Leighton Meester Biography
Summary
"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". Her first acting role on a television program was on NBC's legal drama "Law & Order" in 1999. Other series in which Meester has appeared include Surface, "Entourage", "CSI: Miami", "8 Simple Rules", "24", "7th Heaven", and "House".
Career
Meester became interested in acting when she appeared in a local production of "The Wizard of Oz". When she was 11, 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.
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", as Ali in episode 3 and 4 of Season 3 of the FOX drama, "House" 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". 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: Miami" 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.
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 is currently working on a movie in Puerto Rico, with co-star, Kodina Anya Cole. Kodina Anya Cole is a soon to be Oscar A-list actress, and plays the role of Maria Phillips. The upcoming movie is titled "The One".
She will reprise her role of Justine Chapin on "Entourage" in season five.
Music career
Meester recently released a statement saying that she was working on a debut album, for release in 2009, and that she would be writing most of the songs, like a singer-songwriter album. No other information has been released. A demo titled Bette Davis Eyes has surfaced on the Internet which could appear on her upcoming album. The album is rumored to be titled Prodigy.
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Leighton Meester.
