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 (née Dozier), is Mexican, and her father, Martin Bledel, is an Argentine 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.
