Chace Crawford: Snapshot

Name
Chace Crawford
Birth Date
July 18, 1985
Birth Place
Plano, Texas
Being the steamiest – and arguably the prettiest – star on The CW's guilty pleasure, Gossip Girl, Chace Crawford has already put his heartthrob stamp on the world of pop culture from American Idol – ahem, Carrie Underwood – to Perez Hilton, who can't stop ogling him!

While cracking the books at Pepperdine University, Texas-bred Crawford tried his hand at acting. In 2006, he got his first big break in The Covenant – one of those scary movies with beautiful people. But he didn't gain fame until playing preppy hunk Nate Archibald on Gossip Girl, where he created sexual tension between himself and costars Blake Lively and Leighton Meester.

With fame came romance, as Crawford played coy about his relationship with country music's Carrie Underwood. In 2008, after Underwood confirmed their split, Crawford – with his Gossip Girl costars – landed on PEOPLE's Most Beautiful List.

Chace Crawford: Five Fun Facts

  1. After making it big on Gossip Girl, Chace Crawford ended his life online. "I had to take them down after a while," he told the New York Times of cancelling his Facebook and MySpace accounts.
  2. Chace Crawford's Gossip Girl costar Penn Badgley, who plays Dan Humphrey, originally wanted to play Crawford's character, Nate Archibald. "Eventually they found Chace, and once I saw him I was like, 'Nah, I'm not that guy. I definitely can't do that,'" Badgley tells the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  3. Chace Crawford shares an apartment in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood with Gossip Girl costar Ed Westwick, who plays his best friend on the show.
  4. Chace Crawford's younger sister is Candice Crawford, title holder of Miss Missouri USA 2008.
  5. Chace Crawford's first Valentine was his first girlfriend in the sixth grade. "I gave her a mix tape," he told PEOPLE.

Chace Crawford: Biography

2000s

Chace Crawford

Chace's University Days

Crawford, the son of a dermatologist, works as a model while attending Trinity Christian Academy. After graduation in 2003, he heads west to Malibu's Pepperdine University. "Everyone else knew what they wanted to do," Crawford tells Teen Vogue in 2007. "But not me – I was the lone wolf." He eventually tries his hand at auditioning for commercials.

2006

Chace Crawford

September 04

The Covenant

Crawford lands his first major role in the supernatural thriller, The Covenant (right). He plays one of the four males leads, which includes the equally gorgeous Taylor Kitsch of NBC's Friday Night Lights. The film opens at No. 1, grossing more than $23 million.

2007

Chace Crawford

September 19

Gossip Girl: Being Nate Archibald

Crawford dons prep school blazers and khakis to play conflicted hunk Nate Archibald in Gossip Girl, The CW's adaptation of the juicy novels by Cecily von Ziegesar. The teen drama follows a group of rich New York City Upper East Siders. "I'm proud to be part of a show that's kind of redefining what it means to be a hit show with today's younger generation that is very media-savvy," Crawford (pictured with onscreen girlfriend Leighton Meester) tells the Los Angeles Times. The series costars Blake Lively (Serena), Penn Badgley (Dan), Ed Westwick (Chuck) and Taylor Momsen (Jenny).

Read More on Chace Crawford's Life

Photo Credits

Top Left: Stephen Danelian/Corbis

BIOGRAPHY (top to bottom): Splash News Online; Everett Collection; CW

Edited by Mai Dinh, Janet Murphy