big Knife. She played Desdemona in the 2016 off Broadway production of Othello, which also starred Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo. Brosnahan returned to Broadway playing a wife in a turbulent marriage in the 2023 revival of the Lorraine Hansberry play The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window for which she was nominated for the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award.

Brosnahan was born on July 12, 1990, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Carol and Earl Brosnahan, who worked in children's publishing. Her mother is British, and her father is an American of Irish descent. From age four, Brosnahan was raised in Highland Park, Illinois. She has a younger brother and sister.

She attended Wayne Thomas Elementary School and Northwood Junior High School. She performed in musical theater during junior high and high school. At Highland Park High School, she was on the wrestling team for two years and was a snowboarding instructor. When she was 16, she took a class with Carole Dibo, director of Wilmette's Actors Training Center, who is now her manager. Brosnahan graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2012.

While still in high school, Brosnahan received her first movie role—that of Lisa in the Michael Bay-produced horror film The Unborn (2009). She first appeared on stage in 2009 in Up at Steppenwolf Theatre. In college, she appeared in single episodes of television series such as Gossip Girl, The Good Wife, Grey's Anatomy, and In Treatment. Brosnahan's early roles include performances in two short films directed by Ari Aster, Basically (2013), and Munchausen (2014). After college, she began landing recurring roles in series such as the crime thriller The Blacklist (2014) and the short-lived medical drama Black Box (2014). She made her Broadway debut in The Big Knife with Roundabout Theatre Company in 2013.

In 2013, she starred as Rachel Posner in the critically acclaimed Netflix political drama House of Cards with Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. Although she was initially booked for only two episodes, she caught the eye of showrunner Beau Willimon, and her character was significantly expanded. Her role brought her career prominence, and she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2016, she played Desdemona in Othello at New York Theatre Workshop opposite David Oyelowo and Daniel Craig. That year she appeared in Woody Allen's Amazon series Crisis in Six Scenes with Allen, Elaine May and Miley Cyrus.

Starting in 2017, Brosnahan appeared as the title character in the Amazon period comedy series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She has said that her exposure to Jewish culture growing up helped prepare her for the role of Midge Maisel, a 1950s Jewish housewife who pursues a career in stand-up comedy when her marriage fails. Her performance has earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series, two Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Critics' Choice Television Awards, among other accolades. In 2019, Brosnahan launched the production company Scrap Paper Pictures.