Jessica Lee Rose

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Jessica Lee Rose
Jessica Lee Rose at the 2009 Steamy awards
Born	April 26, 1987 (1987-04-26) (age 22) Salisbury, Maryland, US
Years active	2006–present

Jessica Lee Rose (born April 26, 1987) is an American-born actress who was raised in New Zealand. Rose gained popularity after playing the role of lonelygirl15, a fictional teenage homeschooled character named Bree who appeared in many video blogs (also known as a vlog) on the popular website YouTube.^[1]

[edit] Biography

[edit] Personal life

Rose was born in Salisbury, Maryland in the United States to a mother of New Zealand nationality and an American father, and was raised in Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty in New Zealand. She attended Mount Maunganui College in 2000-2001 for part of her secondary school education. Afterward, she was homeschooled while attending an acting class at Studio 111 in Auckland. In January 2004, she moved to Auckland to study make-up at the Academy of Film and Television Work. She had previously done make-up and costume work on a New Zealand short film titled Us,^[2] as well as doing extras' make-up on the set of Peter Jackson's King Kong. She played a leading role in a short film titled Dearly Beloved. She also played in the scatologically themed short film Unleash the Fury.

After Rose's parents divorced in 2004, she returned to Salisbury, in May 2005, to live with her father while saving for university. She then enrolled in the New York Film Academy (NYFA) at Universal Studios in Universal City, California.^[3]

It is reported that she previously dated Jacob Zachar whom she met while playing the role of Jen. K on the ABC Family television program Greek.^[4]

She was recently in the music video for The White Tie Affair's song "Candle (Sick and Tired)." She is an Anaheim Ducks fan and periodically blogs for NHL.com.

[edit] Career

Many people initially believed that Bree (shown above in a screen capture from a lonelygirl15 video) was a real internet blogger. The discovery that Bree was actually actress Jessica Lee Rose received much media coverage in September 2006.

After graduating from NYFA's one-year acting for film program in April 2006, Rose lived in Los Angeles, California. In her search for acting jobs, she found a listing for an independent film project The Children of Anchor Cove on Craigslist. She was one of about 80 actresses who auditioned for the lead part. After two callbacks, she was offered the role of Bree. Jessica signed a non-disclosure agreement and was told that the project would consist of a series of videos released to the World Wide Web over the Internet. She was initially unpaid for the project but as lonelygirl15 grew popular, she and co-star Yousef Abu-Taleb received salaries.

In October 2006, the United Nations chose Rose to participate in an ad campaign to promote the UN's antipoverty cause.^[5]

She was signed by UTA and was cast for a role in the 2007 Chris Sivertson film I Know Who Killed Me, which starred Lindsay Lohan but received negative reviews. She then played "Tina" in the award-winning sports drama Perfect Sport, by director Anthony O'Brien.^[6] She plays "Jen K." in the ABC Family TV series Greek. Comically, as "Jen K." on Greek in one episode she actually has the line "It's like living with lonelygirl15!"

Jessica won a 2007 Webby Award for Best Actress, for her role as Lonelygirl15.

She was "Today's Girl on Maxim" on March 24, 2008.^[7]

On April 4, 2008, it was announced that she is to star in another internet based video program called Blood Cell ^[8]

On June 12 2008 Jessica announced in a blog that she was starring in a new web series called Sorority Forever from Big Fantastic, the creators of "Prom Queen." The series will follow three incoming freshman in “the hottest sorority on campus” and while it will have some Gossip Girl elements to it, it will also contain a lot of the mystery similar to Prom Queen.

On September 8, 2008, it was announced that she would take part in yet another internet based video program Hooking UP, a 10 episode series from HBO featuring many other recognized faces from internet television. ^[9]

In November, 2008, Jessica teamed up with friend and fellow Sorority Forever star Taryn Southern to form a web production company called Webutantes, which will produce a number of female-driven comedy web series.

[edit] YouTube fame

The lonelygirl15 video blogs, first appearing in the summer of 2006, featured Rose as a 16-year-old girl named Bree posting under the alias lonelygirl15. The videos, which seemed genuine and presented lonelygirl15 as an actual person, initially dealt with typical teenage angst issues but soon after introduced a bizarre narrative surrounding secret occult practices within her family. The series was an immediate hit and became the most subscribed channel on YouTube, but suspicions arose if the videos were genuine or some sort of a promotional gimmick. An investigation by the Los Angeles Times would reveal the lonelygirl15 videos as a work of fiction. A firestorm ensued in the news media through September 2006, during which Jessica Rose and the creators of lonelygirl15 were interviewed in magazines and television shows, and gained international attention.^[10]

On August 3, 2007, Bree was killed off, as Rose's contract was not renewed because she had taken a role on Greek as "Jen K.", Rusty Cartwright's girlfriend.^[11] "Weeping Willow", a sixth season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent, was inspired by the Lonelygirl15 videos.^[12] In the episode, Michelle Trachtenberg plays a vlogger inspired by Rose's character, a vlogger named Weeping Willow who is kidnapped during a live Internet video; the kidnappers demand ransom through additional videos.^[13]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jessica Lee Rose

• Jessica Rose at the Internet Movie Database
• Wired News: The Secret World of Lonelygirl
• Jessica Rose Interview on MTV