List of Gossip Girl characters

File:Gossip Girl cast.jpg

The characters of Gossip Girl as portrayed in the TV series. (From left) Chace Crawford as Nate Archibald, Blake Lively as Serena van der Woodsen, Ed Westwick as Chuck Bass, Leighton Meester as Blair Waldorf, Penn Badgley as Dan Humphrey and Taylor Momsen as Jenny Humphrey

This article contains character information for the American teen drama, Gossip Girl. The series is based on the popular series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. Featuring an ensemble cast, the series begins by introducing Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and best friend Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), Blair's boyfriend Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), and Nate's best friend Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), all of whom reside in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. In Brooklyn live Dan (Penn Badgley) and Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen), and Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr), who become involved in the lives of the main characters despite being less inclined to merge with the upper-east-side crowd. Other main characters are Lily Bass (Kelly Rutherford), a socialite and mother to Serena, and Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle), a former rock star and father to Dan and Jenny. The series is narrated by a seemingly omniscient character, "Gossip Girl" (voiced by Kristen Bell).

Main Characters

The following are characters who have led the plot, as listed in the order of the opening television credits of each episode.

Name	Portrayal	Seasons
Charles "Chuck" Bass	Ed Westwick	1-
Cynical, world-weary and suave, Chuck has no qualms about living life on the edge. The childhood best friend of Nate, his reputation of womanizing and a patron of baser habits make them complete opposites. He is the only son of Bart Bass, and his mother is deceased (died in childbirth). Portrayed firstly as the 'bad boy' of the group, Chuck demonstrates a nicer side in the succeeding episodes when he lends Nate $10,000 to get out of a shady poker game, falls in love with Blair, and acts as a surprisingly supportive stepbrother to Serena and her brother Eric. He and Blair finally become a couple towards the end of season 1, yet Chuck's insecurities and fear to let anyone close cause him to leave Blair waiting at the helipad on their supposed trip to Europe. In season 2, Chuck's activities revolve mainly around winning Blair back, realizing who he is and struggling with his devious nature. At the end of season 2 Chuck finally tells Blair that he loves her and the two share a romantic kiss.
Serena van der Woodsen	Blake Lively	1-
Former It girl of the Upper East Side and best friend of Blair Waldorf. Recently returned from a Connecticut boarding school for reasons unknown to her friends, as was her departure from Manhattan a year prior to the show's beginning. Serena van der Woodsen comes across as down-to-earth for someone from the UES, but things, relationships (Dan, Nate) and opportunities (fashion shoots) seemed to be handed to her on a silver platter. Serena's past as the partying it girl causes her to leave Manhattan for mysterious reasons. Even more mysterious, she abruptly returns to the high society world of Manhattan. She is described as being breathtakingly beautiful and tall with blonde hair.
Blair Waldorf	Leighton Meester	1-
Queen Bee of the social scene of Manhattan and Constance Billard High School. An only child, she is introduced as the daughter of a divorced fashion designer mother and a gay father and the longtime girlfriend of Nate Archibald although she also fell for and is dating Nate's best friend Chuck Bass. Blair is often portrayed as haughty, shallow, intelligent, and scheming. Despite her uptight, frivolous nature, she "works for everything she's ever gotten", in contrast to Serena, and despite her snobbish ways, she is a good friend and constantly looks out for those she cares about. She is described as a stunning and beautiful brunette of medium height.
Nathianiel "Nate" Archibald	Chace Crawford	1-
Torn between Serena and Blair – both of whom he has romantic histories with, the so-called golden boy also frequently finds himself making life decisions. His closest friend is Chuck Bass. After his relationship with Blair ultimately falls apart, he has a fling with Vanessa Abrams. When his father must flee New York to escape the FBI, Nate enters a relationship with an older married woman, Duchess Catherine Mason Beaton. The relationship turns into an arrangement of sex for money when the Archibalds' accounts become frozen. He briefly has a crush on Jenny, but it never turned out to be anything serious. In season 2, he pursues a relationship with Vanessa but when Nate gets in touch with his Grandfather again, their relationship declines and he breaks up with Vanessa because of Blair in the end.
Daniel "Dan" Humphrey	Penn Badgley	1-
A loner, he is the son of a rock musician turned art gallery owner, Rufus Humphrey, his absentee mother Allison Humphrey, and the elder brother of Jenny Humphrey. He first meets Serena van der Woodsen at a party where she seemed to be the only person who spoke to Dan when she greeted him. Smitten with Serena, he finds himself immersed in her moon-eyed world where he is made to attend St. Jude's at his father's bidding. Dan is an aspiring writer who dedicates his first poem to Serena and later becomes an assistant to a popular writer. He initially dreamed of attending college at Dartmouth, but decided to pursue Yale, believing it to have the better English faculty. His recent break up with Serena eventually changes his luck with women but still has feelings for her.
Jennifer "Jenny" Humphrey	Taylor Momsen	1-
Introduced as a freshman at Constance Billiard with a desire to carve her own place in the in-crowd, Jenny is impressionable and quickly becomes the pawn of several characters. She, amongst other girls, harbors a crush for Nate Archibald. She also has a tight-knit relationship with her brother, Dan, which proves handy as she finds herself in frequent need of help due to her bad judgment. Jenny dreams of becoming a designer, her efforts eventually pay off after receiving a letter of internship at Eleanor Waldorf's studio. When Jenny begins to feel that Eleanor is exploiting her talent, she teams up with a bad girl model Agnes to jumpstart her own line, J Humphrey Designs, to disastrous consequences.
Vanessa Abrams	Jessica Szohr	1-
The childhood best friend of Dan Humphrey. Prior to Dan's relationship with Serena, she and Dan were inseparable, and the two developed a mutual attraction that was dashed when she moved to Vermont. A year later, she returned to move in with her big sister, just as Dan was trying to make things work out with Serena. Despite her continued attraction to Dan, she backed off when she saw that Dan genuinely loved Serena. Later, she strikes up a relationship with Nate Archibald. Unlike most of the cast, Vanessa is home-schooled, and thus has the free time to man a cafe she added to Rufus's art gallery during his summer absence.
Lillian "Lily" Humphrey	Kelly Rutherford	1-
The multiple-divorced, ex-ballerina, and socialite mother of Serena and Eric van der Woodsen, Lillian has a colored history as a former groupie of Dan and Jenny's father, Rufus, that she would rather not acknowledge. Her most previous marriage was to Bart Bass. Despite her constant concern for appearances and status in high society, it can be assumed that she lived as indulgently as Serena during her wild child years. Her similarity to Serena can especially be seen when she cries and is unable to make any decisions, both of which are behaviors commonly seen in Serena. It is revealed she was also institutionalized at 19 much like her son Eric. It was later revealed that it was not because of a suicide attempt, but because she was pregnant with Rufus's child. Rufus and Lily returned to New York, and became a couple. The character is portrayed by Brittany Snow in flashback sequences. In the last episode of season 2 Lily and Rufus became engaged and married in the fifth episode of season 3.
Rufus Humphrey	Matthew Settle	1-
A former rock star whose marriage has fallen apart, he is also an owner of a fledging art gallery. Determined to give his children a quality education, he enrolled them at private day schools which lead him to bump heads more than once with his former flame, Lillian van der Woodsen. He got a divorce from his wife, Alison Humphrey who was having an affair with a man named Alex. He has difficulty, as a single parent, managing his growing children, in particular the strong-willed Jenny, and often enlists Lily's aid. Although he and Lily attempted to rekindle their old relationship prior to Lily's marriage, she ultimate chose to remain friends with Rufus and to marry Bart Bass. However after Bart's death, the pair rekindle their romance when they search for their son. In the last episode of season 2 Lily and Rufus became engaged and married in the fifth episode of season 3.
"Gossip Girl"	Kristen Bell (voice)	1-
The narrator of the show, "Gossip Girl" is an unseen character whose gossip commentary blog is widely visited by the youths of the Upper East Side social scene, often stirring the lives of the main characters. Her (or his) identity remains a secret but still manages to lure readers with catty wordplay and scandalous news provided via tips through the members of the Upper East Side social network.

Recurring characters

Name	Actor or actress	Seasons
Dorota Kishlovsky	Zuzanna Szadkowski	1-
The Waldorf's Polish housekeeper and who cares deeply for Blair. Despite often snapping at her, in numerous episodes Blair is shown to see her as a stand in mother figure. In the web-series "Chasing Dorota", it is revealed that Dorota is actually a Polish countess with a secret husband, Stranislaw. She fled to America to flee her family, and began working for the Waldorf family in 2004. She eventually divorces her husband and is currently involved with Vanya, the Russian doorman at the van der Woodsen's apartment building.
Eric van der Woodsen	Connor Paolo	1-
The troubled younger brother of Serena and heir to the Van Der Woodsen fortune, his suicide attempt becomes the catalyst for Serena's homecoming. Revealed his homosexuality later on in season one to everyone, after his boyfriend Asher pretends to have a relationship with Jenny Humphrey. His friendship with Jenny is repaired after she apologizes in the beginning of the second season. They soon become best friends through the second season.
Eleanor Waldorf-Rose	Margaret Colin	1-
The fashion designer mother of Blair Waldorf. Her decades-long marriage to Blair's father, Harold Waldorf, ended when Harold left her to pursue a relationship with a french male model, Roman, who was her best friend during her early years as a designer. Her clothing line 'Eleanor Waldorf Designs' is being distributed by Barney's and Bendel's. She also has a rivalry with Marc Jacobs and once employed Jenny as an overworked intern. Her relationship with Blair is strained, but Jenny tells Blair that Eleanor loves Blair "in her own way".
Georgina Sparks	Michelle Trachtenberg	1-3
A girl from Serena's past who returns after escaping rehab in Utah. Before that, she was supposed to be at an Equestrian circuit but sold her show pony for cocaine, prompting her parents to send her to rehab. Her sudden return causes Serena to relapse to her old habits and even fixes Serena's drink which causes to wake up late for her SATs. After Serena asks that she leave Manhattan but Georgina refuses, blackmailing Serena and now determined to ruin her life. Georgina nearly persuades Dan to sleep with her but this leads to a confrontation with Serena. Blair, taking matters into her own hands informs her parents of her location, persuades Dan to make Georgina fall for Blair's trap and is sent to a reform school recommended by Blair herself. She is slated to reappear late in the second season. After her reappearance in season two, Georgina is at a church camp and appears to be a completely reformed "saved" Christian. That is, until Blair persuades her to help them in a plot to take down Poppy. After which, Georgina went back to her old scheming ways. At the end of season two she is about to attend NYU and requests Blair as her roommate.
Carter Baizen	Sebastian Stan	1-3
St. Jude's graduate, rival of Nate and Chuck. It is mentioned that he turned his back on his parents and so was left without a trust fund and was forced to take matters into his own hands by shaping his own future, something that Nate desperately wants. Nate idolizes him at first until Carter tries to extort money from Nate. He becomes Serena's escort to the cotillion but is punched by Nate after Chuck manipulates Nate into thinking that Carter is pursuing Blair. CeCe (Serena's grandmother) calls Carter a week before the cotillion and then reveals this to Serena, whose opinion of her grandmother changes. Carter resurfaces in New York with the mysterious Elle but ends up being involved with Blair. He soon leaves New York as Serena and Chuck intervene. In the second season finale, Carter returns to New York to tell Serena that he has found her father. During the premiere of season three, it is discovered that he and Serena spent their summer in Europe in pursuit of her father. In light of Serena's failure to capture her father's attention, Carter reveals his feelings to Serena and they share a kiss.
William Vanderbilt I	James Naughton	2-
Nate's grandfather and Anne's father.
Jonathan Henry	Matt Doyle	2-
Eric's boyfriend.
Isabel Coates	Nicole Fiscella	1-2
Blair's loyal sidekick, who remains her friend despite her losing rank as Queen Bee. She is best friends with Kati Farkas and a concert pianist.
Penelope Shafai	Amanda Setton	1-2
A member of Blair's clique until she was dethroned as queen bee; constantly shifts her allegiance between Blair and Jenny, helps host Jenny's party and gives the freshman the benefit of the doubt when she lied about having sex with Asher Hornsby in 'All About My Brother', eventually ends her friendship with her. She is also a national Merit Scholar. Chuck persuades her to ruin Amanda Lasher's hair which ends up in a fight between Dan and Serena. Penelope is also notable for officially "dethroning" Blair in season 1.
Bartholomew John "Bart" Bass	Robert John Burke	1-2, 3
Chuck's billionaire father, founder of Bass Industries and was married to Lily van der Woodsen. His family lives at the New York Palace Hotel, which he owns. His money is self-made, as opposed to inherited like most Upper East Side families. He is controlling of his family, ruthless in business, and demonstrates little to no interest in Chuck's life. In season 2, with Dan's help, he and Chuck try to mend their relationship, but he suddenly dies in a freak limo accident.
Hazel Williams	Dreama Walker	1-2
A member of Blair's clique until she was dethroned as queen bee; constantly shifts her allegiance between Blair and Jenny. Jenny steals her mother's Valentino dress during Jenny's birthday. She forgives her right after Jenny impresses Blair's clique by bringing Nate during their dinner at Butter. Like Penelope, she gives Jenny the benefit of the doubt when Jenny lies about having sex with Asher, eventually breaking her friendship with Jenny. Along with Penelope, she succeeds in publicly humiliating Vanessa at the Snowflake Ball.
Nelly Yuki	Yin Chang	1-2
Blair's academics rival. She's a Merit Scholar, a Peabody Scholar and an Intel Science Talent Search Finalist. Itzhak Perlman gave her her first violin and her parents own half of Tribeca. Despite being sabotaged by Blair during the SATs, her recent break-up with her boyfriend Todd, she has become her friend and brands Jenny Humphrey a liar, ending Jenny's status as Queen Bee. Is part of Blair's clique in season two.
Howard "The Captain" Archibald	Sam Robards	1-2
Father of Nate Archibald, Howie is a white-collar criminal and a cocaine addict. He leaves to escape arrest, still addicted to cocaine and Nate punches his father before the Captain could get into his limo and fled to Dominica. When he returned to NY, to take Nate and his mother with him, Nate gave him a choice. Either go back to Dominica and never speak to his family again or turn himself in to the police. The Captain decided to do the right thing and chose to turn himself in.
William "Trip" Vanderbilt III	Aaron Tveit	2-
Nate's older maternal "political minded" cousin, who plans to run for office, with Nate's help.
Scott Rosson	Chris Riggi	2-
He is the biological son of Rufus Humphrey and Lily Bass. who Lily gave up when he was born. When Rufus and Lily came looking for him 20 years later, his adoptive parents told Lily and Rufus he died in an accident. However he didn't die, the adoptive parents just did not want to lose another son. In the season finale of season 2, Scott left home to go to New York, looking for his birth parents, while his adoptive parents think he's in Portland.
Olivia Burke	Hilary Duff	3-
Vanessa's roommate at NYU, who is a famous movie star, trying to lead a normal college life.
Gabriela Abrams	Gina Torres	3-
Vanessa's mother, who is a "free spirit" originally from Brooklyn, an "off-the-grid" character, who currently lives in Vermont, with Vanessa's father. Gabriela doesn't like the fact that her home schooled daughter is now attending university.

Minor characters

Other characters whose relationships were elaborately aired were:

Name	Actor or actress	Seasons
Anne Archibald	Francie Swift	1-
Nate's mother whose financial assets have been frozen since her husband's guilty departure. Anne Archibald's reputation was also in danger during her financial situation with Chuck giving her loan after selling his favorite club. She once promised to Eleanor Waldorf to give Blair her Cornelius Vanderbilt engagement ring should Nate and Blair ever be engaged.
Aaron Rose	John Patrick Amedori	2
An artist Serena met at Rufus' art gallery. He has recently met Serena at summer camp in Europe many years ago, were somewhat "married" and moved on. He reminded Serena that they have met before by asking the fate of Cecil, the Caterpillar. He's Cyrus' son and Blair's stepbrother.
Headmistress Queller	Jan Maxwell, Linda Emond	1-2
Constance Billiard School for Girls' Headmistress.
Allison Humphrey	Susan Misner	1
Rufus' estranged wife, Dan and Jenny's mother. Had an affair while living in Hudson which causes conflict among the Humphreys. Her sudden visit to the Upper East Side prompts her to make Rufus choose between her and Lily during Thanksgiving. She and Rufus ultimately divorce.
Harold Waldorf	John Shea	1-2
Blair's father who went to France to live with his male lover (Roman, played by William Abadie). He traditionally makes pumpkin pie during Thanksgiving but hasn't made it since Blair's last Thanksgiving with him, before he came out and left for Europe. He returns for the holidays with his partner, Roman, a model once used by Harold's ex-wife, Eleanor. He now lives in France, tending a vineyard and has a cat named Cat, the same name as the cat in Blair's favorite movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Cyrus Rose	Wallace Shawn	2
Cyrus is Eleanor Waldorf's divorce attorney, who becomes her new love interest in season 2. Blair is excited to meet him at first, as she believes her mother to have the best taste in men. She is shocked to find that he is old, bald 5 feet tall, with a crude, jolly personality. He also has a catchphrase, "Not enough!". In 'The Magnificent Archibalds', Cyrus and Eleanor become engaged. Cyrus is also the father of Aaron Rose, from a previous marriage.
Poppy Lifton	Tamara Feldman	2
A wealthy socialite who encourages Serena to show her inner potential in spite of Serena's guilt over taking over Blair's position as Queen Bee. She meets Serena at a charity event prior to 'The Serena Also Rises'. Poppy runs into Serena as Serena is preparing a birthday party for Jenny. She influences Serena to travel to Spain for the weekend with her boyfriend, Gabriel. Later, Serena discovers she and Gabriel work together to scheme wealthy people and develops a plan along with Blair, Nate, Chuck and Georgina to get her but Poppy escapes with the money.
Bree Buckley	Joanna García	3
Described as a fun, sexy brunette, an irreverent evil Miss America type who is politically progressive but hails from a conservative Southern family.
Celia "CeCe" Rhodes	Caroline Lagerfelt	1-
Lily's mother and Serena's grandmother. Caused the breakup of Rufus and Lily back in the day by making Lily choose between her inheritance and Rufus. Lily chose her inheritance. She also tried to break up Serena and Dan to no avail by inviting Carter Baizen to the cotillion. During debut season, CeCe manipulated her daughter and granddaughter by declaring that she had a terminal illness, claiming that the doctors found 'something' in her lungs. Although she later admitted that this was false, she was later seen taking pills. Her cold and manipulative personality changes in the second season and lets Dan into the White party by making him her escort, seeing that he still has feelings for Serena.
Elise Wells	Emma Demar	1
A member of Blair's clique and close friend of Jenny's until she becomes an outcast; constantly shifts her allegiance between Blair and Jenny. Since summer 2008, she lives in Mongolia with her family.
Katia "Kati" Farkas	Nan Zhang	1
Blair's loyal sidekick until she loses her rank as Queen Bee; her parents move her back to Israel after spring break. She was best friends with Isabel Coates.
Lady Catherine Mason Beaton	Mädchen Amick	2
A blonde trophy wife, former swimsuit model and Nate's current love interest. He continues an affair with her despite her married status. She is also Lord Marcus Beaton's stepmother and holds the title of Duchess. She is known to be picky when it came to her stepson's girlfriends, frightening each one with her coldness and cruel use of words. Blair catches her in the act with Nate during her fake annual party to impress the Duchess, subtly insinuating blackmail on the Duchess, forcing her to accept Blair as her stepson's girlfriend. She aids Nate financially even after she gets caught with him by Blair. It is revealed in "The Ex-Files" that she was having an affair with her step son, Lord Marcus Beaton. She was caught by Vanessa who later told Blair, and Blair threatened them to tell everyone unless they leave the country. They do so and are currently living in Brighton. It should be noted that in real British peerage, the wife of a Duke is known as Firstname Lastname, Duchess of X and not Lady Firstname Lastname.
Lord Marcus Beaton	Patrick Heusinger	2
A British lord, Blair met in Europe and uses him to make Chuck jealous. Blair was unaware of his title when he pretended to be a college student from inconsistent colleges (Georgetown, Yale, Princeton, etc) by the name of James. After Blair points out his flaw as being somewhat 'boring' he drops the college boy act and confesses the truth about his title. Blair is astounded and continues her relationship with him, taking steps to impress him and unfortunately, his stepmother, who happens to be Nate's current love interest. In 'The Ex-Files' it was revealed that he was having an affair with his stepmother, Catherine Mason. They were caught by Vanessa who later told Blair and Blair threatened to tell people unless they left the country.
Gabriel Edwards	Armie Hammer	1-2
Poppy's boyfriend. He joins Poppy and Serena in Spain.
Bex Simon	Jill Flint	1-2
Lily's art dealer and frequent visitor of Rufus' art gallery, once dated Rufus himself and is responsible for the paintings at Lily's living apartments. One of the very few people who knows of the existence of Lily's Mapplethorpe artwork (Lily posed for Mapplethorpe).
Agnes Andrews	Willa Holland	2
Jenny's new friend and one of Eleanor Waldorf's models whose party girl persona and words of warning about Eleanor using Jenny for Eleanor's designs, persuades Jenny to quit Eleanor Waldorf Designs.
Jack Bass	Desmond Harrington	2-
Chuck's uncle who comes to New York upon hearing of his brother, Bart Bass' death, and slept with Blair on New Year's.
Rachel Carr	Laura Breckenridge	2
Teacher and good friend of Serena. Has a strong liking for Dan. In season 2's 17th episode, Blair, who had made an enemy of Rachel, started a rumor that Rachel and Dan were lovers. Rachel, distraught over the false allegations is comforted by Dan, Serena, suspicious of the two, takes a photo of the event and gives it to Blair as "proof". Rachel is fired as a result. After breaking up with Serena, Dan shows up at Rachel's door to apologize for everything and in the middle of apologizing is kissed by Rachel, who is no longer his teacher. They had sex after wards. Just as it is revealed the school has decided to let Rachel keep her job since there is no definite proof anything happened. At a school play, Blair was on a witch hunt after a Gossip Girl blast about her & blames Dan for the blast. Dan realises that Rachel was the one who gave Gossip Girl the info, breaks it up with her. Dan told Blair that it was Rachel's doing & revealed to Blair that they had sex in the costume room & tells her "to do whatever you want with it". She leaves for Iowa when she's found guilty of resuming a secret relationship with Dan and sabotaging Blair's admittance to Yale.
Roman	William Abadie	1-2
Blair's father Harold's French partner who in the beginning Blair does not like but in time they develop a friendly relationship.
Asher Hornsby	Jesse Swenson	1
Jenny's wealthy love interest. Dan informs Jenny that Asher is gay, having seen him kiss another boy outside the steps of St. Jude's. Jenny doubts Dan's word but soon discovers Asher's homosexuality. Blair confirms this to herself in order to use any dirt in his phone (stolen by Isabel and Nelly Yuki) against him and Jenny. Jenny and Asher broke up in 'All About my Brother' because he was outed as being gay by Eric, Serena's brother, who also outs himself in the process. He was in a relationship with Eric, and had been a patient at the Ostroff Clinic around the same time Eric was.
Elle	Kate French	2
A nanny who worked in Connecticut, but her mission was to find Chuck's father, Bart Bass, a party of a strange and secret association. Instead of finding Bart, has met Chuck and formed a "relationship". Later, Elle used Chuck to be able to get money to escape on her own.
Amalia	Benita Robledo	3
A member of Blair's new group at NYU.
Celeste, Carmen, Jane & Sawyer	Sarah Marable, Valentina de Angelis, Meg McCrossen & Chanell Farrell	3
The new mean girls who are under Jenny's reign.