Full Name: Kimberly Alexis Bledel
Career: TV & Film Actress
Birthdate: Sep 16, 1981 (Age 44)
High School:St. Agnes AcademyYearbooks:1998
Yearbook photos of Kimberly Alexis Bledel from St. Agnes Academy
Maybe you’re a cult Gilmore Girls (2000-2007) fan who watched Alexis Bledel portray Rory Gilmore over the years, or maybe you enjoyed her character in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) with all its whimsy.
No matter how you got introduced to Alexis Bledel, you can’t deny that she was one of the most popular faces of the early 2000s.
Let’s look at who Alexis Bledel is by retracing her early years, education, career, and personal life, with her high school yearbook photos from the Classmates® archive.
What to Know About Alexis Bledel?
- Bilingual Beginnings: Born in Houston, Texas, to a Mexican mother and Argentinian father, Alexis grew up speaking Spanish as her first language and only learned English once she began attending school.
- St. Agnes Academy Alumna: Alexis graduated from St. Agnes Academy in Houston in 1999. Her high school years were marked by a modeling career that took her to Tokyo, Milan, and New York.
- From NYU to Stardom: Originally a film major at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Alexis dropped out at age 18 after her very first acting audition landed her the iconic role of Rory Gilmore.
- Emmy-Winning Range: While famous for the wholesome Gilmore Girls, Alexis earned critical acclaim and a Primetime Emmy Award in 2017 for her harrowing portrayal of Emily Malek in The Handmaid’s Tale.
- Family: Alexis is famously private about her family life. She was married to Mad Men co-star Vincent Kartheiser from 2014 until 2022. The couple share one son, born in 2015.
Who is Alexis Bledel?
Kimberly Alexis Bledel (born September 16, 1981) is a 44-year old American actress and model. She was born and brought up in Houston, Texas, but you may be surprised to know that she has deep Latino roots. In fact, she grew up in a Spanish-first household and didn’t even learn English until she began going to school!
Alexis was a shy kid, so her mother encouraged her to take part in their local community theater, where she took part in productions such as The Wizard of Oz, Aladdin, and Our Town. This was her first foray into the entertainment business.
When Alexis was still in high school, she was scouted as a model (at a shopping mall, of all places). Her modeling career took her all over the world, from New York and Los Angeles to Milan and Tokyo.
When she was 18, she was cast as Rory Gilmore in Gilmore Girls and that’s where her fame began. Outside of work, she enjoys playing soccer, photography, and renovating homes.
Where Did Alexis Bledel Go to School?
School Education
Alexis attended St. Mark’s Lutheran Middle School and a Baptist school, before graduating from St. Agnes Academy, a Catholic institution, in Houston, Texas. Her family also lived in a Jewish neighborhood! Talk about growing up in religious settings.
Much of Alexis’s high school was spent modeling. She even had to take her senior year of high school off for her budding career!
Fun fact: her very first gig in front of the camera was for Seventeen magazine.
College Education
After graduating high school, Alexis attended the New York University’s Tisch School of Arts as a film major as she initially thought that she would be more comfortable working behind the camera.
During Alexis’s freshman year of university, though, she began auditioning for pilots with the help of her modeling agent. It was one such audition that gave Alexis her first big break by selecting her to play Rory Gilmore. She was 18, and dropped out of college to focus on acting.
Fun fact: Alexis had the sniffles during her audition for Gilmore Girls. Luckily, casting director Jill Anthony had the brilliant idea of watching one of her previous auditions that had been videotaped. She really shined in that, and the rest, as they say, is history.
What Does She Look Like Today? Alexis Bledel Then vs. Now
Check out photos of Alexis Bledel in high school in the ‘90s vs. photos of how she looks on the red carpet today!
gdcgraphics, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Alexis Bledel’s Career Through the Ages
TV Shows
Alexis Bledel is most known for playing Rory Gilmore, daughter and best friend of single mother Lorelai Gilmore, in Gilmore Girls. This TV show aired from 2000 to 2007. The show garnered such a cult following that, nearly a decade later, a mini series called Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life was released depicting the lives of the characters.
After Gilmore Girls, Alexis’s most noteworthy TV show performance was playing Emily Malek in The Handmaid’s Tale (2017 – 2025). This dystopian series was based on a book of the same name by Margaret Atwood.
The original uploader was Jtalledo at English Wikipedia., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Tony Peters, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Other TV shows that Alexis has appeared in include The Coldest Case (2021), Us and Them (2014 – 2015), and Mad Men (2012).
Movies
Alexis has found just as much recognition acting in movies as she has found acting in TV shows. She’s best known for playing Lena Kaligaris in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) and its sequel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008).
Some other famous movies under Alexis’s repertoire include Tuck Everlasting (2002), Sin City (2005), I’m Reed Fish (2006), Post Grad (2009), Violet and Daisy (2011), and Jenny’s Wedding (2015).
Awards
Alexis has won several awards over the course of her career, with most of her wins coming from her TV show performances.
- Best Leading Young Actress in a TV Drama Series: Young Artist Award, 2001, for Gilmore Girls
- Best Actress: Family Television Awards, 2002, for Gilmore Girls
- TV – Choice Comedy Actress: Teen Choice Awards, 2005 and 2006, for Gilmore Girls
- Drama Guest Actress: Gold Derby Award, 2012, for Mad Men
- Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series: Primetime Emmy Awards, 2017, for The Handmaid’s Tale
- Drama Guest Actress: Gold Derby Award, 2017, for The Handmaid’s Tale
- Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series: OFTA Television Award, 2017, for The Handmaid’s Tale
Who are Alexis Bledel’s Parents and Siblings?
Alexis was born to Nanette and Martin Bledel. Her mother was born in Arizona but moved to Mexico when she was young and grew up there. She worked as a gift processor and a flight attendant. Her father was born in Argentina. Despite growing up in Latin America, her parents met in Texas, so that’s where they started their life together.
Alexis also has a younger brother named Eric David Bledel.
Alexis Bledel’s Dating History
Though Alexis likes keeping her private life, well, private, she’s dated a few of her co-stars from Gilmore Girls over the years. She dated Jared Paldecki, her on-screen love interest, for a brief period of time when they were filming the first season of the show. She also had a short-lived fling with a guest actor named Chris Heuisler who appeared in season 2.
One of her longest relationships was with co-star Milo Ventimiglia. The pair started dating in 2002 and split up in 2006. In the following years, she had a brief romance with a British model named John Paul.
Her next publicly documented relationship was with Vincent Kartheiser, whom she ended up marrying.
Does Alexis Bledel Have Kids?
Yes, Alexis Bledel has one son with her ex-husband Vincent Kartheiser, an American actor. Both of them starred in Mad Men, which is where they met. The duo started dating in 2012 and tied the knot in 2014. A year later, they welcomed their son into the world.
The stars kept their relationship and marriage very private. After 8 years of being married to each other, they got divorced in 2022, but the exact cause is unknown.
Does Alexis Bledel Have Social Media?
While Alexis Bledel does have social media accounts, she typically prefers keeping things about her personal life quiet and remains out of the public eye. So, you probably won’t be able to glean much about what goes on in her life.
- Instagram: 216K followers as of December 2025. (It’s worth noting that she only has 3 posts dating back to 2013/ 2014.)
- Facebook: 509K followers
- X/ Twitter: 209K followers
View Your Favorite Celebrities’ High School Yearbook Photos
Who among us hasn’t wondered what our favorite celebrities looked like before they became famous? With Classmates, you can stop wondering as we have a whole treasure trove of old high school yearbook photos for you to browse.
Register for Classmates today, and see if you can find old photos of your top A-list actors and actresses. Who knows, you might even end up finding your own yearbooks and reminiscing about the good old days.
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