All About Celebrity: Leighton Meester

Leighton Marissa Meester (born April 9, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Meester gained fame for playing the role as Blair Waldorf in the CW young-adult television series Gossip Girl. She subsequently ventured into motion pictures and has many successful films to her credit, including Flourish, Remember the Daze, Drive-Thru, and Killer Movie. She most recently appeared in the 2010 country drama film, Country Strong. As of January 2011, she is set to appear in three big screen movies: The Roommate, Monte Carlo, and The Oranges.

Meester was born to parents Constance and Doug while her mother was serving a federal prison sentence in Fort Worth, Texas. Although her mother 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 Leighton in a hospital and nurse her for three months in a halfway house before returning to prison to complete her sentence. At this time Leighton's grandmother cared for her.

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." Meester jokes, "Look, I could've turned out a lot worse" and has even cited her mother as her style icon.

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.

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, a young girl who has a crush on House.

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. 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.
In 2007, 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 a small role in the 2010 comedy Date Night and a small role in Going The Distance. She was cast in Screen Gems's upcoming dramas Country Strong and The Roommate. She will star in The Uncatchable Cowgirl Bandits of Nottingham, Texas alongside Amber Heard; in the indie dramatic comedy The Oranges opposite Hugh Laurie; and will star next to Selena Gomez and Katie Cassidy in the young femme comedy Monte Carlo, loosely based on Jules Bass's young-adult book Headhunters.

In April 2009, Meester signed a recording contract with Universal Republic. 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. Her second single, "Your Love's A Drug", was digitally released on March 30, 2010.