Rachel Blanchard

Actress Rachel Blanchard parlayed her gift for portraying the offbeat, even dark side of innocuous or flighty girls and women on television comedies like "Clueless" (ABC/UPN, 1996-99), "Flight of the Conchords" (HBO, 2007-09) and "You Me Her" (Audience Network, 2016- ). Born Rachel Louise Blanchard on March 19, 1976 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, she began acting at an early age, appearing in television commercials and in a recurring role on the well-loved CBC children's series "The Kids of Degrassi Street" (1979-1986) in 1984. Over the next decade, Blanchard worked steadily in Canadian television content, enjoying recurring roles on "War of the Worlds" (syndicated, 1988-1990) and as the ghost story aficionado Kristen on "Are You Afraid of the Dark" (YTV/Nickelodeon, 1990-96, 1999-2000). She continued acting into her teenaged years while also completing her high school studies at the all-girls school Havergal College, and briefly considered a career in psychology while attending Queen's University. However, she left the school before graduating to focus on her acting career, which reached a peak in 1996 when she was cast in "Clueless." Based on the 1995 film of the same name - which itself was based on Jane Austen's "Emma" - the series followed the continuing high school adventures of Cher Horowitz, played by Alicia Silverstone in the film and Blanchard in the series. The broad comedy ran for a season on ABC before moving to UPN for its final two years, and afforded Blanchard other opportunities in teen-oriented projects. She Blanchard settled into a two-year recurring role on "7th Heaven" as a police officer teamed with Geoff Stults' Kevin Kinkirk, and parlayed her comic talents into a string of modestly popular features, including "Road Trip" (2000), "Sugar & Spice" (2001) and "Without a Paddle" (2004), playing sweet, often befuddled young women along the lines of Cher Horowitz. She attempted to break free of this character type with turns as a murdered journalist linked to comedy team Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth in Atom Egoyan's thriller "Where the Truth Lies" (2005) and in the campy horror film "Snakes on a Plane" (2006), but television comedy remained her best showcase. Blanchard netted a Golden Nymph from the Television Festival of Monte Carlo for her turn as the sexually unrestrained girlfriend of slacker Robert Webb on the long-running British series "Peep Show" (Channel 4, 2003-2015), and played Sally, a woman who comes between eccentric bandmates Jermaine Clement and Bret McKenzie on the pilot episode of "Flight of the Conchords" (HBO, 2007-09). Two years later, she won a Gemini for her turn as a brain-damaged woman who becomes involved with Jason Priestley's morally bankrupt hero on "Call Me Fitz" (HBO Canada/Movie Central/Movie Network, 2010-13). More comic work, including a recurring role as ex-beauty queen Kitty Nygaard on the debut season of "Fargo" (FX, 2014- ), and guest appearances on critically praised comedy series like "Childrens Hospital" (The WB.Com/Adult Swim, 2010-15) and "Another Period" (Comedy Central, 2015- ), preceded her return to series work with "You Me Her, " a U.S.-Canadian comedy about a couple (Blanchard and Greg Poehler) who find themselves in a polyamorous relationship after Blanchard falls in love with an escort (Priscilla Faia) she hired to boost Poehler's sex drive.