'Gilmore Girls': Alexis Bledel's Stunning Transformation

Alexis Bledel, the daughter of an Argentine father and a Mexican mother, grew up in Houston, Texas. As a child, she was fairly normal, but her Latin American roots were a big part of her childhood. "My parents only spoke to me in Spanish," Bledel said on the show, in perfect Spanish. "When I went to school, I had to learn English there...I was really in a Latino bubble." In addition to speaking Spanish at home, Bledel ate Latin American food, celebrated holidays with Latin American traditions and listened to Latin music.

Alexis Bledel began her acting career at the age of 8 by performing in community plays such as 'Our Town', 'The Wizard of Oz', and 'Aladdin'. Due to English being her second language, she was quite shy as a child. To help her overcome her shyness, her parents encouraged her to participate in community plays.

Alexis Bledel was discovered by a modeling agent at a local mall when she was 14 years old. Although she had never aspired to be in front of the camera, she decided to try her luck in the modeling industry and turned out to be very successful. In fact, as she told 'Seventeen', "I ended up taking senior year off because I traveled a little bit for my modeling career - Seventeen was actually my first job!" Working as a model helped Bledel continue to come out of her shell. However, her modeling career could have had a negative effect on her self-esteem. As she told Elle Girl, "When I was a modeling as a teenager, which is probably the most sensitive stage of a person's life, I would just ignore when people told me to lose two inches off my hips." Fortunately, Bledel had plenty of job offers and was able to ignore these requests. It seems that modeling not only taught her to be comfortable in front of a camera but also to stand up for herself.

After completing her studies, Alexis Bledel left Texas and relocated to New York City, where she enrolled at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. During her senior year, she developed an interest in film studies. Initially, she considered working behind the camera as a better option for her. Despite having no prior plans to become an actress, she started auditioning for television roles through her modeling agent to earn some extra cash. As expected, she soon found herself back in front of the camera.

Alexis Bledel got her first big role playing "Rory" on 'Gilmore Girls'. She moved to Los Angeles and quickly became famous. Her job wasn't easy at first. "I was completely overwhelmed...I was working 18 hours a day, and weekends too," she recalled. Much of the time, she felt unsure about how to act in certain scenes. She also had to deal with the pressures of fame. She admitted that she was not prepared for the success of the show. In fact, being famous was so unappealing to Bledel that she even talked about quitting acting after a few years. Although the role brought with it many challenges, it also served as a crash course in television acting. "It really helped me learn how to memorize dialogue quickly and very thoroughly, which is great for auditions and any job I get afterward," she said.

In 2002, she got a chance to star in a movie when she played "Winnie" in 'Tuck Everlasting.' As Bledel told 'Crosswalk' at the time, the character also presented some new challenges. "I liked playing someone who was rebellious, because I'd never had the opportunity to do that before, because it was something different," she said. It was also her first period film. 'Tuck Everlasting' also gave her a chance to see the differences between television and film.

'Gilmore Girls' ended in 2007 after seven seasons. Although she acted in a few other movies such as 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants', for Alexis Bledel, who had gone from being shy and insecure to a confident actress, the end of 'Gilmore Girls' was an opportunity to take stock and plan her next career move. Initially, she was eager to step away from the world of television. "It would be at least 10 years before I did [a series] again because it's such an absorbing experience," she said. Instead, the actress turned her attention to film.

She has appeared in a variety of films and projects, including the romantic comedy 'The Good Guy', the comedy 'Post Grad' starring Michael Keaton and Carol Burnett, the period film 'The Conspirator' about Abraham Lincoln, and 'The Kate Logan Affair', a film about a policewoman who begins an affair with a married man. Bledel has also taken on diverse roles such as playing a teenage assassin alongside Saoirse Ronan in 'Violet and Daisy', and a comedic role in 'Girl Walks Into a Bar'. For Bledel, exploring these different characters was important in order to break away from her 'Gilmore Girls' persona and stretch herself as an actress.

In 2012, Bledel played the character "Beth Dawes" in 'Mad Men', and her on-screen romance with Vincent Kartheiser's character, "Pete Campbell", led to a real-life relationship. The couple made their public debut in 2012 and announced their engagement in March 2013, before tying the knot in 2014. Despite their high-profile careers, they have managed to keep their relationship incredibly private over the years. Bledel and Kartheiser welcomed their first child in 2015.

Her role in the dystopian drama 'The Handmaid's Tale' marked a significant departure from her days on 'Gilmore Girls'. Playing "Ofglen/Emily", Bledel portrayed a woman resisting an authoritarian regime, presenting new challenges and rewards for the actress. As 'The Handmaid's Tale' comes to an end, fans of Alexis Bledel may be wondering where she will appear next. Since becoming a mother, Bledel has been selective in choosing her roles, and her fans can look forward to seeing her in another amazing project.