The best Rachel Blanchard movies and TV shows include some very smart shows over the last two decades and a handful of interesting movie choices, starting when she was a teenager. Blanchard began as a child when she took roles in television commercials and latched onto a role in The Kids of Degrassi Street. That led to some more television show appearances, which is when she picked up the role that made her a star worldwide as a teen in the kids’ horror series Are You Afraid of the Dark?
As an adult, Blanchard continued receiving good roles in smaller movies and on television. However, television gave her the most success, with roles in the TV adaptation of Clueless, playing the role that Alicia Silverstone played in the movie. This led to a critically acclaimed role in the British sitcom Peep Show, and things just got better from there. She picked up her biggest role in 2022 in The Summer I Turned Pretty and has proven to be a leading lady on television years after her start as a child star.
10 Without A Paddle (2004)
Rachel Blanchard Plays Flower
Without a Paddle
- Director
- Steven Brill
- Release Date
- August 20, 2004
- Cast
- Matthew Price , Andrew Hampton , Jarred Rumbold , Carl Snell , Antony Starr , Dax Shepard
- Runtime
- 99 minutes
Without a Paddle is a comedy that received terrible reviews when it was released, but it ended up as a surprising minor box office success before earning a DTV sequel five years later. The film followed three friends (Seth Green, Matthew Lillard, and Dax Shepard) who learn their childhood buddy died in an accident. This leads them to want to take an adventure together in his honor, as he had a map revealing where he thought D.B. Cooper’s lost treasure was located.
The entire movie is a slapstick comedy, with the three encountering all the mishaps they might expect in the woods and lakeside setting. Rachel Blanchard and Christina Moore star as Flower and Butterfly, two hippie girls that they meet deep in the woods, and it is Blanchard’s Flower who ends up as a romantic interest of Green’s Dan. While critics slammed the movie, it was mostly a harmless slapstick comedy of errors that delivered thanks to the cast’s comic timing.
9 Clueless (1996-1999)
Rachel Blanchard Plays Cher Horowitz
In 1996, ABC brought the hit Alicia Silverstone movie Clueless to the small screen. While Stacey Dash was able to reprise her role on the TV show, Silverstone could not take part, and Rachel Blanchard ended up replacing her in the role of Cher Horowitz. Like the movie that came before, the series follows Cher as she navigates life through high school and her struggles with relationships, school, and her social status. While not as fondly remembered as the movie, it was a success when it was on TV.
It showed Blanchard could handle a lead role on television.
After the first season, it moved from ABC to UPN and lasted two more seasons before being canceled. The TV show and the movie had other minor differences, including the removal of the romantic relationship between Cher and her stepbrother Josh (David Lascher replaced Paul Rudd in that role). The first season received mostly positive reviews, but the ratings dropped significantly when it moved to a smaller network. Despite this, it showed Blanchard could handle a lead role on television.
8 7th Heaven (2002-2004)
Rachel Blanchard Plays Roxanne Richardson
7th Heaven is a comedy-drama series created by Brenda Hampton and initially premiered on the WB in 1996. The series follows Eric Camden, a minister who deals with the ups and downs of raising a group of five generationally separated children with his wife.
- Cast
- Stephen Collins , Catherine Hicks , Barry Watson , David Gallagher , Jessica Biel , Beverley Mitchell , Mackenzie Rosman , Chaz Lamar Shepherd , Maureen Flannigan , Adam LaVorgna , Nikolas Brino , Lorenzo Brino , Geoff Stults , George Stults , Ashlee Simpson
- Release Date
- August 26, 1996
- Seasons
- 11
- Creator(s)
- Brenda Hampton
Rachel Blanchard was a late addition to The WB drama 7th Heaven. This was a family drama series that followed a minister (Stephen Collins) who lives in a small California town while raising their seven children. Along with shows like Dawson’s Creek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this series helped turn The WB and later The CW into a massive success. It lasted for 11 seasons, running from 1996 to 2007 and 243 episodes.
Rachel Blanchard joined the series in the seventh season as Roxanne Richardson. While only on the series for two seasons, Roxanne worked with Kevin (Lucy’s police officer husband), and she was both an initial rival for Lucy and later a close friend of the Camden daughter. The actress left after season 8, with the show writing her off by having her join the Army and get deployed to Iraq. Immediately after leaving this series, Blanchard picked up one of her best roles in Peep Show.
7 Snakes On A Plane (2006)
Rachel Blanchard Plays Mercedes Harbont
Snakes on a Plane is an action-adventure horror film starring Samuel L. Jackson as an FBI agent tasked with protecting a witness who is on his way to Los Angeles to testify against a ruthless crime boss named Eddie Kim. To silence him, Kim sets a crate full of venomous snakes loose, leaving the passengers to try to survive the slithering menaces mid-flight.
- Director
- David R. Ellis
- Release Date
- August 18, 2006
- Distributor(s)
- New Line Cinema
- Runtime
- 105 Minutes
Rachel Blanchard’s movie roles are nowhere near as varied as her TV roles. However, in 2006, she starred in one of the most infamous cult movies of all time, Snakes on a Plane. The film gained a ton of attention before it was released, thanks to its seemingly silly theme. It was an early Internet phenomenon that carried that fame into a slightly disappointing box office run before becoming a huge success on home video.
Snakes on a Plane, as its title suggests, is about an airplane that is attacked by a crate full of venomous snakes, with Samuel L. Jackson playing an almost parody of himself in the movie. Rachel Blanchard plays Mercedes Harbont, a socialite who is onboard the plane with her pet Chihuahua, Mary-Kate. Thanks to her willingness to help and her love for Mary-Kate, she remains a great character in the film, and she ends up as one of the most tragic thanks to Mary-Kate’s fate.
6 Are You Afraid Of The Dark (1990-1993)
Rachel Blanchard Plays Kristen
Are You Afraid of the Dark? is a spooky anthology series for kids that recounts ghost stories told by the young members of the Midnight Society as they gather around a campfire. Members of the Midnight Society tell a terrifying tale of the Carnival of Doom and its evil ringmaster, Mr. Tophat, only to witness the shocking story come frightfully to life. The new series is an update of the 1990s Nickelodeon series of the same name, which lasted five seasons.
- Cast
- Bryce Gheisar , Ryan Beil , Parker Queenan , Kyle Strauts , Malia Barker , Dominic Mariche , Beatrice Kitsos , Kalyn Miles , Arjun Athalye
- Release Date
- October 11, 2019
- Seasons
- 3
- Showrunner
- BenDavid Grabinski
The TV series that helped make Rachel Blanchard a star arrived in 1990 with the kids’ anthology horror series Are You Afraid Of The Dark? This Nickelodeon series featured the “Midnight Society” a group of teenagers who tell scary stories around a campfire. The episodes would start with the kids sitting around the fire, with a different teen telling each story, and then it would flip over to the actual scary story with the teens playing roles in the stories. Rachel Blanchard was one of these teens.
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Blanchard plays Kristen, who was on the series for its pilot in 1990 and then for its official launch in 1992. However, she was only around for the show’s first two seasons, for a total of 26 episodes. Kristen was best known for her love of telling ghost stories and twisted fairy tales, as well as her intense fear of clowns. She left the series before season 3, with her character written out when her family moved away. The entire cast received Young Artist Award nominations in 1991 and 1993.
5 Flight Of The Conchords (2007)
Rachel Blanchard Plays Sally
Flight of the Conchords was an HBO-based television series that followed the rise of The Flight of the Conchords, a folk band duo from New Zealand hoping to make it big in New York City. Although the duo really do produce music, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement play exaggerated and fictionalized versions of themselves. The show was released in 2007 and lasted two seasons.
- Release Date
- June 17, 2007
- Seasons
- 2
While she only appeared on two episodes of Flight of the Conchords, Rachel Blanchard had a big role in those episodes as Sally. Flight of the Conchords is an HBO sitcom about a two-man band from New Zealand (played by Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie) who seek success in New York City. The series is based on the real-life musical comedy act of the same name by the lead actors, and they play fictionalized, over-the-top versions of themselves.
What makes her so important is that “Sally” was the series’ pilot episode, and Blanchard’s character was who Jermaine began dating, although she was Bret’s ex-girlfriend.
Rachel Blanchards played Sally in two episodes: “Sally” and “Sally Returns.” What makes her so important is that “Sally” was the series’ pilot episode, and Blanchard’s character was who Jermaine began dating, although she was Bret’s ex-girlfriend. She breaks up with Jermaine in that same episode but returns in “Sally Returns,” where she threatens to come in between him and Bret. “Sally Returns” actually picked up an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing.
4 Fargo (2014)
Rachel Blanchard Plays Kitty Nygaard
Fargo is a Black Comedy Crime Drama television series that is based on the film of the same name, which was originally created by the Coen Brothers. The TV adaptation was developed by Noah Hawley and follows an anthology format for each of its seasons, taking place in a different time period or location within the “Fargo” universe. So far, the series has seen big-name stars like Billy Bob Thornton, Ewan McGregor, Chris Rock, and Kirsten Dunst.
- Cast
- Billy Bob Thornton , Allison Tolman , Martin Freeman , Kirsten Dunst , Patrick Wilson , Jesse Plemons , Ewan McGregor , Carrie Coon , Chris Rock , Jessie Buckley , Jason Schwartzman , Juno Temple , Jon Hamm
- Release Date
- April 15, 2014
- Seasons
- 5
- Showrunner
- Noah Hawley
Rachel Blanchard was part of the cast for the first season of Fargo. This series is based on the classic Coen Brothers movie and plays like an anthology series, with each season taking on a new crime story. Season 1 follows a hitman named Lorne (Billy Bob Thornton) who stops at a hospital in a small Minnesota town and begins to corrupt an insurance salesman named Lester (Martin Freeman). This leads to murders, which two police officers (Colin Hanks and Allison Tolman) try to solve.
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Rachel Blanchard has the recurring role of Kutty Nygaard, the wife of Chazz (Josh Close), Lester’s successful younger brother. She appeared in five episodes of the series and is involved in the betrayal of Lester to his brother Chazz. It was a smaller supporting role but Blanchard was part of an overall great cast that helped the first season win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and a Peabody Award.
3 You Me Her (2016-2020)
Rachel Blanchard Plays Emma Trakarsky
In 2016, Rachel Blanchard took on one of the main roles in the comedy-drama series You Me Her. In this series, a suburban married couple struggling with a lack of sex drive decides to enter into a three-way romantic relationship with another woman. Greg Poehler and Rachel Blanchard play the couple, Jack and Emma, and they enter into this relationship with Priscilla Faia’s psychology grad student and part-time escort, Izzy. Soon, Jack and Emma both begin to fall in love with Izzy.
The series was a surprising success, lasting for five seasons and 50 episodes. It shows the troubles and difficulties of this sort of relationship, especially in the eyes of their neighbors and friends. The series was a critical success, with Priscilla Faia earning several award nominations for her role as Izzy. However, it was all three leads that made this show work, and it was proof that Blanchard was capable of taking one of the lead roles in a TV show, something that would lead to bigger success a few years later.
2 The Summer I Turned Pretty (2022- )
Rachel Blanchard Plays Susannah
The Summer I Turned Pretty, based on Jenny Han’s novel, is a coming-of-age romantic drama series centered on Isabel “Belly” Conklin, played by Lola Tung. The story unfolds as Belly spends her summers at a beach house with her family and longtime friends, exploring themes of love, friendship, and discovery amid the transformative period of adolescence. The series premiered in 2022 and captures the essence of youth and summer.
- Cast
- Lola Tung , Christopher Briney , Gavin Casalegno , Jackie Chung
- Release Date
- June 17, 2022
- Seasons
- 3
In 2022, Rachel Blanchard took on one of the lead roles in the Prime Video coming-of-age romantic drama The Summer I Turned Pretty. Based on the trilogy by Jenny Han, the series stars Lola Tung as Belly, a teenager involved in a love triangle with two brothers, Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Galvin Casalegno). The show was a huge success, earning a renewal in 2023 and a third season set to be released in 2025.
Rachel Blanchard plays an important role in the series as Susannah Fisher, Conrad and Jeremiah’s mother and Belly’s mother’s best friend. What makes Blanchard’s character stand out is that the series has her diagnosed with cancer, and she eventually dies in the second season, which is the most important part of that season. The cast received a Just Jared Jr Fan Award nomination for Favourite TV Ensemble Cast in 2022, and the third season will surely miss Blanchard.
1 Peep Show (2004-2007)
Rachel Blanchard Plays Nancy
Peep Show is a British sitcom that premiered in 2003, following the lives of two dysfunctional roommates, Mark Corrigan and Jeremy “Jez” Usborne, played by David Mitchell and Robert Webb, respectively. The show explores their misadventures, relationships, and struggles in contemporary London.
- Cast
- Robert Webb , David Mitchell , Sophie Winkleman
- Release Date
- September 19, 2003
- Seasons
- 9
- Creator(s)
- Andrew O’Connor , Jesse Armstrong , Sam Bain
After proving herself as an adult actor in Clueless and 7th Heaven, Rachel Blanchard got a chance to take on a role in the British sitcom Peep Show. She started this one year after leaving 7th Heaven and was a part of the second and fourth seasons of the series. Peep Show is about dysfunctional best friends who share a flat in South London. David Mitchell and Robert Webb star as the two friends and follows them on their misadventures and struggles as they try to make ends meet.
Rachel Blanchard stars as Nancy, a free-spirited but dysfunctional American woman in a relationship with Jeremy (Webb). She is Jeremy’s romantic interest and eventual wife (for visa purposes), but she is often antagonistic, self-absorbed, and sexually manipulative. She actually disappears part of the way through season 2 and then pops back up in season 4, although in a smaller role. With a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score, it is Blanchard’s most beloved TV show.
