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Kimberley Alexis Bledel (born
September 16, 1981) is an American actress and fashion model. She is best
known for her roles as Rory Gilmore in the television series Gilmore Girls
and Lena Kaligaris in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.
Bledel was born Kimberly Alexis Bledel in Houston, Texas. Her mother,
Nanette Dozier, is Mexican, and her father, Martin, a native of Argentina,
is of Danish descent. She has a younger brother. Her first language is
Spanish, and she did not learn English until she began school. Bledel's
mother encouraged her to try community theater when she was a child to
overcome her shyness. She attended St. Agnes Academy in Houston.
As a child, Bledel appeared in local productions of Our Town and The
Wizard of Oz. She was scouted at a local mall and given work as a fashion
model. She went to Page Parkes Center for Modeling and Acting and attended
NYU's Tisch School of the Arts for one year.
Bledel made her TV debut on The WB series Gilmore Girls in 2000. She
portrayed Rory Gilmore, the daughter of single mother Lorelai Gilmore.
Initially, Rory was a high school student living with her mother, but
later moved on to college at Yale University, where she, among other
things, worked as the editor of the Yale Daily News. She made her film
debut in Tuck Everlasting, released in 2002, though she had worked as an
extra in the 1998 film Rushmore.
She appeared as the main character in the music video for Less Than Jake's
"She's Gonna Break Soon", lead single from their 2003 album Anthem. The
single charted at number 39 on the UK charts. In 2005, she starred in The
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants based on the book by Ann Brashares. She
played Lena Kaligaris, an artist on a journey with her three best friends,
linked over the summer by a pair of "magical" jeans.
In 2005, Bledel portrayed Becky, a prostitute, in the movie Sin City.
"She's a very professional prostitute. She carries a gun and she kicks
ass," said Bledel of Becky. Sin City is shot almost entirely in
black-and-white, with splashes of color here and there, such as a red
dress, blood or an entirely yellow character named That Yellow Bastard. In
Becky's case, it was her eyes that kept their color.
In 2006, Bledel starred in I'm Reed Fish as Reed Fish's fiance. Bledel
reprised her role of Lena Kaligaris from The Sisterhood of the Traveling
Pants in the film's sequel, released in August 2008. Bledel next starred
in Post Grad, which opened on August 21, 2009, alongside Jane Lynch,
Michael Keaton, and Carol Burnett.
In May 2009, Bledel returned to the modeling world, signing a contract
with the modeling division of IMG.
She has recently been cast in a new movie entitled The Letters, which is
anticipated to be released in 2010. The Letters is a drama / thriller film
by director Todd Fjelsted and is currently in pre-production. Bledel is
set to star opposite Scott Porter in the film The Good Guy, which
premiered at Tribeca Film Festival April 26, 2009. In this, Porter plays a
Wall Street businessman whose life begins to fall apart when he helps out
a new salesman. Bledel will play Beth, Porter's girlfriend. Anna Chlumsky
of My Girl will play her friend. She was also a guest star on the two-hour
series finale of ER, playing new intern Dr. Julia Wise.
Bledel enjoys reading, hiking, taking photographs and spending time with
her family and friends. She also likes to play the piano. Between scenes
on Gilmore Girls, she headed to her trailer to play her keyboard. She also
works with First Book, a nonprofit organization, which gives books to the
poor. After drinking so much coffee due to her character Rory's strong
appreciation for it on the first season of Gilmore Girls, she became sick
of it. When Rory "drinks coffee," Bledel is drinking tea or Coca-Cola
instead.
She dated her Gilmore Girls co-star Milo Ventimiglia for three and a half
years, beginning around December 2002, before separating sometime before
July 2006.
During an April 25, 2006 appearance on Late Night With Conan O'Brien,
Bledel revealed that she loves traveling to Europe, and that she has
already been to the Tuscany region of Italy. In that same appearance, she
also stated that she likes all types of foods, from gourmet cuisine to
fast food specialties.
In an appearance on Late Show with David Letterman, she revealed that she
plays soccer recreationally, on a team called "The Hustlers". |
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[On getting recognized by
fans] "It always happens in places where you'd rather not be
recognized. Like one time, I was just getting ready to go to bed,
but I had this craving for a glass of milk. So I go to the
supermarket, and I have like no makeup on, and this couple comes up
to me and they're like 'Thursday night!'. They sort of yelled it
across the vegetable bin, and I'm like, 'Okay, don't look at me, I
look awful. I'm going over here by the celery now.'"
[About her "Gilmore Girls" (2000) audition] "It was very unexpected.
I was nervous and didn't know what I was doing. It just happened to
work out".
You hear all these great stories about kids starting their own
businesses and getting involved in their communities and politics
and foundations - all kinds of things. And it's so much easier for
kids to get motivated and do that. - on her belief that teens are
motivated to effect change.
Last year, I was driving to work at 5.30 in the morning, and I ended
up right next to a bus that had a huge picture of me on the side of
it. They were all over L.A. but it was the first time I'd seen one.
I don't know if it was because it was so early or what, but that
freaked me out.
[On talking about her relationship with Milo Ventimiglia]: "It's
your stuff, and if you share things that are too personal with a
magazine or with your public, it's sort of like it's not really
yours anymore, it's shared information and it's not special to you
anymore. I don't like that. I think people with personalities who
like to talk about what's going on in their lives, they'll talk
without really knowing how it's going to come back and bite them,
and generally, it does. And luckily, I have the kind of personality
where I am extremely private. I don't really like to tell everyone
my business. I'd much rather people wonder or not know".
"Well, I remember it was 5 in the morning. I'm leaving my house to
go to the set of "Gilmore Girls" (2000). I'm really tired and just
when I walk outside, a bus slowly goes down the street with my face
on the side of it as Rory Gilmore. I thought, "Ewwww". It's so
early. I just can't stand seeing me".
"Before I got "Gilmore Girls" (2000), I was modeling. I went in for
a call and was told, "Sweetie, you need to lose two inches off those
hips". I was 14. So I just replied, "I have more jobs than I can do.
I'm in high school. I can't go to all the trouble of losing the two
inches, so I'll pass". Someone might tell you to lose weight, but
you can say no".
"Sometimes I feel like I am an old person trapped in a young
person's body. I'm boring. I go to movies. I read. That's about it."
"The success of the show is overwhelming. It's like being Alice at
the Mad Hatter's tea party because you never know what's going to
happen next."
"I was at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts for a year and I loved it.
There are a lot of really creative people, there is a constant
exchange of an ideas. We talk about what's been done [in film] and
all the rules for filmmaking and then we talk about how to break
them."
"For some unknown reason, bad-boys draw you in despite the fact that
they are jerks."
When I was modeling as a teenager... I just ignored it when people
said to lose two inches off my hips. I had more jobs than I could
take. So why would I even want more? |
