Leighton Marissa Meester (5' 5" (1.65 m) born April 9, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Meester first garnered attention for playing Blair Waldorf in the CW television series Gossip Girl. She most recently appeared in the 2010 country drama film Country Strong, the 2011 thriller The Roommate, and the 2011 romantic-comedy Monte Carlo.
Meester was born in Fort Worth, Texas, to Constance (née Haas) and Douglas Meester and lived most of her life in New York City and Los Angeles. Meester's last name means "master" or "teacher" in Dutch.
Her mother was serving time in a federal prison for her involvement in a drug ring that smuggled marijuana from Jamaica to the United States. She 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, after which Leighton's grandmother cared for her.
Meester has 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." Meester has joked, "Look, I could've turned out a lot worse." She has cited her mother as her style icon.
Meester grew up in Marco Island, Florida, where she participated in productions at a local playhouse. When she was 11 years old, Meester and her mother moved to New York City. Meester attended the Professional Children's School and also began working as a model with Wilhelmina, booking a Ralph Lauren campaign shot by Bruce Weber and working with then photographer (now film maker) Sofia Coppola as well as many commercials including Tamagotchi toys and Clearasil. Meester made her television acting debut as a murder victim's friend on an episode of Law & Order. At 14, Meester moved to Los Angeles, California, wanting more stable work, and attended Hollywood High School and Beverly Hills High School. She then transferred to a small private school and graduated a year early.
In July 2011, she and her mother filed lawsuits against each other regarding Meester's financial support of her younger brother, who has multiple health problems. Meester's suit claims the money she sent was misused by her mother; her mother's suit makes a cross-claim alleging breach of contract and physical abuse.
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. She appeared in Tarzan, which ran for only eight episodes. Meester then started to land guest roles in other series such as Crossing Jordan, 8 Simple Rules, 7th Heaven, Veronica Mars, 24, and Entourage.
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 three episodes of House M.D. as Ali, a young girl who has a crush on House. She had guest roles on CSI: Miami and Shark, and played the female lead in the horror film Drive-Thru.
In 2007, Meester was cast in the CW's teen drama series Gossip Girl as Blair Waldorf. 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 is the most critically acclaimed of the show, with Blair being cited as the series' breakout character, and also garnering much media recognition due to her wardrobe.
Meester appeared on the television film 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 had small roles in the 2010 comedies Date Night and Going The Distance. She starred in Screen Gems' 2010 country drama Country Strong and the 2011 thriller The Roommate. In 2011 she starred alongside Selena Gomez and Katie Cassidy in the young femme comedy Monte Carlo, loosely based on Jules Bass's young-adult book Headhunters. She is set to star in The Uncatchable Cowgirl Bandits of Nottingham, Texas alongside Amber Heard; in the indie dramatic comedy The Oranges opposite Hugh Laurie; and she also joined the cast of the comedy I Hate You, Dad, alongside Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, and Milo Ventimiglia.
In April 2009, Meester signed a recording contract with Universal Republic. Meester's first official 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. Her second single, "Your Love's a Drug", was digitally released on March 30, 2010.
Meester is featured on Cobra Starship's song "Good Girls Go Bad", which reached the Top 10 on Billboard Hot 100 peaking at #7, and on Stephen Jerzak's song "She Said". She recorded a cover of the song "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" for the compilation album A Very Special Christmas 7. For her 2010 country drama film Country Strong, she recorded a cover of the song "Words I Couldn't Say" by Rascal Flatts as well as "A Little Bit Stronger" by Sara Evans featured on the film's soundtrack; a promotional single titled "Summer Girl"; and a duet with Garrett Hedlund titled "Give In To Me".
Meester has fronted many charity as well as advertising campaigns. In 2008, she was a spokesperson for Sunsilk's "Life Can't Wait" campaign to motivate women to pursue their dreams and collaborated with Safe Horizon to raise awareness about and prevent domestic violence. Early in 2009, Meester partnered with Reebok to model their new Top Down sneakers. Outside of Gossip Girl, Meester has worked with co-star Ed Westwick in a Nikon Coolpix series camera advertisement and both were faces for a Korean clothing line called ASK Enquired. Most recently, in 2010, Meester has signed on to be the current spokesperson for Herbal Essences hair products. In the same year, Meester took part in Bulgari's humanitarian efforts for the Save the Children organization with Isabella Rossellini and Maribel Verdútaken. Vera Wang has also chosen Meester to be the face of her newest scent Lovestruck, breaking in summer of 2011, stating that the actress's "beauty, talent and spirit will inspire all the young women that I hope will enjoy this passionate, new young fragrance." In 2011, Italian fashion house Missoni revealed they have tapped Meester to be part of their Spring/Summer 2011 campaign. She fronts another South Korean brand, this time a beauty campaign, called eSpoir. Leighton is additionally the new face of Vera Wang's scent "Lovestruck" which was first sold in Harrods on the 9th June with many adoring fans queueing to get the world famous designer's and actress's signature.
Leighton Meester
