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Leighton Meester
Born	Leighton Marissa Claire Meester April 9, 1986 (1986-04-09) (age 22) Marco Island, Florida
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1999-present

Leighton Marissa Claire Meester (born April 9, 1986) is an American actress and aspiring Singer-Songwriter, best known for her role as Blair Waldorf in the TV show Gossip Girl.¹ Her first acting role on a television program was on NBC's legal drama Law & Order in 1999.² Other series in which Meester has appeared include Surface, Entourage, CSI: Miami,³ 8 Simple Rules, 24,⁴ 7th Heaven,⁵ and House.⁶

Early life

Meester's parents, Connie and Doug, were involved in a drug ring that smuggled marijuana from Jamaica to the United States. Both were convicted for their involvement in the ring; Connie was sentenced to ten years. Prior to her conviction, Connie was released on bail, and during that time period, she became pregnant with Leighton. Leighton was delivered in a Texas hospital, and Connie was allowed to live with Leighton in a half-way house for three months. At the end of those three months, Connie returned to a Texas prison and Leighton was sent to live with a relative.⁷ After serving sixteen months, Connie was released and resumed her role in Leighton's life.⁸ Leighton has always been adamant in maintaining that she has no hard feelings towards her parents for what they did in the past, and she has repeatedly said that her mother is one of her best friends.

Career

Meester became interested in acting when she appeared in a local production of The Wizard of Oz. When she was eleven, she moved with her family to New York City and soon after began working as a model with Wilhelmina, booking a Ralph Lauren campaign shot by Bruce Webber and working with then-photographer Sofia Coppola.²

Other roles include a role as Savannah Bennett on Surface. She has guest starred as Debbie Pendleton on Season 4 of the FOX drama 24,⁴ as Ali, an underage teenager who has a crush on Dr. House in episode 3 and 4 of Season 3 of the FOX drama, House⁶, as Carrie Bishop on Season 1 of the UPN drama Veronica Mars and Chandler's new girlfriend Kendall in Season 8 of the WB drama 7th Heaven, as well as the role of Justine Chapin in Season 1 of the HBO comedy Entourage. Meester made her film debut in the feature Hangman's Curse, based on the best-selling novel by Frank Peretti.

She recently starred in the independent comic-thriller Flourish with House co-stars Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer.

In 2006, she wrapped the female lead role in the comedy/horror film Drive-Thru.⁵ She has also recorded a song for the soundtrack of Drive-Thru. In the spring of 2006, she played a part in the ensemble comedy/drama entitled Remember the Daze.

Currently, Meester stars as Blair Waldorf in The CW series Gossip Girl, from Josh Schwartz, creator of The O.C. and based on the book series about the lives of New York's two privileged Upper East Side high school students. Meester has stated in interviews that she identifies with Blair "on every level, in one way or another." She has also recently guest starred on CSI: Miami³ and has a recurring role on James Woods' court drama Shark. When not on the set, Meester, who attended Beverly Hills High School, pursues her talent for music and creative writing. She currently resides in New York.²

She has worked with actress Kristen Bell on two TV series. In Gossip Girl, Bell provides the voice of Gossip Girl and Leighton plays Blair Waldorf, and in Veronica Mars, which stars Bell, Leighton appeared briefly as gossip queen Carrie Bishop. Additionally, she has worked with fellow Gossip Girl co-star Penn Badgley in her previous lead role film Drive-Thru, where Penn played Val Espinoza.

She reprised her role of Justine Chapin on Entourage in season five. She is currently dating Sebastian Stan

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

• Leighton Meester at the Internet Movie Database
• Leighton Meester at TV.com