Leighton Marissa Meester (born Fort Worth, April 9, 1986) is an American actress, singer and songwriter, known for her role as Blair Waldorf in the multimillion the Gossip Girl series.
Meester was born in Fort Worth, Texas , the daughter of Constance (née Haas) and Douglas Meester . At that time, her mother was serving a sentence in federal prison for his role 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 assist at home for three months after returning to prison to complete his sentence . At this time Leighton 's grandmother cared for her .
Meester has said that her parents gave her a normal upbringing and despite his criminal past, are good people , and their experiences have only made it a more open and unprejudiced mind . " It made me realize that you can not judge anyone - especially your parents - for what they have done in the past , because people change . " Leighton has joked , " Look, I could have been much worse." She has cited her mother as her style icon.
Meester grew up in Marco Island, Florida, after that Meester participated in local theater productions. When she was 11, she and her mother moved to New York. Meester attended school Professional Children's and also began working as a model with Wilhelmina , booking a publicity campaign for Ralph Lauren by Bruce Weber and working with photographer (and now film director ) Sofia Coppola as well as many commercials including Tamagotchi toys and Clearasil . Meester made her television debut as a friend of a murder victim in an episode of Law & Order . At 14 , Leighton moved to Los Angeles , California. A year later seeking to work more stably , and attended Hollywood High School and Beverly Hills High School. She was then transferred to a small private school and graduated a year earlier.
Meester is a Dutch surname that can signicar " master" or "teacher"
