Leighton Marissa Meester is an American actress, singer, and model.
68 Facts About Leighton Meester
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Leighton Meester is best known for her starring role as scheming socialite Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl, which ran between 2007 and 2012 on The CW.
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Leighton Meester has appeared in films such as Killer Movie, Country Strong, The Roommate, Monte Carlo, The Oranges, The Judge and The Weekend Away.
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Leighton Meester portrayed Angie D'Amato on the ABC sitcom Single Parents.
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Leighton Meester released solo singles "Somebody to Love" and "Your Love's a Drug" on the Universal Republic label.
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Leighton Meester has modeled, having been the face of the Jimmy Choo, Herbal Essences, and Vera Wang brands.
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Leighton Meester was born in Fort Worth, Texas, to Douglas Jay Leighton Meester and Constance Lynn.
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Leighton Meester's father is a real estate broker; her mother is a writer.
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At the time of her birth, Leighton 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.
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Leighton Meester 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.
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Leighton Meester booked commercials for Tamagotchi and Clearasil, and modeled for Limited Too alongside Amanda Seyfried.
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Leighton Meester then transferred to a small private school and graduated a year earlier than usual.
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Leighton Meester had a series regular role in Tarzan, which aired for only eight episodes.
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Leighton Meester booked guest roles in the series Crossing Jordan, 8 Simple Rules, 7th Heaven and 24.
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Leighton Meester was cast as series regular in Surface as Savannah Barnett.
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In 2006, Leighton Meester appeared in two films, Flourish and Inside.
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Leighton Meester 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.
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Leighton Meester 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".
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Leighton 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.
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In 2007, Leighton 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.
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Leighton Meester first auditioned for the role of Serena van der Woodsen, but told the producers that she could better play Blair.
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However, it was important that Serena was blonde and Blair was brunette, so Leighton Meester dyed her hair brown for the role.
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Leighton Meester's performance was the most critically acclaimed of the show, with Blair being cited as the series' breakout character.
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Leighton Meester garnered media attention for her wardrobe on the show.
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Leighton Meester later starred in the television film The Haunting of Sorority Row, and had a role in the ensemble comedy-drama film Remember the Daze.
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Early in 2009, Leighton Meester partnered with Reebok to model their new Top Down sneakers.
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Apart from Gossip Girl, Leighton Meester worked with co-star Ed Westwick in a Nikon Coolpix series camera advertisement, and both were the faces of the Korean clothing line ASK Enquired.
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Later that month, Leighton Meester signed a recording contract with Universal Republic.
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Leighton Meester provided vocals on Cobra Starship's song "Good Girls Go Bad", which peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Leighton Meester recorded a cover of the song "Christmas " for the compilation album A Very Special Christmas 7.
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Leighton Meester did a duet with DJ Clinton Sparks on "Front Cut", which appeared on the internet in February 2011.
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Leighton Meester began working on it in March 2009 and the album was initially projected to be released in the fall of 2009, but was later delayed to early 2010.
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Leighton Meester had small roles in the comedies Date Night and Going the Distance.
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Leighton Meester then starred with Gwyneth Paltrow and Garrett Hedlund in the country music drama Country Strong.
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In October 2010, Leighton Meester said she had been working with a band called Check in the Dark and had been writing for the last six months after being inspired by Country Strong.
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In 2010, Leighton Meester signed on to be the spokesperson for Herbal Essences hair products.
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Leighton Meester next fronted a beauty campaign for Korean brand eSpoir.
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Leighton Meester next starred in the thriller film The Roommate as Rebecca Evans, an obsessive, bipolar woman.
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Leighton Meester next starred in the comedy film That's My Boy, alongside Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, and Milo Ventimiglia, which was released in June 2012.
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Leighton Meester was unavailable to reprise her role as Carrie Bishop in the film Veronica Mars due to scheduling issues, and was replaced by singer Andrea Estella of the band Twin Sister.
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Leighton Meester made her Broadway debut in the stage adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, starring opposite James Franco and Chris O'Dowd.
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Leighton Meester next appeared in Like Sunday, Like Rain directed by Frank Whaley, playing the girlfriend of Green Day's singer Billie Joe Armstrong, and By the Gun, alongside Ben Barnes.
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Leighton Meester won the Best Actress Award for Like Sunday, Like Rain at the 2014 Williamsburg Independent Film Festival.
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In 2015, Leighton Meester embarked on a tour to support the album, which began on January 6 in Los Angeles, California and ended on March 2 in San Francisco, California.
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Leighton Meester was one of the 100 celebrity narrators featured in the documentary Unity, which had a limited theatrical release.
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In January 2018, Leighton Meester joined the cast of Semper Fi, starring alongside Jai Courtney, Nat Wolff and Finn Wittrock, which was released in October 2019.
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Leighton Meester starred in ABC's Single Parents alongside Taran Killam, which premiered in September 2018 and was cancelled after two seasons.
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In 2019, Leighton Meester was a guest star in an episode of The Orville titled "Lasting Impressions" as Laura Huggins.
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Leighton Meester collaborated with Safe Horizon in 2009 to raise awareness about domestic violence.
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In 2015, Leighton Meester auctioned off fashion and accessories in a charity auction on eBay.
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Leighton Meester has been volunteering with the non-profit organization Feeding America since 2017.
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In May 2019, Leighton Meester worked together with Feeding America and Los Angeles Food Bank to help families in need.
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In 2021, to encourage donations to help people with Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome, Leighton Meester started promoting meetings on the Omaze network.
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Leighton Meester has been included in magazine lists of the world's most beautiful women.
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Leighton Meester was named one of People magazine's "100 Most Beautiful" in 2008.
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Leighton Meester has been included on The Independent Critics' list of "100 Most Beautiful Famous Faces".
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Leighton Meester has graced the cover of numerous international fashion magazines, including US' Lucky, Flaunt, Shape, Nylon, Allure, Teen Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Rolling Stone; Indonesia's Elle, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and CosmoGirl; UK's Company and InStyle; Morocco's L'Officiel; Australia's Cleo; Mexico's GQ and Seventeen; Russia's Elle Girl and Joy and Italy's Glamour.
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Leighton Meester has appeared in commercials and print ads throughout her career.
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Leighton Meester has appeared in print ads for Missoni, Reebok, Herbal Essences, Vera Wang and Jimmy Choo.
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Leighton Meester is popular on social media and endorses products such as beauty and wellness products on Instagram.
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Leighton Meester has 6.2 million followers on Instagram, and 1.6 million followers on Twitter as of November 2020.
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Leighton Meester has partnered with several brands, including Shamrock Farms, Nexxus New York Salon and Sunglass Hut.
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Leighton Meester's suit claimed that her mother used the money she sent for "cosmetic procedures", such as botox and hair extensions.
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Constance claimed that a verbal contract was in place where Leighton Meester had promised US$10,000 a month, instead of the US$7,500 she received.
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Leighton Meester's mother claimed that she was due a larger sum in return for "sacrificing her own happiness" when she moved Meester to Los Angeles as a child to pursue acting.
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Constance accused her daughter of calling social services and fabricating a claim that she was abusing Alexander; investigators interviewed Leighton Meester and found no merit in the complaint.
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Leighton Meester said that she would be willing to pay for her brother's medical expenses as well as his school tuition, but denied that she agreed to pay US$10,000 each month, which she stated was a "ridiculous" claim.
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In June 2012, Leighton Meester won the lawsuit, with the judge rejecting the claims in her mother's counter-suit.