Ed Westwick
Born	Edward Westwick (1987-06-27) 27 June 1987 (age 24) Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England
Occupation	Actor, musician, model
Years active	2004–present

Edward "Ed" Westwick (born 27 June 1987) is an English actor and musician who is best known for his role as Chuck Bass on the CW television drama Gossip Girl.

Early life and career[link]

Westwick was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, the son of Carole, an educational psychologist, and Peter Westwick, a university lecturer.^[1] He grew up in Stevenage and trained at the National Youth Theatre in London. He is a Chelsea F.C. supporter.^[2][3] His early career began with appearances on the British television series Doctors as Holden, Casualty as Johnny Cullin and Afterlife as Darren. His film credits include Breaking and Entering, Children of Men and Son of Rambow.

Westwick at the 2008 White House Correspondents' Dinner.

In 2007, he was cast in The CW's teen drama series Gossip Girl as Chuck Bass. As a result of the show's success, he was named one of 2008's Sexiest Men Alive by People magazine,^[4] appeared the following year on its "100 Most Beautiful" list with the whole cast of Gossip Girl,^[5] earned two awards in 2008 and 2009 for Best TV Villain at the Teen Choice Awards, and was named Breakthrough Talent by GQ in 2010.^[6] Entertainment Weekly also named Westwick's character Chuck Bass number one in their "Best Dressed TV characters of 2008" list (tied with Leighton Meester's character Blair Waldorf), as well as in their "Best Performances" list alongside co-star Meester.^[7]

In 2008, Westwick became the new face of K-Swiss,^[8] making him the second member of the Gossip Girl cast to endorse sportswear (Leighton Meester endorsed Reebok)^[9] and appeared in the horror film 100 Feet.

In 2009, Westwick played a role in the sequel to Donnie Darko and also guest starred in the third season of the Showtime original series Californication as a student who was fascinated with vampire literature.^[10] In May 2009, he was attached to play Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights.^[11] However, in January 2010 the project passed into the hands of a new director which caused a change in the cast.

In January 2011, Westwick joined Clint Eastwood's film J. Edgar, a biopic starring Leonardo DiCaprio about J. Edgar Hoover, the controversial first director of the FBI.^[12] That same year, he appeared in the romantic comedy Chalet Girl alongside Felicity Jones.

He co-narrated the audio book version of City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare and also narrated Clare's second novel Clockwork Prince from The Infernal Devices series.^[13]

Westwick also became an international celebrity endorser for Penshoppe, a local clothing brand in the Philippines, in mid-2011.^[14][15]

He is set to star in a new adaptation of Romeo and Juliet as Juliet's cousin Tybalt alongside Hailee Steinfeld.^[16][17]

Personal life[link]

Westwick began dating his Gossip Girl co-star Jessica Szohr in late 2008. They split in May 2010, with Westwick saying "girlfriends are too much of a headache",^[18][19][20] but briefly reunited whilst filming season 4 of Gossip Girl in August 2010.^[21] In February 2012, it was reported Westwick and Szhor had rekindled their relationship.^[22]

Besides acting, Westwick fronted the British indie rock band The Filthy Youth, composed of himself, Benjamin Lewis Allingham, Jimmy Wright, Tom Bastiani and John Vooght.^[23][24] While he is now inactive in the band, largely because he wants to focus on his acting career and the other band members are still based in the U.K., he has expressed an interest in forming another group in New York.^[25]

Filmography[link]

Westwick at the 2010 CBS Summer Press Tour Party.