Many stars have come out of CW’s Gossip Girl, including actors Blake Lively and Penn Badgely, but many famous actors appeared in the teen drama in smaller roles, and their performances have been all but forgotten. The show ran from 2007 to 2012, following the privileged, messy, and dramatic lives of a group of teenage friends who live on the Upper Eastside of Manhattan. The show developed a fervent fanbase with teen girls, becoming one of the best-performing shows on the network while it was still running.
The CW show skyrocketed multiple actors in the Gossip Girl cast to fame, though some of them already had a growing portfolio of recognizable TV shows and movies. However, multiple actors who are now famous appeared on the show prior to their big breaks. Other already famous actors had small, extremely forgettable roles on the show. Ultimately, every actor on the teen drama had an important role in the success of the show, even if they aren’t remembered for appearing in Gossip Girl.
While Brittany Snow is now famous for her roles in the Pitch Perfect movie series and the Ti West horror movie X, she had a one-episode appearance in Gossip Girl as the young version of the character Lily Van Der Woodsen in season 2, episode 24, “Valley Girls.” The episode shows Lily running away from home to live with her outcast sister, Carol. The adult version of the characters is reserved, cold, and demure, which is a far cry from Snow’s portrayal of the wild, rebellious, and irresponsible Young Lily.
The opposite personalities can easily be explained by the two decades in between. There’s a significant difference in the life experience, maturity, and values of a teenager versus a 41-year-old woman. Interestingly, Brittany Snow never had to audition for the role since the producers had her in mind for the character from the start (via CW Source). Though “Valley Girls” was a backdoor pilot, CW decided not to pick up the prequel show.
Hilary Duff As Olivia Burke
Hilary Duff Has A Short Gossip Girl Season 3 Arc
Before her role in Gossip Girl, Hilary Duff was best known for her role as the title character in the early 2000s Disney show Lizzie McGuire. More recently, she’s gained notoriety for her roles in Younger and How I Met Your Father. However, she also played an interesting role in Dan Humphrey’s character arc in Gossip Girl season 3. Duff’s Olivia Burke is an actress attending NYU who wants a normal college experience, preferring to keep her fame secret.
Burke struggles to balance her education, her career, and her burgeoning romance with Dan. Though she only appears in 6 episodes, she’s memorable for the college bucket list that her boyfriend helps her finish before she has to leave for her next film project. This includes a threesome between her, Dan, and Vanessa, helping Dan realize his love for his best friend. She has a small cameo at the end of Gossip Girl that’s easy to miss. She and Lola Rhodes are the two actresses starring in the in-universe movie adaptation of Ivy Dickens’ book Ivy League.
Melissa Fumero As Zoe
Melissa Fumero’s Zoe Is A Columbia Student Who’s Obsessed With Blair
While Melissa Fumero is now known for her iconic role as Amy Santiago in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the actress had a small role as Zoe on Gossip Girl before getting her big break. While the character appeared uncredited in a season 1 episode, she became notable when she met Blair Waldorf at Columbia University. Zoe is a groupie of Blair, developing a parasocial relationship with her after following her life through Gossip Girl’s news blasts.
The obsessive fan turns on her idol after Gossip Girl reveals Blair didn’t get into Columbia, but later becomes her minion. Zoe joines the secret society Hamilton House alongside Serena and Blair. In her final episode, Zoe has a chocolate fountain dumped on her. The personality of Zoe is a stark contrast from Amy Santiago, as the former is easily manipulated, preppy, and mean, while the latter is type A, kind, and down-to-earth. These drastically different roles show the diversity of Melissa Fumero’s acting abilities.
Sebastian Stan As Carter Baizen
Sebastian Stan Character Is Nothing Like His Most Famous Role
Before Sebastian Stan grew to fame for playing Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he played Carter Baizen in Gossip Girl. Besides their sense of humor, Bucky is nothing like Baizen – a scheming, manipulative, duplicitous man. Carter Baizen went to school with Gossip Girl’s main characters, albeit many grades older than them. Though he presented himself as an honest humanitarian, Gossip Girl quickly reveals that he developed a substance use disorder and gambling addiction while abroad.
He starts manipulating everyone in the Upper East Side to get the money to pay off his debts and fund his addiction. Unfortunately, even when he recovers, he continues to behave in cruel and manipulative ways. He’s so desperate for Serena’s affections that he doesn’t care if he has to lie about finding her father in order to get her attention. He displays this same kind of behavior when he proposes to a woman just so he can use her money to pay off his debts.
Gina Torres As Gabriela Abrams
Gina Torres Plays A Self-Righteous, Hateable Mother
The iconic actress Gina Torres might be best known for acting in Suits, Firefly, and 9-1-1 Lone Star, but she also had a 2 episode arc on Gossip Girl season 3 as Gabriela Abrams, the mother of Vanessa Abrams. She holds very progressive values that push up against almost every family in the show. Despite her understandable views on social justice, Gabriela is the perfect example of the fact that everyone on Gossip Girl is a terrible person in some way.
The mother might care about people other than herself, but she’s dismissive, rude, and mean to her own child. She refuses to acknowledge or praise her child’s successes, berating her instead. Luckily, there seems to be some kind of resolution between Gina and Vanessa because the latter goes to live with her parents again in Gossip Girl season 4.
Aaron Tveit As Tripp van der Bilt
Aaron Tveit’s Tripp Is One Of Serena’s Worst Boyfriends
Aaron Tveit is a big-name actor on Broadway and has created a memorable career onscreen with his performances in Les Misérables and Graceland, but he also did a short stint as the recurring character Tripp Van Der Bilt in Gossip Girl. Tripp is the distant cousin of Nate Archibald, and he harbors hostility towards his cousin as a result of their withholding grandfather, William Van Der Bilt, who makes them compete for love.
Tripp initially seems like a sketchy guy for obsessing about and dating a 16-year-old; however, he’s so much worse than he seems at first glance. He becomes controlling, obsessive, and manipulative towards Serena. The character has zero regard for the fact that his barely hidden affair could ruin a teenager’s life and wreck his family. He also puts his political aspirations ahead of anybody and anything else, betraying others if it can help him get ahead. Ultimately, Tripp is a walking red flag, and it’s satisfying to see Nate punch him in the face
Kristin Bell As Herself
Kristen Bell’s Cameo Pokes Fun At Gossip Girl
Actress Kristen Bell might be famous for playing Eleanor Shellstrop in NBC’s The Good Place and Joanne in Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, but the actress secretly appeared in every episode of the original Gossip Girl. If fans of the show remember her, it’s almost certainly because Kristin Bell played the snarky, faceless narrator in Gossip Girl for all six seasons. Her voice has become virtually synonymous with the franchise, even reprising her role in the HBO revival, despite some people not recognizing her name and face in conjunction with the show.
However, Bell also had a small onscreen cameo in the show that’s frequently forgotten about. In the final episode of Gossip Girl, Kristen Bell and Rachel Bilson, as themselves, rehearse for an audition for the onscreen adaptation of Dan Humphrey’s book, with Bell playing Serena and Bilson playing Blair. Bell’s role makes fun of herself because the fictionalized version of the character is less than enthusiastic about reading lines for Gossip Girl.
Katie Cassidy As Juliet Sharp
Cassidy’s Juliet Sharp Drives A Wedge Between Nate And Serena
Before Katie Cassidy appeared as Laurel Lance and Dinah Laurel Lance, aka two versions of the Black Canary in the Arrowverse, she played the mischievous Juliet Sharp in Gossip Girl. While it’s not immediately known to the main characters of the show, Juliet came to New York City with a vendetta against Serena Van Der Woodsen because her brother Ben was falsely accused of statutory rape after he blurred the lines between appropriate and inappropriate with Serena while acting as her teacher at the boarding school. While she targets Serena, it’s later revealed that Lily Van Der Woodsen did this.
Juliet creates division among the core friend group because she’s Nate Archibald’s girlfriend in Gossip Girl season 4, but she’s also making Serena’s life a living hell. Ultimately, Katie Cassidy’s role in the show is forgotten because fans hated her character and were happy when Juliet left the show.
Willa Holland As Agnes Andrews
Willa Holland Plays A Mean, Irresponsible Model
Like her Arrow castmate, Willa Holland appeared as Agnes Andrew – one of the most hated Gossip Girl supporting characters – before getting cast as Thea McQueen, aka Speedy, in the Arrowverse. Agnes is a fashion model who gets involved with Jenny’s fashion design aspirations, mooching off her talents. The character is rude, entitled, irresponsible, and vindictive. However, she gives Jenny the validation she’s not getting anywhere else, leading the pair to create an independent fashion company separate from Eleanor Waldorf.
Jenny never should have gone into business with Agnes, and she was entirely right to part ways with her freeloading business partner. Unfortunately, Agnes burns all of Jenny’s designs and throws her out on the street. When Holland’s character returns for one episode in Gossip Girl season 3, she pretends to be friendly towards Jenny only to drug her. Ultimately, no matter whether an individual loves Jenny or hates her, she undoubtedly didn’t deserve Agnes Andrews’ terrible treatment
