Lauren Cohan, born on January 7, 1982, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is best known for her breakout role as Maggie Greene in The Walking Dead, but her journey to fame was anything but straightforward. Raised partly in the U.K., she moved frequently during her childhood, which gave her a chameleon-like ability to adapt—an asset in Hollywood’s brutal casting world. What few know is that early in her career, she faced repeated rejection for “not fitting the American leading lady mold,” a challenge