in Date Night, The Roommate, Gossip Girl

Actress Leighton Meester vaulted into the pop culture vanguard in the fall of 2007 as the anti-heroine Blair Waldorf on the teen soap, "Gossip Girl" (The CW, 2007- ). Prior to her star-making turn on the popular show, the young Meester established her credentials with a voluminous list of television credits that included episodes of "7th Heaven" (WB/The CW, 1996-2007), "Veronica Mars" (UPN/The CW, 2004-07) and "24" (Fox, 2001-10). She graduated to a regular series role on the short-lived action drama, "Surface" (NBC, 2005-06), and had a recurring role on the equally fleeting "Shark" (CBS, 2006-08).

Throughout her small screen career, Meester cleverly juxtaposed cattiness with doe eyes and a fresh-scrubbed, angelic face, all of which served her well as the shallow, intelligent, but ultimately good-natured fashionista on "Gossip Girl." Meester veered slightly from that formula when launching her film career, appearing mostly in low budget, direct-to-DVD offerings, where she took on a slightly broader range of razor-witted, high school alpha females - all of which promised greater things to come. Born Leighton Marissa Claire Meester on April 9, 1986, she spent her earliest years on Marco Island, FL, and at age 11 moved with her mother to New York City. In just three years in the Big Apple, she signed on with Wilhelmina Models, was shot by famed photographer Bruce Webber for a Ralph Lauren ad campaign, and, at just age 13, earned a guest role on NBC's hit New York-set crime drama "Law & Order" (1990- ).

With her career burgeoning, the family moved to Beverly Hills, CA, where Meester attended Beverly High School as so many stars-in-training had before her. In October 2002, the Meesters found themselves unexpectedly mired in scandal when Leighton's brother Douglas was accused of raping an 18-year-old cadet at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO. The case - stemming from a dorm tequila party in which her brother admitted he had consumed 17 shots - became the first in the broader sex scandal that engulfed the military school, with more a than a hundred female cadets past and present coming forward to say they had been victims of sexual assault in the decade previous.

The dark cloud hung over the family until a court martial in June 2003, when a military judge ruled that the alleged victim had consented to sex, dismissed the felony charges, bringing in a lighter sentence of a reprimand and $2,000 fine, without jail time or dismissal. Leighton attended the trial with her family, and, relieved at its conclusion, she returned from Colorado to LA with her own future brightening.

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