The '90s and early aughts star talks about her most legendary projects with ET.
Rachael Leigh Cook is the It Girl of the '90s and early aughts who just gets better with time! The 40-year-old actress produced and stars in the upcoming Netflix rom com Love, Guaranteed, and in honor of her new film, she took a trip down memory lane with ET to look back at some of her most iconic projects.
Cook got her start playing Mary Anne in the original 1995 movie The Baby-Sitters Club, and now that the beloved book series has gotten a new life in a Netflix reboot, Cook couldn't be more excited for the young stars.
"I'm so happy for these girls," she tells ET's Deidre Behar, noting that she hasn't seen the new series yet, and with good reason.
"I want to wait until my daughter will watch it with me, and she's six, so she's still annoyed if I try to make her watch something that's not animated," she explains.
Cook says her "phone didn't ring" to make a cameo in the new show, but that she'd definitely be interested and she even has some ideas on what her role could be.
"Let's let the girls behind this incarnation of the franchise, let's let them get their canoe surely out of the water," she says. "And then I'll come in on season 12 and just [play] the guidance counselor who says some really wise things."
Speaking of early wisdom, Cook watched a throwback ET interview from her time on the set of the 1999 hit She's All That, in which she played high school misfit Laney Boggs.
"When I look back on it, the thing that I don't like the most is that I do that same thing that -- no offense -- that most teenagers do, where I'm under the impression, clearly in that video, that I'm far smarter than I am," she claims. "Which I'm really not, I didn't know anything."
Despite this claim, Cook does acknowledge that she's played some inspirational women over the years.
"I have a daughter and I recognize now more than ever just how important those roles are and I love that I can step into those shoes," she says. "I think people think I'm sort of like an unlikely hero in that sense. I'm very small, and you wouldn't think -- you would think -- if you looked at me, that I could get pushed around, but it's like, hmm, don't do it."
Next April marks the 20th anniversary of one of her biggest roles -- Josie from the 2001 film Josie and the Pussycats. But when asked if she plans to celebrate the milestone, Cook admits that she hasn't gotten around to thinking about that just yet.
"I love how you think someone like me, who's never gotten it together to send out a holiday card, has thought about this," she quips. "Like you're giving me so much credit right now."
She says the movie "only gets better" with time, but that she doesn't keep in touch with her fellow co-stars, Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson.
"Bre [Blair] who played Stacey in the original BSC just texted me two hours ago. Marla Sokoloff, who played Cokie, my mortal enemy, is a dear friend," she says. "And I could give you 20 more instances that would make you super happy, but, no, I don't see Tara [Reid] and Rosario [Dawson] really."
Right now her focus is on her new rom-com, Love, Guaranteed, in which she plays a lawyer who helps a man sue a dating site. Cook conceptualized the story and produces and stars in it.
"It kinda started because I've been living mostly in the romantic comedy space the last couple years, and it's just been where my head and heart are at," she shares. "And I'm always trying to think of, like, oh what's a relatively fresh take or what's more of a fun character that I'd like to play?"
Love, Guaranteed streams on Netflix on Sept. 3.
For more from Cook, including her gushing about her new real-life romance, watch the rest of ET's exclusive interview below:
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