Alexis Bledel

Alexis Bledel

Active - 2002 - 2019  |   Born - Sep 16, 1981 in Houston, Texas, United States  |   Genres - Romance, Drama, Science Fiction

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Biography by AllMovie

With a distinctly natural and youthful earthy beauty that can alternate between ultra-glamour and wholesome field-frolicking nymph with the change of the breeze, former worldly model turned actress Alexis Bledel built a sturdy fan base with her role on television's Gilmore Girls before falling for a young immortal in 2002's Tuck Everlasting. A native of Houston, TX, whose native tongue was Spanish, Bledel's parents encouraged her to try community theater at the age of eight to overcome shyness. The aspiring actress would subsequently appear in local productions of Our Town and The Wizard of Oz before being scouted at a local mall and whisked into life on the catwalks. Traveling through Europe and Japan before graduating from Houston's Saint Agnes Academy, Bledel would also graduate from the Page Parkes Center for Modeling and Acting before enrolling as a film major at N.Y.U. Though it may come as no surprise to many that the ethereal young actress was voted one of People magazine's Hottest Stars Under 25 in 2002, the firmly grounded actress appeared to have a promising career in store for her whether it be on the pages of Vogue or under the bright lights of Tinseltown. Fans with a quick eye could also catch a brief glimpse of Bledel's film debut, as an uncredited extra, in Wes Anderson's Rushmore (1998).

In 2005, Bledel co-starred in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, a coming-of-age drama following four teenagers who find a very special pair of blue jeans (the actress reprised this role in 2008 for the film's sequel), as well as in director Robert Rodriguez' post-noir crime thriller Sin City. Bledel continued to work in film following the cancellation of The Gilmore Girls in 2007, appearing in the films including The Good Guy (2009), Post Grad (2009), and The Conspirator (2010). The actress played a young assassin in the 2011 action comedy Violet & Daisy, and continues to be active in film and television, including a recurring role as a suburban housewife in season 5 of AMC's Mad Men.

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Factsheet

  • Her first language is Spanish; she didn't learn English until she started school.
  • Her mother is Mexican; her father, Argentinian.
  • Took acting classes when she was 8 as a way to overcome her shyness.
  • Began modeling at age 14, traveling to Milan and Tokyo for shows.
  • Her profile rose with her role as Rory Gilmore in the Gilmore Girls series (2000-07) and her movie portrayal of Lena in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008).
  • In an Entertainment Weekly article about the end of Gilmore Girls, she admitted the show's famous fast-paced dialogue often had her "exhausted" and that "It burns you out." 
  • Appeared in the 2009 series finale of ER.
  • Made a return to modeling by signing with IMG in 2009.