Your Need To Know Guide To Gilmore Girls’ Actress Alexis Bledel

When Ruth Jones and James Corden announced that Gavin & Stacey would be returning for a Christmas special last year, the world went wild reminiscing about their favourite comedy. Memes were shared, laughs were had, most commonly at the 2013 US remake that tried and failed to replicate the original BBC show. Starring none other than Alexis Bledel as Stacey, James Corden has since said that US remakes failed because the producers focused too much on family rifts and didn't grasp what the show was truly about.

Though she's now better known as a screen star, Alexis started out as a model after being scouted at a local shopping mall and spent her high school years travelling for jobs. She later revealed that her first shoot was for teen bible Seventeen, in an interview with that very publication.

Before taking on the role of Rory, her biggest part had been appearing as a background extra in Wes Anderson's film Rushmore. While in her first year at college, she noticed the casting call and decided to give Gilmore Girls a shot. The rest, as they say, is Stars Hollow history.

As showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino told A Moveable Feast in 2012, 'Alexis had never done anything before. We found her in New York [...] and she had the flu. She was very annoyed at having to audition, and she didn't want to speak to us. She just wanted go home and back to bed, and we're like, "She hates us. We love her! Let's give it to her!"'

While her character was obsessed with the thought of Harvard but eventually became an alumni of Yale, another, equally prestigious Ivy League school, Alexis herself was a student at NYU, studying film at the Tisch School of Arts. Like Blair Waldorf, the protagonist of that other show commonly referred to as GG, she only attended for one year, dropping out after she landed her Gilmore Girls role.

The pair were together for three and a half years before splitting in 2006, shortly after Milo left the show. According to People, they had discussed the possibility of getting married, with Alexis telling the magazine, 'I think everybody who has been dating for more than a couple of years probably talks about it at some point. It's a fun thing for us to talk about.' They went on to reunite on screen for Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life last year, in which Jess had a short storyline arc.

Alexis' off-screen romance with Jared, who played Rory's first boyfriend Dean on Gilmore Girls, is less well documented, only coming to light after casting director Mara Casey blew the former couple's cover in an interview with Life & Style last year. 'We did have a joke about casting all of Alexis' [real] boyfriends,' Casey said. 'She dated Jared and Milo, and she also dated a young New York actor named Chris Heiusler, who played a guest role.'

One of her biggest screen roles came courtesy of Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's noir-inspired action thriller, Sin City, released in 2005. She played prostitute-turned-spy Becky (an attempt to distance herself from Rory Gilmore, perhaps) in an ensemble cast which also featured the likes of Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba and Benicio del Toro. She was initially slated to appear in the sequel, which finally arrived until 2014, but eventually didn't feature.

In fact, English is actually her second language, as Alexis is of Argentinian descent and grew up speaking Spanish with her parents. It wasn't until she started school that she learned English, and the actress is proud of her Latina heritage. 'It's the only culture my mom knows from life, and my father as well,' she told Latina magazine back in 2005. 'They made the decision to raise their children within the context they had been raised in, so we speak Spanish in my parents' house and my mom cooks amazing Mexican food.'

Alexis first met Blake when they filmed The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants in the early Noughties, along with Amber Tambyln and Ugly Betty's America Ferrera. The four soon became close friends off-screen as well as on, and regularly post snaps from their reunions to social media. Now, where's that third installment?

After it was revealed that Dakota Johnson and Charlie Hunnam (pre-Dornan) would be taking on the roles of Anastasia and Christian Grey in the screen adaptation of Fifty Shades, fans took to the Internet to protest, arguing that Alexis and Matt Bomer should take the lead roles. A Change.org petition gained over 20,000 signatures, and a fan-made 'trailer' featuring both stars did the rounds online.

Alexis was one of a handful of names linked to the role of Leila Williams, Anastasia's rival, in the Fifty Shades sequel, along with the likes of Cara Delevingne and Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale. Alexis However, this turned out to be speculation, as the role eventually went to Australian actress Bella Heathcote.

Alexis appeared on the show in 2012 as Beth Dawes, the neighbour of Kartheiser's character Pete Campbell, appearing in three episodes. The pair got together after filming wrapped on Mad Men's fifth season and were engaged a year later. They went on to get married in a secret ceremony in Ojai, California in 2014.

Alexis and Vincent welcomed their first child, a son, in early 2016, but the news didn't become public until Scott Patterson, who plays Luke in Gilmore Girls, inadvertently dropped the baby bombshell in an interview with Glamour. 'She's really blossomed as a woman and now she's a proud new mother and married and happy,' he told the magazine. 'We're comparing notes because my son is about a year and a half older than her young son.'

While many actors choose to reinvent themselves completely with a brand new name, this star simply chose to shuffle hers around a little. Born Kimberly Alexis Bledel, she uses her middle name professionally (much like Elle and Dakota Fanning).

Her top four? Caesar, the unsung hero of Luke's Diner, Rory's neighbour Babette and dance teacher Miss Patty, with Stars Hollow's resident oddball Kirk as her all-time favourite. Strong choices, we say.

When she appeared as Ofglen in 2017, Alexis was only meant to be a guest star. However, after her talented performance her role was expanded to a regular one for the second season. She subsequently won three awards for the part and nabbed her first Emmy nomination.