Character
Paris Eustace Geller is a fictional character on the television series Gilmore Girls and its spin-off A Year in the Life, played by Liza Weil.
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Paris Eustace Geller is a fictional character on the television series Gilmore Girls and its spin-off A Year in the Life, played by Liza Weil. Paris is introduced as an ambitious high-school student from a wealthy Jewish family, who was raised almost entirely by her nanny.
Paris Eustace Geller is a fictional character on the television series Gilmore Girls and its spin-off A Year in the Life, played by Liza Weil.
Paris is introduced as an ambitious high-school student from a wealthy Jewish family, who was raised almost entirely by her nanny. She has an extreme form of a Type A personality; she is driven and goes to any extreme to get what she wants, whether it be a high grade or a life goal, and is very disappointed in herself and others if she does not succeed. This is in stark contrast to her friend Rory Gilmore, who is much more relaxed and casual about most matters, and the only person close to Paris who can consistently pacify her. Paris's style of speaking is usually brash and matter-of-fact, and it is very rare that she lapses away from her usual tone.
Paris was conceived as a short-term character who would serve as Rory's foil and arch-nemesis in high school. However, the role was gradually developed by series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband/writing partner Dan, and Paris would remain for the entirety of the series while growing closer to Rory. Weil's performance won critical acclaim, with Paris becoming one of the show's most popular and topical characters.
Paris was originally created for a three-episode guest arc by series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and executive producer Gavin Polone at the beginning of the show's first season to introduce Rory Gilmore's character to the high pressures, competitiveness and stress of going from the small public high school in Stars Hollow, to the storied and respected halls of Hartford's Chilton Academy. This character was created in consolation for Weil (who had been signed to a talent holding deal with show distributor Warner Bros. Television the year before, guest-starring through her arrangement on The West Wing and ER) after a strong audition for the role of Rory (Weil had previously been known to Polone through her work in the role of Debbie Kozac, a character who served a minor but pivotal role as a babysitter to Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon)'s child in the 1999 film Stir of Echoes, which he and his company produced), which eventually went to Alexis Bledel. Weil, however, had to change her hair color to play Paris from her natural brown hair coloring to blonde. This was done to further the contrast of Paris to Rory. The character proved to be the proper foil to Rory in time, and the role of Paris in the show was extended and expanded through the first season until Weil became a series regular in the second season.
On her first day at Chilton Academy, the soft-spoken Rory Gilmore meets the high-strung Paris Geller, who immediately views Rory as an academic rival. Prior to this encounter, Paris reads Rory's Stars Hollow transcript, courtesy of a student worker in the administration office she paid to sneak her the information out the window. The first day with the younger Gilmore ends up challenging Paris, and a few hours after giving Rory a lecture that she wouldn't make things easy, Rory accidentally broke Paris' castle project after tumbling into her because of a stuck locker. Paris refuses Rory's offered help to put it back together, and in spite the new girl answers lecture questions usually tackled by Paris right away.
Relations between the two remain frosty through their first semester as her crush Tristan gave more attention to Rory than to Paris, whom he considered a platonic friend. After Rory earns a D in a literature class as she tries to catch up with her classmates, Paris jokes bitterly the grade would be perfect to apply for work at McDonald's. Later, the comment would come back to haunt her as an annoyed Rory went off on her for calling her a "loser" during a test she failed to make due to oversleeping.
Paris' backstory is built with each episode after this point. She is forced by her mother to attend Rory's 16th birthday party thrown by her grandparents, and makes it clear she doesn't enjoy it. Later, she bumps into Rory at a college fair, and away from the pressures of school and Tristan, she opens up a little to the girl, discussing Harvard and how she hopes to go there one day because "ten generations of Gellers have gone to Harvard", as does Rory. Though they don't get along, they agree to disagree and be cordial to each other, noting that Harvard is a big campus and they probably would not see each other again after Chilton.
Her hidden crush on Tristan is a major theme for the first season, and as she sells tickets to the school's Winter Formal, tries to bring up the courage to ask him out when he tries to buy his tickets. However she backs off after he makes a flirty comment about her already having a date. She takes out that bitterness on Rory for not wanting him and yells at the girl as she buys her tickets, not realizing that Rory already has a boyfriend in the local new boy, Dean.
Because she needs a date for the Formal, she is forced after asking her mother to take her cousin Jacob as a date. Paris is able to keep it a secret for at least half the dance, until Jacob asks Rory if he could have her phone number and reveals his bloodline connection to Rory's rival. Though Rory doesn't say anything, Paris ends up jumping to conclusions and yells at Rory in front of all at the Formal in attendance, angered that Rory would divulge such secret information. However Rory had said nothing, and Paris unwittingly revealed her own secret.
Source: Paris Geller (CC BY-SA)
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Paris's parents then went through a nasty, messy divorce that was the talk of Chilton with many tabloid-like rumors of affairs and plastic surgery flying through the gossip mill, and despite her exceptional success at school, Paris' self-esteem suffered as her home was torn apart with Mrs. Geller replacing all reminders of her husband, and pushing Paris to bring up her self-esteem, be less introverted, and use makeup and topical medications to hide blemishes.
During this same period, she caught Max Medina, her literature teacher, passionately kissi
