Alexis Bledel

Biography: A former teen model, this Texas-born actress landed her star-making part on Gilmore Girls after just one year of college. As the pretty and precocious Rory, Bledel earned legions of fans. The big screen soon beckoned, and the blue-eyed beauty found success with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequel, which were based on popular young-adult novels. While on Gilmore Girls, she began dating costar Milo Ventimiglia, though that relationship eventually ended in 2006. Upon the end of Gilmore Girls in 2007, Bledel admitted she was not eager to make a commitment to doing another television series for quite some time, because the work was "all-consuming." She instead focused on films and also returned to modeling, signing with IMG in 2009.