Leighton Meester

Meester booked guest roles in the series Crossing Jordan, 8 Simple Rules, 7th Heaven and 24.

She was cast as series regular in Surface as Savannah Barnett.

She has an older brother, Douglas Logan Meester (born 1983), and a younger brother, Alexander "Lex" Meester (born 1994).

At the time of her birth, Meester's parents were serving time in a federal prison for their involvement in a drug ring that smuggled marijuana from Jamaica to the United States.

Constance was able to give birth to Leighton in a hospital and nurse her for three months in a halfway house, before returning to prison to complete her sentence.

Her paternal grandparents cared for Meester during this period.

She has maintained that her parents gave her a normal upbringing and, despite their criminal past, has stated, "It made me realize that you can't judge anyone—especially your parents—for what they've done in their past, because people change."

She grew up in Marco Island, Florida, where she participated in productions at a local playhouse.

Leighton Marissa Meester (born April 9, 1986) is an American actress and singer.

Meester was born April 9, 1986 in Fort Worth, Texas, to Douglas Jay Meester and Constance Lynn (née Haas).

Her father is a real estate broker; her mother is a writer.

Her parents separated in 1992.

When she was 11 years old, Meester and her siblings moved with their mother to New York City.

She attended the Professional Children's School and began working as a model with Wilhelmina, booking a Ralph Lauren campaign shot by Bruce Weber, and working with then-photographer Sofia Coppola.

Meester also booked commercials for Tamagotchi and Clearasil, and modeled for Limited Too alongside Amanda Seyfried.

At age 14, she relocated to Los Angeles and attended Hollywood and Beverly Hills High Schools.

Meester then transferred to a small private school and graduated a year earlier than usual.

Meester made her acting debut in 1999 as a murder victim's friend, Alyssa Turner, on an episode of Law & Order.

Following this, she made her film debut as Elisha Springfield in Hangman's Curse (2003), based on the bestselling book by Frank Peretti.

She had a series regular role in Tarzan, which aired for only eight episodes.

A recurring role in Entourage as Justine Chapin and Veronica Mars as Carrie Bishop followed in 2004 and 2005.

In 2006, Meester appeared in two films, Flourish and Inside.

She also guest starred in an episode of Numbers and appeared in two episodes of House as Ali Johnson, a teenager who has a crush on Gregory House.

She then had guest roles on CSI: Miami and Shark, and portrayed the female lead in the horror film Drive-Thru, for which she recorded the song "Inside the Black".

Meester was cast as identical twin sisters Kayla and Kelly Rhodes in the ABC crime-drama series Secrets of a Small Town, but the network decided not to forward the series.

She is known for her starring role as Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl, which ran from 2007 to 2012.

In 2007, Meester was cast in The CW's teen drama series Gossip Girl as Blair Waldorf, based on the book series of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar.

She first auditioned for the role of Serena van der Woodsen, but told the producers that she could better play Blair.

However, it was important that Serena was blonde and Blair was brunette, so Meester dyed her hair brown for the role.

Her performance was the most critically acclaimed of the show, with Blair being cited as the series' breakout character.

She also garnered media attention for her wardrobe on the show.

She has also appeared in films such as Killer Movie (2008), Country Strong (2010), The Roommate (2011), Monte Carlo (2011), The Oranges (2011), The Judge (2014), The Weekend Away (2022), and EXmas (2023).

In 2009, she was featured on the Cobra Starship single "Good Girls Go Bad", which charted in the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100.

She released solo singles "Somebody to Love" (2009) and "Your Love's a Drug" (2010) on the Universal Republic label.

Meester has also recorded songs for various soundtracks.

Meester made her Broadway debut in Of Mice and Men (2014).

In addition to acting, Meester has ventured into music.

Her debut album, Heartstrings, was independently released in 2014.

She has also modeled, having been the face of the Jimmy Choo, Herbal Essences, and Vera Wang brands.

She portrayed Angie D'Amato on the ABC sitcom Single Parents (2018–2020).