Leighton Meester extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Leighton Meester
Meester at the premiere of Killer Movie at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
Background information
Birth name	Leighton Marissa Meester
Born	April 9, 1986 (1986-04-09) (age 23) Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Electropop, dance
Occupations	Actress, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Universal Motown Republic Group

Leighton Marissa Meester (born April 9, 1986)¹ is an American actress, singer-songwriter, and fashion model best known for her role as Blair Waldorf in the TV show Gossip Girl.²

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Acting 2.2 Music 2.3 Endorsements 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 5 Discography 5.1 Studio albums 5.2 Singles 5.3 Featured singles 6 Awards 7 References 8 External links

Early life

Meester was born while her mother was serving a federal prison sentence in Fort Worth, Texas.³⁴ Although her mother, Constance, was serving time in prison for her involvement in a drug ring that smuggled marijuana from Jamaica to the United States, she was able to give birth to Meester in a hospital and nurse her for three months in a halfway house before returning to prison to complete her sentence.³⁴

Meester maintained that her parents gave her a normal upbringing and, despite their criminal past, are good people with experience that has only made Meester more open-minded and non-judgmental, "It made me realize that you can't judge anyone—especially your parents—for what they've done in their past, because people change."⁵ Meester jokes, "Look, I could've turned out a lot worse."⁶

Meester grew up in Marco Island, Florida, where she participated in productions at a local playhouse.⁷ When she was 11 years old, Meester and her mother moved to New York.⁷ Meester attended the Professional Children's School and also began working as a model with Wilhemina, booking a Ralph Lauren campaign shot by Bruce Weber and working with then photographer (now film maker) Sofia Coppola.⁸⁷ Meester made her television acting debut as a murder victim's friend on an episode of Law & Order.⁷⁸ At 14, Meester moved to Los Angeles, California, wanting more stable work and attended Hollywood High School and Beverly Hills High School.⁸⁹ She then transferred to a small private school and graduated a year early.¹⁰ Her surname Meester, means "master" or "teacher" in Dutch.¹¹

Career

Acting

After her television debut in 1999 playing Alyssa Turner in Law & Order, Meester appeared as a guest in two more series before landing her big role in the movie Hangman's Curse, based on the best-selling book by Frank Peretti. Meester also appeared in Tarzan, which ran for only eight episodes. Meester started to land guest roles in other series such as Crossing Jordan, 7th Heaven, Veronica Mars, 24, and Entourage.⁷

In 2005, Meester began a regular role in the series Surface as Savannah Bennet. Meester appeared in two more 2006 movies, Flourish and Inside. She also guest appeared in Numb3rs and in two episodes of House M.D. as Ali, an underage girl who has a crush on House.⁷

After guest roles on CSI: Miami, Shark, and playing the female lead in the horror film Drive-Thru, Meester was cast in CW's Gossip Girl as Blair Waldorf.⁷ The show is based on the book series by Cecily von Ziegesar about the lives of New York's privileged Upper East Side young adults. Her performance has been met with critical acclaim.¹²¹³

In 2007 Meester appeared on the television film the The Haunting of Sorority Row, and played a part in the ensemble comedy/drama Remember the Daze. She also appeared in the horror/thriller film Killer Movie in 2008.

Meester will play Rebecca in the upcoming film The Roommate. She has a small role in the upcoming comedy, Date Night, alongside Steve Carell and Tina Fey.¹⁴ It was announced that Meester will star in a pre-menopausal version of Thelma & Louise called Cowgirl Bandits, she will star next to Pineapple Express and Remember The Daze co-star actress Amber Heard.¹⁵¹⁶ She was also cast in Screen Gems' upcoming drama Love Don't Let Me Down; next to Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw and Garrett Hedlund.¹⁷¹⁸

Music

In April 2009, Meester signed a recording contract with Universal Republic.¹⁹ The album will be produced by several producers such as RedOne, J.R. Rotem and Kara Dioguardi. Meester's first single, "Somebody To Love", featuring R&B singer Robin Thicke, was released for airplay on October 13, 2009 and became available for digital download on October 14, 2009. The album's second single will reportedly be “Make It Rain,” a collaboration with Lil Wayne.²⁰ The album, officially titled Love Is A Drug, is expected for an early 2010 release.²¹

Meester is featured in the Cobra Starship song "Good Girls Go Bad", which reached the Top 10 on Billboard Hot 100 peaking at #7.²² She also recorded a cover of the song "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" for the compilation album A Very Special Christmas 7, which was released on November 24, 2009.²³

Endorsements

Meester previously appeared in Clearasil commercials and in 2009 ads for Reebok.²⁴²⁵ She has been a spokesperson for Sunsilk's "Life Can't Wait" campaign.²⁶ In June 2009, she and Ed Westwick were named the new faces for the Korean clothing line ASK Enquired.²⁷ She has also been a spokesperson for Safe Horizon to raise awareness about and prevent domestic violence.²⁸

Personal life

In June 2008, there were reports accompanied by voyeuristic pictures allegedly from a sex tape, featuring an 18-year old Meester, being shopped around by an old boyfriend for an asking price up to $1 million.²⁹ Meester counters the allegations in an interview with the September 2009 issue of Harpers Bazaar: "[The tape] is not real, so it makes me sort of sad. It's unfortunate that it got carried as far as it did. I definitely understand the nature of people better now and that the mere allegation of something like that could be headline news. People think it's real because somebody says it is."³⁰

Meester is dating Sebastian Stan, the actor who plays Carter Baizen on Gossip Girl.³¹

Meester was number 12 on the Maxim Hot 100 list in 2009, alongside her co-star, Blake Lively, who was number 33.³²

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
2003	Hangman's Curse	Elisha Springfield
2004	Hollywood Division	Michelle	Television film
2006	Flourish	Lucy Covner
	Inside	Josie
2007	Drive-Thru	Mackenzie Carpenter
	Remember the Daze	Tori
	The Haunting of Sorority Row	Samantha Willows	Television film
2008	Killer Movie	Jaynie Hansen
2010	Date Night	Chaz	Post-production
	The Roommate	Rebecca Daly	Post-production
	Love Don't Let Me Down33	Chiles Stanton	In-production
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Law & Order	Alyssa Turner	Episode: "Disciple"
2001	Boston Public	Sarah Breen	Episode: "Chapter Twenty-Eight"
2002	Once & Again	Amanda	Episode: "Gardenia"
	Family Affair	Irene	Episode: "No Small Parts"
2003	Tarzan	Nicki Porter	5 episodes
2004	Crossing Jordan	Marie Strand	Episode: "Missing Pieces"
	North Shore	Veronica Farrell	1 episode
	7th Heaven	Kendall	2 episodes
	Entourage	Justine Chapin	2004-2008 (3 episodes)
2005	24	Debbie Pendleton	4 episodes
	8 Simple Rules	Nikki	Episode: "The After Party"
	Veronica Mars	Carrie Bishop	2 episodes
	Surface	Savannah Barnett	2005-2006 (12 episodes)
2006	Numb3rs	Karen Camden	Episode: "Dark Matter"
	House M.D.	Ali	2 episodes
	CSI: Miami	Heather Crowley	Episode: "Broken Home"
2007	Shark	Megan	3 episodes
	Gossip Girl	Blair Waldorf	2007–present

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album details
2010	Love Is a Drug First studio album To be released Label: Universal Republic

Singles

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
		US
2009	"Somebody to Love" (feat. Robin Thicke)	111	Love Is a Drug

Featured singles

Year	Single	Artist	Peak chart positions							Album
			US	US Pop	CAN	AUS	NZ	NL	UK
2009	"Good Girls Go Bad"	Cobra Starship	7	7	7	5	2	29	17	Hot Mess

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2008	Teen Choice Award	Choice TV Actress Drama	Gossip Girl	Nominated
		Choice TV Breakout Star Female		Nominated
2009		Choice TV Actress Drama		Won
	MTV Video Music Award	Best Pop Video	"Good Girls Go Bad" (with Cobra Starship)	Nominated

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Leighton Meester

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