Taylor Momsen

Taylor Michel Momsen (born July 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, model, guitarist, and former actress. Prior to her retirement from acting, she portrayed the character of Cindy Lou Who in the film How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Alexandra Anami in Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams (2002), Molly in Underdog (2007), and Jenny Humphrey on The CW's teen drama series Gossip Girl (2007–2010; 2012). Momsen has been the frontwoman of the American rock band the Pretty Reckless since their inception in 2009.

Momsen was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents are Michael and Collette Momsen. She also has a younger sister, Sloane Momsen, who is also an actress. She is of partial Russian descent. She was raised Catholic, attending Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School for elementary school and later Herbert Hoover Middle School (in Potomac, Maryland), but is now ^{[as of?]} non-religious. She also studied ballet at the Center of Creative Arts (COCA) in St. Louis.

She began acting professionally at three years of age in a 1997 national commercial for Shake 'n Bake. She was then cast in The Prophet's Game.

In 2000, Momsen played the role of Cindy Lou Who in Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, her breakout role. In 2002, she played Gretel in Hansel and Gretel and Alexandra, the President's daughter, in Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams.

Momsen's career came to a halt for over three years until she received a lead role in the WB series Misconceptions, which never aired. After that, she appeared in the 2006 film Saving Shiloh. She also auditioned for the title role in Hannah Montana, and was in the top three, but the role was instead awarded to Miley Cyrus—a decision that Momsen was happy with in retrospect. In 2007, she starred in the Walt Disney Pictures film Underdog as Molly and as Jennifer in the movie Paranoid Park, directed by Gus Van Sant.

Beginning in 2007, she played the character of Jenny Humphrey in The CW television series Gossip Girl, based on the book series by Cecily von Ziegesar. Momsen's appearances on the series became increasingly sporadic, and, by the end of the first half of the fourth season, she had only appeared in four episodes. It was then announced that the actress would be scheduled for an indefinite hiatus from the show, which ended with her leaving the series as a regular cast member after the completion of the fourth season in 2011. On August 16, 2011, Momsen told Elle magazine that she had quit acting to focus on her music career. On October 16, 2012, it was reported that Momsen would be returning to Gossip Girl for its final episode, in which she appeared briefly in the wedding sequence.

Reflecting on her child acting career, she described it as an "alienating" experience, detailing bullying she received after her performance in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Momsen was signed with Ford Models at a very young age: "My parents signed me up with Ford [Modeling] at the age of two. No two-year-old wants to be working, but I had no choice. My whole life, I was in and out of school. I didn't have friends. I was working constantly and I didn't have a real life."