Leighton Marissa Meester was born in Fort Worth, Texas, to Constance (Haas) and Douglas Meester. Although born in Texas when her mother was serving a jail sentence for her part in a marijuana-smuggling ring, Meester spent her early years in Marco Island, Florida with her grandparents. There, she became involved with the local playhouse and made her stage debut in a production of "The Wizard of Oz".
She moved to New York with her mother at the age of 11 and was soon working as a model and appearing in TV commercials. A few years later, at age 14, she and her mother moved again, this time to Los Angeles where she soon began to pick up TV work, making her debut in Law & Order: Disciple (1999).
A steady stream of TV work followed until in 2007 she landed the role in Gossip Girl (2007) which made her famous. This led to more TV and movie work, and in 2009 she launched a recording career with a single entitled, "Somebody to Love".
