Leighton Marissa Meester (born April 9, 1986 in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American actress and musician. She was born in Texas in a rather unconventional situation - her parents were serving time in prison for their participation in a marijuana-smuggling ring - and so she was Raised by Grandparents for the first few years of her life. She started modelling at the age of eleven and also doing TV commercials. At the age of fourteen, she transitioned to television work debuting on an episode of Law & Order: SVU.
After appearing on several hit TV shows such as 8 Simple Rules, TwentyFour, Crossing Jordan, Veronica Mars and 7th Heaven, she landed a role on an upcoming CW Prime Time Soap. She was cast in Gossip Girl as Blair Waldorf, spoiled Alpha Bitch extraordinaire. The show ran for six seasons, Blair becoming the show's Breakout Character and Leighton predicted as a rising star. Unfortunately some poor choices of film projects - The Roommate, Monte Carlo (2011), The Oranges, That's My Boy - caused a lot of her momentum to die down.
Leighton hasn't let that deter her, releasing an album called "Heartstrings" that did respectable business. She also appeared on Broadway for a version of Of Mice and Men, playing Curly's wife, for which she received lots of praise. She's married to fellow Teen Drama star Adam Brody (of The O.C. fame) and they have two children.
Selected Filmography:
- Hangman's Curse
- NUMB3RS
- CSI: Miami
- Shark
- Life Partners
- Like Sunday, Like Rain
- The Judge
- Gossip Girl
- Country Strong
- The Roommate
- Monte Carlo (2011)
- The Oranges
- Surface
- The Orville
- How I Met Your Father
Tropes related to this actress:
- Actor-Shared Background: In Country Strong it's revealed that her character Chiles has parents in prison, something Leighton herself experienced (her mom actually gave birth to her on temporary release before completing her sentence).
- Awesome, Dear Boy: She was a huge 24 fan and was ecstatic to learn that she'd get to be killed off in a guest spot.
- The Cast Show Off: As a gifted singer herself, she demonstrates the skill quite a bit in Country Strong.
- Dye Hard: She's a natural blonde but is best known as a brunette. She had to dye it to audition for Blair, merging this with Dyeing for Your Art.
- Leslie Nielsen Syndrome: Her first prominent role was on a Teen Drama. Since then she has veered towards comedy movies and sitcoms.
- The Other Darrin: She was set to reprise her role as Carrie in the Veronica Mars movie, but had to be replaced with Andrea Estella.
- Romance on the Set: She dated her Gossip Girl co-star Sebastian Stan for two years. Also dated Aaron Himelstein who she starred alongside in Remember The Daze. She's currently married to Adam Brody, who she met while filming The Oranges.
- Star-Derailing Role: The Roommate, Monte Carlo (2011) and That's My Boy all flopped in a row, killing off a lot of her momentum. Not helping matters was Gossip Girl's decline in popularity heading into its final season. She has at least found more success as a singer and on Broadway.
- Star-Making Role: Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl made her famous.
