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You know Samir’s girlfriend Carly on Adults who had you singing the wildly catchy song “Hiccups (Body Go Crazy)” on repeat after watching season 2? Well, now she’s your favorite bestie in The Love Hypothesis. We’re talking about Rachel Marsh, the scene-stealing actress and comedian popping up everywhere we turn and who is behind some of the funniest moments on television right now. The L.A. transplant—who has also appeared in The Morning Show, Fallout, and the Netflix comedy Unstable—is stacking up an enviable acting résumé and plenty of laughs along the way, making her our latest one to watch.
In this month’s The Love Hypothesis, the Prime Video book-to-screen romance adaptation from director Claire Scanlon, Marsh plays Anh Pham, a lovable biology grad student, the outspoken best friend to Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart), and the catalyst for Olive’s fake-dating plot with professor Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman). When Marsh read the best-selling novel on which the film is based, written by Ali Hazelwood, she was immediately drawn to the character Anh. But it isn’t just Marsh who loves Anh. She belongs to an entire (massive, we should add) fan base. “I was very aware of the fact that people have in their heads a version of Anh,” Marsh tells us over Zoom. “Once something is public, it’s everyone’s character. I hope that fans will like the fact that I made it my own.”
Below, Marsh speaks with Who What Wear about The Love Hypothesis, the women in comedy who inspire her, and her favorite rom-com tropes.
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You had an unusual path to acting. Can you tell me about your early days living in L.A. and how that pivot happened for you?
I really was not trying to be an actor in L.A. at all. In a cool way, I feel like it all really came together very organically. I have a lot of respect for people who know exactly what they want to do and just pursue it at 18 years old. I’m from a very small town in Seattle and had done a lot of improv and theater in high school and had no idea that it was a career choice. So moving to L.A., I went to a really small school in Azusa and wanted to get a business degree and work at a nonprofit, which I did for a long time. Then I worked in marketing, and I co-owned a coffee shop. I did a lot of things in my career that I feel really helped me to become a full adult. When I was trying to hustle a little bit in L.A. and figuring out what I wanted to do, trying all these different things, I had some friends that were doing improv, and just being in L.A., you go and see shows and stuff. I just became obsessed with improv and comedy in general. From there, I started auditioning for shows and got a manager. My first show was NCIS: L.A., and it was the perfect first job.
NCIS is like a rite of passage for many actors.
It is! You have to do an NCIS or a CSI or something. I have a lot of respect for people who do those jobs because it is a machine. It really teaches you how to work within the flow of a set, understand what a director needs from you, understand what a script needs from you, and just how to be a professional on a set.
So you did improv and theater in high school. What did that kind of performance work unlock for you personally?
Everything, especially at a time in your early 20s, when it’s like, Who am I? You really are finding yourself, so for me, being able to perform on a stage and being able to be seen and have a comedic voice and have people laugh at me was everything. It helped me develop my sense of humor, my confidence, what I found funny, and it helped me to put into words what my taste was. Going into the industry [and] having that as a foundation only helped me in a positive way to be like, “This is the kind of project I really want to do one day. This is the kind of comedy that I really want to pursue.” Even in auditions, [I’m] able to pick out the comedy and be like, “I find this funny” or “I don’t find this funny.” Even something as simple as that was everything when I was first starting.
Who are the women in comedy you look up to?
In terms of actors, growing up, watching films a lot, there were a lot of women that I looked up to, like Sandra Oh, for instance. In my early days of comedy, funny women, to me, were Anne Hathaway. The first movie I remember laughing at was The Princess Diaries. Even Amanda Bynes. I remember just being so blown away by women that could have attention in a way that wasn’t for how they look but for making people laugh. I think I still really gravitate toward that in the industry, that what’s impressive about you is that you have this talent and you have this charisma.
You mentioned NCIS being foundational for you as a first project, but were there any other early acting projects that had a major impact on you?
Oh, that’s a great question. I think my first series regular was this show called Unstable for Netflix. It was Rob Lowe’s show, him and his son being together. I was a scientist, and it went on for two seasons. I loved that show because it showed me the potential of what I could do in this industry—being a part of a script and being considered as a character throughout the season and having a character arc. It really set the standard for what I wanted to do from that moment on, and it gave me a lot of confidence to be a series regular and to be on set and to get to shadow directors and see how everything works behind the scenes and to see how a show is built from the ground up.
Let’s talk about The Love Hypothesis. So many people are excited about this movie. How did the project make its way to you, and what stood out to you about the script and its origins?
I had known Claire [Scanlon], our director, from Unstable, actually. I shadowed her because I want to direct eventually. But I knew she was directing, and I auditioned for it. … A few weeks before we started shooting, Claire called me and told me that I got the role, and I was so excited because it’s my first film. It’s just such a cool summer-camp experience of getting to make something and being collaborative in that way—and with the most awesome people too.
I’d heard about the book because I had read some romance-genre books, but this one was on my to-read list. I use Libby a lot for audiobooks, and when I booked it, I was like, “Yay, I get to read a book that I get to be in.” It’s such a special and rare experience. The book is really amazing, and also, I think Sarah [Rothschild], our writer, did a really amazing job of honoring what was so great about Ali [Hazelwood’s] writing and transitioning it to screen in a way to honor the central story of it really well.
The book has a massive fan base. Did that built-in fandom make you feel nervous at all in terms of their expectations?
Yeah, definitely. I mean, myself included. I really loved Anh. I was like, “Wow, what a great character.” It’s such a privilege to say that I get to do my version of Anh. Even when I was shooting it, I was very aware of the fact that people have in their heads a version of Anh. … Once something is public, it’s everyone’s character. I hope that fans will like the fact that I made it my own. Elizabeth [Cantillon] and Claire really allowed me to make Anh a version of myself, which you don’t always get, so I feel very lucky that it was collaborative in that way. Adding in my heritage of being Filipino and what I do at Christmastime with my family, it was really beautiful to get to do because it just feels very rare on a set that people let you do that.
Do you think you would be friends with Anh in real life?
Yeah! I really would. In my life, I really gravitate toward people who are fully themselves, whether people like them or not, even if they’re someone who is a little bit of a large character. Anh is so fully herself, and I think that’s so admirable. I admire someone who’s able to put themselves out there like that.
Lili Reinhart plays your on-screen BFF. How was it working with her as a scene partner?
Lili’s awesome. Throughout this process, she was so committed to being like, “The fans are really gonna want this. Let’s make sure we do this for them.” I think she really did a great job honoring that. When we first met, we went straight in, in Montreal and were like, “Let’s rehearse,” which is a luxury in films. I’m used to TV, where you don’t really get anything. It was fun to be able to hang out and talk about the scenes. I think it really helped our chemistry on-screen and really believing the closeness of these characters.
Did you two have a favorite Montreal activity?
Montreal is so incredible. It’s like Europe. It’s like New York. The food scene is incredible. We just all had the best time being like, “Let’s go try this new restaurant. Let’s go to Cirque du Soleil, Let’s go to breakfast, or let’s walk around.” It’s such a walkable city. Lili and I would go to breakfast sometimes and just talk about the film or get to know each other. She rarely had a free day, but it was fun to share meals together because that’s what I do in my normal life with friends. That’s my priority—going out to a good restaurant.
Any Montreal restaurant recommendations?
Le Violon. It’s where Justin Trudeau took Katy Perry. Mon Lapin, that was so good. And [Montreal] has really good coffee. It is a very trendy city.
What is your perfect rom-com?
It’s hard because rom-coms, to me, are so nostalgic. I feel like nostalgia is a big piece of it that we don’t talk about. … It was almost like whatever your first rom-com is, that’s your favorite. For me, my first rom-com was My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It’s a perfect movie because, like I talked about with Anne Hathaway, it’s a trope of a girl who’s a loser who, for some reason, is adorable to this guy, and he becomes obsessed with her, and then they fall in love. I love that trope.
Speaking of rom-com tropes, The Love Hypothesis centers on the “fake dating to lovers” trope. Do you think that can actually work in real life?
I said this recently, but I tell a white lie because it protects people. And I think that is admirable sometimes. I think that’s realistic: to be able to withhold information for people that you love or like [or] lie to them if it’s for a greater cause. So in that way, I think it’s realistic.
You’ve talked briefly about your directing aspirations. What does that look like for you? What would you love to direct in the future?
I’m someone who came from sketch comedy and improv. I still do that today. I have a show that I want to make and do have a lot of things that I still want to do, but it’s all a timing thing. Right now, I’m so enjoying acting and being in these projects and getting to collaborate in that way. I think the right opportunity or the right partnership will come along that I’ll naturally get to do that in. But I write all the time, and writing, for me, is what makes or breaks the project. It’s why I was so attracted to [The Love Hypothesis], because the script was really great. I really want to be involved in projects with funny, great, intelligent women, and I think that’s what people are going to take away from this film. … Wow, a lot of women made this great movie, and hopefully, it sets a tone for the next women-produced, -directed, -led film in this genre.
The Love Hypothesis is now streaming on Prime Video.
Photographer: JJ Geiger
Stylist: Katie Bofshever
Hairstylist: Barb Thompson
Makeup Artist: Hinako
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