54 Facts About Paris Geller

Paris Eustace Geller is a fictional character on the television series Gilmore Girls and its spin-off A Year in the Life, played by Liza Weil.

Paris Geller has an extreme form of a Type A personality; she is driven and goes to any extreme to get what she wants, whether it be a high grade or a life goal, and is very disappointed in herself and others if she does not succeed.

Paris Geller was conceived as a short-term character who would serve as Rory's foil and arch-nemesis in high school.

Weil's performance won critical acclaim, with Paris Geller becoming one of the show's most popular and topical characters.

Paris Geller was originally created for a three-episode guest arc by series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and executive producer Gavin Polone at the beginning of the show's first season to introduce Rory Gilmore's character to the high pressures, competitiveness and stress of going from the small public high school in Stars Hollow, to the storied and respected halls of Hartford's Chilton Academy.

Paris Geller refuses Rory's offered help to put it back together, and in spite the new girl answers lecture questions usually tackled by Paris Geller right away.

Paris Geller' backstory is built with each episode after this point.

Paris Geller is forced by her mother to attend Rory's 16th birthday party thrown by her grandparents, and makes it clear she doesn't enjoy it.

Paris Geller's hidden crush on Tristan is a major theme for the first season, and as she sells tickets to the school's Winter Formal, tries to bring up the courage to ask him out when he tries to buy his tickets.

Paris Geller takes out that bitterness on Rory for not wanting him and yells at the girl as she buys her tickets, not realizing that Rory already has a boyfriend in the local new boy, Dean.

Paris Geller is able to keep it a secret for at least half the dance, until Jacob asks Rory if he could have her phone number and reveals his bloodline connection to Rory's rival.

However Rory had said nothing, and Paris Geller unwittingly revealed her own secret.

Paris's parents then went through a nasty, messy divorce that was the talk of Chilton with many tabloid-like rumors of affairs and plastic surgery flying through the gossip mill, and despite her exceptional success at school, Paris' self-esteem suffered as her home was torn apart with Mrs Geller replacing all reminders of her husband, and pushing Paris to bring up her self-esteem, be less introverted, and use makeup and topical medications to hide blemishes.

Madeline and Louise seem to want to befriend Rory and are yelled at several times by Paris Geller to keep working, but keep going back to talking about Rory's relationship with Dean, annoying Paris Geller to no end.

Paris Geller takes offense to this, and again they become distant, Tristan getting in the way of their friendship to the point where he spreads word at the end of the school year that he would take Rory to a PJ Harvey concert.

Paris Geller had always wanted to get into this club too, as it ensured many guarantees for when she got into Harvard, and she asks Rory to put in a good word.

Paris Geller continues to allow her to be a friend, through many grade panics and frets through the rest of the season.

Paris Geller finds Rory teasing her by not revealing her PSAT grade, which annoyed her to no end.

Paris Geller ends up visiting Stars Hollow several times throughout the year, first as a guest at a holiday dinner at the Independence Inn which she enjoyed despite what she thought were anachronisms, trying to score a story for the Franklin about the town's supposedly hidden dark side, and in a grade panic.

Paris Geller made a successful run for student body president in her senior year with Rory as her vice president towards the end of the season, and their reward is a two-month trip to Washington, DC for a Junior Leadership program.

Paris Geller is revealed to be a sleep talker in slumber, having dreams aloud about Woodward and Bernstein of Watergate and Washington Post fame, then dreaming of herself as Bill Clinton during his denial of having an affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Paris Geller finds romance at the conference with a boy named Jamie, who was often a partner with her in debates through the summer and took a liking to her assertive and commanding personality.

Paris Geller later tries to hide the relationship from the gossip-happy circles of Chilton, and swears Rory to silence so she can date in peace.

Rory finds herself accidentally divulging Paris Geller's dating status during a secret meeting with Francie.

The set up for the secret meeting between Rory and Francie and the subsequent disclosure to Paris Geller is remarkably similar to one of the plot lines in the 1981 movie, Absence of Malice starring Paul Newman and Sally Field.

When Paris Geller discovers that her relationship to Jamie has been made public, she confronts Rory in a ferocious fencing match during gym class.

Nanny and the rest of her family would see Paris Geller walk down the aisle to receive her diploma, and though Paris Geller joked that Rory would see bad luck in order to numb the fact she wasn't first in her class, she eventually accepted the fact.

Paris Geller ends her relationship suddenly and coldly with Jamie in the middle of her Yale freshman year, after commencing an affair with Professor Asher Fleming shortly after the Harvard-Yale Game.

Paris Geller still finds herself bored and learning that Madeline and Louise kiss each other to draw attention prompts her to kiss Rory square on the mouth, not only to show she can be wild, but to have Rory gauge her kissing style.

Rory wouldn't elaborate, only saying that Paris Geller was not her type.

Paris Geller would become closer to Asher and fall in love with him despite Rory's frowning upon the relationship; still Rory helped her hide the relationship all year from the public.

Professor Fleming dies of a heart attack while he and Paris Geller are at Oxford University over the summer.

Paris Geller would acquire a large antique printing press as her inheritance from him, and for a while displayed it in the common area of her dorm room.

Paris Geller finds herself struggling upon the start of her junior year, due to her parents fleeing the country because of the IRS pursuing them on tax fraud and tax evasion charges, exhausting all of her funds except for those in her trust fund and her Yale tuition.

Paris Geller takes measures to protect herself, including several door locks and chains on her apartment door, burglar alarms, and Krav Maga self-defense classes.

When Paris Geller hears that she had been ousted and replaced by Rory as Editor, she throws out all of Rory's belongings in an act of spite, forcing Rory to move in with Logan.

Rory sympathizes with her, and suggests that Paris Geller turn an article she was writing into a week-long series.

Paris Geller offers a position to Rory, who eventually takes on a student, and then they discuss Logan in London, with Paris warning he might stray without Rory nearby, going from past experience with Jamie and Logan's past with Rory.

Again, Paris Geller uses a whiteboard system to keep track of these various items for both her and Rory.

Paris Geller took up yoga with Doyle in pursuit of adding to her life experiences, surprisingly enjoying it in the end.

Paris Geller decides to attend Harvard Medical School, and then tours India with Doyle over the summer.

At graduation, she tells Rory she'll miss her, although Rory again notes no matter what, Paris Geller always finds a way to get back into her life.

Paris Geller then tells her best friend that she'll go on to do great things, and both of them embrace in a hug a little tight at Rory's end.

Paris Geller has two children of her own with Doyle; a girl, Gabriela, and a boy, Timoteo, though she is in the middle of a separation with Doyle over the course of her arc.

Paris Geller still holds her crush on Tristan Dugrey, and upon seeing him from afar during a student day in Chilton, lashes out about not meeting the expectations of others.

Paris Geller remains close to Rory, who occasionally rooms with her.

Paris Geller has received a generally positive critical reception, with many critics feeling that she is most developed during the show's early seasons.

Several writers have identified ambition as the core of Paris Geller's character, noting that this creates a good deal of her wit, her resilience, and her eventual vulnerability as she bonds with others.

Rory needed to grow a backbone and Paris Geller needed to view the world as something other than a big test you either fail or ace.

Critical reviews typically claim that Paris Geller is less developed in the later seasons, during which her scenes become briefer and centered on the school newspaper.

Some critics chastised the producers for continually having Rory succeed where Paris Geller fails, calling these developments unrealistic.

Molly McGowan of Rogues Portal felt that Rory and Paris Geller were "obviously" in love at various points of the series.

Paris Geller is a fan-favorite character among the LGBT community and writers who have covered related topics, several of whom have wished to see her portrayed as a lesbian.

Peggy Truong of Cosmopolitan declared that Paris Geller was Rory's "true constant" in the series.