Rachel Alana Handler

Life and career

Handler was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Raised in Linwood, New Jersey, she is a graduate of Mainland Regional High School. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Westminster Choir College. In her early career she performed with Kelli O'Hara at Carnegie Hall in “The Best of Lerner and Loewe” and had made appearances in Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway theatrical productions.

On March 3, 2012, Handler was driving from her apartment in New York City to attend an audition in South Jersey. She and Catherine Winters, 47, of Staten Island were involved in a minor motor vehicle accident near Elizabeth, New Jersey after taking an exit ramp on the New Jersey Turnpike. Handler and Winters pulled their cars over to the right shoulder of the ramp and exited their cars so that Handler could share her cell phone with Winters while they waited for police to arrive. Moments later, Martha Soto, 30, also of Staten Island, exited onto the ramp and lost control of her vehicle and slammed first into the left guardrail and then into the right guardrail where she struck both women, severing Handler's left foot and lower leg instantly. Handler spent a month in the hospital, enduring multiple surgeries and skin grafts and was fortunately able to salvage her knee, which increases her ability to maneuver her leg.

After moving back home and months of rehab, Handler attributes her positive attitude and her continued pursuit of singing and acting to her ability to cope with her disability and return to a normal life. She now walks with prosthesis and has become an advocate for actors with disabilities. In 2015, she was honored as part of Atlantic City Weekly's "Top 40 Under 40" Handler's contributions and interviews on her personal experiences and inclusion of disabled actors in the arts have been featured on Quora, Disabled World, Little Bits of Good, and Backstage.com. Her recent article "Stop Excluding Actors With Disabilities" was posted to the front page of Backstage. In it, Handler points out that there are many disabled characters written in movies, television and theater but that in most cases, an able bodied actor is chosen to portray them. She feels that this is an extreme oversight:

Professionally trained actors with disabilities are creating opportunities by writing, directing, and producing plays and films, but we need more allies in the entertainment industry. Society sees something new and instantly becomes curious or afraid, loves it or hates it. Actors with disabilities are still “new” to diversity because we are rarely seen in the entertainment industry. Inclusion can help society overcome its preconceptions of disability, instead of advancing stereotypes. Let’s all consciously choose to love and be curious about actors with disabilities. We’re ready, willing, and entirely able to step, hop, and wheel into the spotlight.

Her acting credits include an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, an episode of Blue Bloods, as "Denise Todd" (uncredited) in Elementary, and starring in the Christa Wells video "Shine". Her appearance as Chunks in Smothered has been well received by the horror community. She has also starred in independent films, including "Disabilidates", a short film in which she played an amputee going on a first date, "Two and Twenty Troubles" and “Only Those Who Limp Allowed". Her theater credits include Tess Samuels in "The Bipartisan" at the Thespis Theatre Festival, Resident Actor in "The Bats" at The Flea Theater and Hannah in Measure for Measure at Frog and Peach Theatre Co. Handler also appeared in Nicu's Spoon Theater Company's production of Richard III as Lady Anne. This production was notable for depicting “a whole new society where [Richard III] is ‘perfect’ in a disabled world, and every character in the play is disabled except for Richard III,” says artistic director Stephanie Barton-Farcas. Handler also wrote and starred in Inspiration Whore, a one woman show in which Handler, fresh from her accident and recovery, constantly hears people tell her that she is an "inspiration" and works through her conflicted feelings on the topic, ultimately finding the "inspiring spark" inside herself. She is currently writing a screenplay loosely based on her life, as well as an Angie Tribeca spin-off/parody created and written by Handler entitled Becky Nolita which features actors with disabilities.