United Kingdom, March 10 -- Rachel Zegler refuses "to assimilate for anybody else's comfort" after backlash over her heritage.

The 24-year-old actress faced fierce backlash for her Snow White casting from people claiming her Colombian heritage made her a 'woke' hire, while she had previously dealt with people complaining that she wasn't Hispanic enough to play Puerto Rican character Maria in West Side Story.

Speaking to Harper's Bazaar magazine, Rachel - who has a Polish father and Colombian mother - said: "I was told I wasn't enough of one thing for West Side Story and too much of another for Snow White. It was a really confusing time to be in my early twenties and hearing that.

"I grew up proud of being Colombian - eating the food, w...