Main Cast

The circumstances of Leighton Meester's birth could not have been more different from that of Blair Waldorf, the scheming bad girl she plays on Gossip Girl. Meester was born in Marco Island, Florida, while her mother was serving a federal prison term for marijuana smuggling. Meester makes no judgments about her mother's situation back then. "People change," she says. Experience in local theater...

Pre-Gossip Girl, Penn Badgley—aka Dan Humphrey, resident Lonely Boy—was not having much luck on the small screen. It wasn't that he couldn't get work—he landed one TV show after another—but none had a long shelf life. Remember Do-Over? The Mountain? How about The Bedford Diaries? For Badgley's sake alone, we're glad Gossip Girl appears to have legs. Badgley was born in Baltimore, but moved west...

As Chuck Bass, actor Ed Westwick speaks in an Upper East Side snarl so perfect, it is hard to imagine he is anything but a filthy rich New York party boy. Imagine again. He’s from the UK, and Gossip Girl fans go crazy when they hear Westwick speak in his posh British accent. Somehow this makes him even cooler, although how could that even be possible? Westwick trained at the National Youth...

Matthew Settle was having an okay career—TV (Band of Brothers, Brothers and Sisters), the occasional movie (Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, The Celestine Prophecy, Beneath)—but let's face it, he had not landed that put-you-on-the-map-forever part. All that changed with Gossip Girl, in which he plays Rufus Humphrey, former rock star with two complicated kids (Dan and Jenny) and a...

We never see Kristen Bell on Gossip Girl—which is a shame because she's adorable and would look great in some of those outrageously fabulous GG fashions—but her voice makes a resounding impact even without the visuals. It's bitchy, knowing, insidery, and oh-so mischievous. Snarl! Bell had plenty of TV experience before signing on to Gossip Girl, including a part on Heroes, and the starring role...

You wouldn't know it from the hideous faux-hippie outfits she is forced to wear as Vanessa Abrams on Gossip Girl, but Jessica Szohr was once a model. And she's actually really attractive! In high school, Szohr was a cheerleader; she recalls the girls in her school as being sort of petty. (Sounds like a certain school in Manhattan…) Before Gossip Girl, the Wisconsin native appeared on lots of TV...