Mary-Rachel was born into a world of theatre, her British father, the Honorable Oliver Foot, and American mother, Nancy Bruce Foot, being the founding members of Footsbarn Theatre, a non-profit, grassroots theatre company that revived Cornish legends, Shakespeare, and modern theatre. The group made their own costumes, wrote original works, and did their own choreography and music.
Mary-Rachel started performing through her experience with Footsbarn, acting in her first play at the age of 6 and never losing her love for the stage. Her family, too, was highly respected, with her grandfather, Sir Hugh Foot, a British diplomat who led British colonies to independence, and her great-uncle, the Rt. Honorable Michael Foot, a Labour party MP and former party leader.
Mary-Rachel's uncle, Paul Foot, a veteran journalist, was once voted journalist of the decade in the UK and wrote for the Socialist Worker and Private Eye magazine. In 1979, Mary-Rachel moved to the United States, living on Long Island, New York, from the age of 9 to 18, where she thrived as an athlete and won musical and dramatic awards.
Nominated by her classmates as most likely to succeed, most all-around, most dramatic, and most musical, Mary-Rachel attended Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, where she majored in broadcast journalism and communications. In 1992, she moved to California, introducing herself to the world of entertainment in Los Angeles.
