Summary
Gossip Girl cast members were close in age to their characters, avoiding typical “teen” show age gaps.
Blake Lively, Penn Badgley, Leighton Meester were all in their early twenties when playing high school students.
Iconic Gossip Girl characters like Serena, Blair, and Chuck were all 16 years old when the series began.
Gossip Girl featured the talents of Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, and many other young actors who rose to fame thanks to the CW teen drama television series. The popular show ran for six seasons from 2007 to 2012 and was based on the book series of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar. Gossip Girl, an anonymous blogger who spilled the secrets of wealthy teenagers living on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, was at the center of the story, and their identity was the series’ central mystery that would not be solved until the very last episode.
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Teen television shows in the 2000s and early 2010s typically featured actors who were certainly not teenagers and were well into their twenties or even sometimes thirties. However, the ages of the Gossip Girl cast members compared to their characters did not vary too much. Of course, most of the stars in the CW series were above 18 years old, likely due to the studio wanting to avoid adhering to child labor laws. But for the most part, the Gossip Girl actors were not significantly older than their counterparts in the show.
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10
Blake Lively: 20 Years Old
Serena Van Der Woodsen: 16 Years Old
When Blake Lively started playing Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl, she had just turned 20. Her birthday is August 25, 1987, so she was cast when she was 19, meaning the actress was not remarkably older than her character in the CW teen drama series. When Gossip Girl premiered, the main characters entered their junior year at the Constance Billard School for Girls and the St. Jude’s School for Boys, which would make Serena 16 years old.
Serena had spent a year away from the city and attended a boarding school in Connecticut, and her return was the source of much gossip in the first season. Throughout the series, Serena was at the center of a lot of drama, which was her job as the main character. But she found her happy ending by the finale, and thanks to a time jump in the last episode, Serena closed out Gossip Girl at 26 or 27 years old.
9
Penn Badgley: 21 Years Old
Dan Humphrey: 16 Years Old
Dan Humphrey ended the show as Gossip Girl, but he began Gossip Girl as the loner teenager with a crush on the popular girl he had never spoken to — a typical 16-year-old. Dan attended St. Jude’s School for Boys as a junior and eventually worked up the courage to ask Serena out on a date.
Serena and Dan’s relationship was a focal point throughout the course of the series, and whereas their characters were the same age in Gossip Girl, the actors (Blake Lively and Penn Badgley) shared a one-year age difference. Lively was 20 years old while filming the first season, while Badgley turned 21 during production.
8
Chace Crawford: 21 Years Old
Nate Archibald: 16 Years Old
Nate Archibald was at the center of the drama between Serena and Blair at the beginning of Gossip Girl season 1, and just like the other teenagers in the show, he was 16 years old. Nate was Blair’s boyfriend when the CW teen drama series premiered in 2007, but he had previously cheated on her with Serena, which (obviously) became a source of contention between the three friends. Chace Crawford, who played Nate throughout all six seasons of the show, was 21 years old when shooting the first season.
7
Taylor Momsen: 14 Years Old
Jenny Humphrey: 14 Years Old
Jenny Humphrey, Dan’s little sister, was the youngest of the teenage characters in Gossip Girl. When the television show began, Jenny was only 14 years old and a freshman at the Constance Billard School for Girls. Although she was younger than everyone else in the series, Jenny wanted to fit in with the older crowd and desperately sought attention and validation from Blair.
Jenny eventually learned how to become her own person, but the journey to get there was exhausting, to say the least. And surprisingly, Taylor Momsen, who played Jenny in Gossip Girl, was the same age as her character (14 years old) while filming season 1.
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6
Kelly Rutherford: 39 Years Old
Lily Van Der Woodsen: 41 Years Old
Serena’s mother, Lily van der Woodsen, was 41 years old when the pilot episode of Gossip Girl premiered in 2007. Lily was a single mom at the start of the show, but just like her daughter, she had a complicated love life. She was dating Chuck’s father, Bart Bass, while reconnecting with her former lover, Rufus Humphrey, Dan and Jenny’s father. As one could easily tell, everyone was connected on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.
Whereas Lily was in her early forties at the beginning of Gossip Girl, Kelly Rutherford, who played the character, was younger and turned 39 while working on the first season.
5
Matthew Settle: 38 Years Old
Rufus Humphrey: 42 Years Old
Like Kelly Rutherford, Matthew Settle was a tad bit younger than his Gossip Girl character. Settle portrayed Rufus Humphrey in the CW teen drama series, and Rufus was 42 years old in season 1. Meanwhile, Settle was only 38 when he started playing Dan and Jenny’s father in Gossip Girl. It made sense that the two would be close in age to appear close in age on the show as well since they were high school sweethearts.
4
Jessica Szohr: 22 Years Old
Vanessa Abrams: 16 Years Old
Even though Dan did not have many school friends when Gossip Girl premiered, he always had Vanessa Abrams to turn to. Dan and Vanessa were childhood best friends, but she moved to Vermont before their relationship could become something more. Vanessa eventually moved back to New York City in season 1, but Dan was dating Serena at the time, meaning that the drama between them was only just beginning. Vanessa was 16 years old at the start of the series, while her portrayer, Jessica Szohr, was 22 when she accepted the role in Gossip Girl.
3
Kaylee DeFer: 25 Years Old
Ivy Dickens: 21 Years Old
Kaylee DeFer was the only series regular in Gossip Girl who did not appear in the first season. The actress’s character, Ivy Dickens, was introduced in season 4 before becoming a central figure in the series in season 5. Ivy was the rival of Lily, seeing as she pretended to be her niece for the money and glamour of being a member of the family. When DeFer began filming Gossip Girl, she was 25 years old, while her character was 21.
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2
Ed Westwick: 20 Years Old
Chuck Bass: 16 Years Old
Chuck Bass was a controversial character, thanks to his “bad boy” tendencies and manipulative personality. But just like other men on television who share these qualities, there was something about Chuck that made (almost) everyone come back for more.
In particular, Blair held a soft spot for Chuck, and their relationship was another focal point of the series. He was the same age (16) as Serena, Blair, Dan, and Nate in the first season, seeing as he was a junior at St. Jude’s School for Boys. Meanwhile, Ed Westwick was 20 years old when he first appeared as Chuck in Gossip Girl.
1
Leighton Meester: 21 Years Old
Blair Waldorf: 16 Years Old
Leighton Meester played Serena’s best friend, the quotable Blair Waldorf, in Gossip Girl throughout all six seasons, and like Blake Lively’s character, Blair was 16 years old at the start of the series. Meanwhile, Meester was 21 years old while filming the pilot episode and introducing the world to (who would soon be) a fan-favorite character.
Blair was the designated “Queen B” of the Constance Billard School for Girls, who often feuded with her friends (especially Serena, despite their status as best friends). However, like most “Queen B” characters in teen drama shows, Blair was much more complex than anyone once thought and became a Gossip Girl fan favorite.
Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl is a drama series based on the novel written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The original series, released in 2007, is told via the eponymous Gossip Girl, a blogger who observes and writes about wealthy socialite teens in Manhattan and their scandalous lives. Following the teens in their lives as they head off to college, the mysterious Gossip Girl continues to share information on their lives and incite drama among the lead cast members.
