Whether you’re a fan of teen dramas, romantic comedies, action-thrillers, or all-out horror, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Arielle Kebbel on the screen before. The multi-talented actor has a filmography that proves she’s capable of handling a variety of genres. Fans who have been following her career for a long time will know her as Dean’s (Jared Padalecki) first wife Lindsay Forester from “Gilmore Girls.” After a few small roles, this was Kebbel’s big break. Recalling the audition process to E! News, she admitted she was pretty sure she’d get the role after reading the character breakdown. It said “the only requirement is you have to be over [5-foot-8-inches] because you’re going to be Dean’s girlfriend and you have to be able to talk fast.” Of course, she was right, adding that the process was a total whirlwind as she started filming her first scenes the day after landing the role. “I didn’t have time to think about it or understand what a big deal it was,” Kebbel said.

Kebbel’s career continued on an upward trajectory after her three-season stint on “Gilmore Girls.” She made a name for herself with roles in a series of coming-of-age movies like “Aquamarine” and “John Tucker Must Die.” But Kebbel isn’t one to pigeonhole herself, so there’s much more to her filmography than just teen romantic comedies and dramas. Anyone acquainted with her more recent roles will know she has portrayed a variety of characters, including a sports broadcaster on “Ballers,” a vampire assassin on “Midnight, Texas,” and a firefighter on the procedural “9-1-1.” While she has a vast filmography to choose from, this article will unpack Kebbel’s five best performances based not just on professional accolades but on the lasting impact of her characters.

After playing sweet, innocent Lindsay on “Gilmore Girls,” Arielle Kebbel did the unexpected — she starred in a horror movie. She joined Hollywood legend Sarah Michelle Gellar in “The Grudge 2,” which continued the story of Gellar’s character Karen, now in Japan after surviving the events in the dark franchise. The general critical consensus is that it sequel didn’t live up to its predecessor. However, Kebbel gave a standout performance as Allison Fleming, which earned her a nomination at the 2007 Teen Choice Awards for choice movie: scream.

Like its predecessor, “The Grudge 2” is told through a nonlinear series of events. The movie cuts between scenes in Japan and the U.S. as it chronicles the return of antagonist Kayako Saeki (Takako Fuji) and the never-ending Curse born from her death in the first movie, which continues to violently claim new victims. Amber Tamblyn, Jennifer Beals, Edison Chen and Sarah Roemer also star.

Kebbel undergoes a significant transformation for this role, dying her signature blonde locks jet black. Her character Allison stumbles upon the curse when she breaks into the old Saeki house on a dare with her classmates Vanessa Cassidy (Teresa Palmer) and Miyuki Nazawa (Misako Uno). Vanessa and Miyuki are soon consumed by the Curse, but their ghosts return to haunt Allison. Even after she returns home to Chicago, Allison fears the Curse has followed her and struggles to escape her deadly fate.

2006 was a busy year for Arielle Kebbel. Hot off the back of playing the part that earned her a Teen Choice Award nomination, she nabbed one of the most iconic movie roles of her career: Carrie in “John Tucker Must Die.” Kebbel appeared in the teen rom-com alongside “Pitch Perfect” star Brittany Snow, singer Ashanti, “One Tree Hill” actor Sophia Bush, “Desperate Housewives” alum Jesse Metcalf, and “Gossip Girl” star Penn Badgley, who were all rising talents in the noughties. The plot follows new girl Kate as she teams up with Carrie, Heather (Ashanti) and Beth (Bush) to get revenge on their three-timing boyfriend John (Metcalf).

“John Tucker Must Die” has often been compared to “Mean Girls” because both movies feature the same revenge storyline — its tagline is “don’t get mad, get even” — though it certainly has subtle differences. The movie flips the script on classic coming-of-age stories by having the female characters being the ones in total control, while John is getting taken for a ride. Additionally, the romance between Beth and Badgley’s character Scott allows the film to steer clear of the “new girl ends up with jock” stereotype.

Kebbel’s favorite thing about the movie is that it’s ultimately more of a story of redemption than revenge. “At the end of the day [our characters] end up realizing that we’re just wasting time on him, when we could be bonding with each other. Every character kind of comes full circle,” she explained to IGN. And it really is the enduring friendship that blossoms between Kate, Carrie, Heater, and Beth, which makes the movie so memorable. Kebbel continues to be passionate about the 2006 film, and she’s begun work on producing a sequel. “It’s very exciting to feel the support and the reunion happening,” she teased to ET.

Arielle Kebbel plays a variety of characters on the small screen, but “The Vampire Diaries” fans would argue that none of her roles are as memorable as Alexia “Lexi” Branson. Although the character was initially written with Taylor Swift in mind, it’s hard to imagine Lexi being played by anyone but Kebbel. Lexi first shows up on Season 1, Episode 8 to wish her longtime bestie Stefan (Paul Wesley) a happy birthday and shed some light on his checkered past. What’s interesting about Lexi is that her bark is much worse than her bite — which is saying something considering she’s a centuries-old vampire. Despite initially seeming like she would be an obstacle in Stefan and Elena’s (Nina Dobrev) relationship, especially after Elena clocks her in nothing but a towel, she quickly becomes the couple’s biggest champion. However, in a shock move, the undead vampire is killed off during the episode.

Lexi is one of Kebbel’s all-time favorite characters (in fact, Lexi even inspired her later role on “Midnight, Texas”). “We started shooting, and I totally fell in love with Lexi,” she told TVLine before admitting that she had no idea that there would be such an intense fan reaction to her character. It was this response that kept Lexi returning long beyond her on-screen death. Elena and Lexi were even able to become friends, with the latter often popping back to the land of the living for one reason or another. Although she’s technically credited as a guest star, Kebbel’s character has a major impact throughout the series as Stefan’s moral compass. She makes multiple returns to the show and concludes her character’s journey on the finale as she reunites with Stefan in the afterlife.

It’s definitely fair to say that Arielle Kebbel does teen drama well, but her character Vanessa Shaw on “90210” couldn’t be further from Lexi on “The Vampire Diaries.” Kebbel joined the “Beverly Hills, 90210” reboot on Season 4, and right off the bat, viewers learn that there is more than meets the eye regarding Vanessa. In true teen drama fashion, she makes a shocking first impression on the show, hitting Liam (Matt Lanter) with her car. However, once she realizes he’s a billboard model, her manipulative side comes out on full display and she twists the situation, pretending to be the one who saved him after a hit-and-run.

Unlike Lexi and Elena, Vanessa is introduced as a romantic rival for Annie (Shenae Grimes-Beech), and she quickly inserts herself into every facet of Liam’s life, so there is little room for anyone else. Eventually, Liam starts to see her true colors, but he’s in too deep as Vanessa continues to puppeteer his life and even blackmail him.

This is a stellar performance from Kebbel, who is able to convincingly convey the many sides of Vanessa’s personality from sweet to ruthless. Kebbel particularly enjoyed the challenge of bringing this character to life, telling TVLine, “The fun thing about Vanessa is that you never know what she’s going to do next … She’s focused on helping Liam get to where he wants to be in his career and keeping him as her boyfriend.” It seems like she’ll stop at nothing to get what she wants — no matter what lines she wants to cross, but in the end, Vanessa makes an unexpected and admiral sacrifice to save Liam from danger.

“After Ever Happy” is the fourth installment of the After film franchise, which follows the love story between Tessa Young (Josephine Langford) and Hardin Scott (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin). Arielle Kebbel joined the series in the third film “After We Fell,” replacing her “Vampire Diaries” co-star Candice Accola King as Kimberly for the remaining movies. Despite the awkward recasting, Kebbel quickly makes the role her own.

Her relationship with Tessa, who she sees as a little sister-slash-surrogate daughter, deepens in “After We Fell.” But alongside supporting Tessa, Kimberly also has her own personal struggles to contend with, as she learns that she is pregnant and that her husband Vance (Stephen Moyer) is having an affair simultaneously. Kebbel reprises her role in “After Ever Happy” and “After Everything.” In these films, viewers see Kimberly’s inner strength as she decides to stay with Vance through it all and rebuild their family rather than tear it all down.

Although the movie is regarded as a critical flop, it has a 92% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, an indicator that Kebbel plays her part well. There’s a particularly touching scene in “After Ever Happy” where she has coffee with Tessa and supports her through the grief of losing her dad, on top of the stress of yet another breakup with Hardin. Even with everything she has to contend with within her marriage, Kimberly always finds time to be there for Tessa. She plays a major role in helping Tessa understand that it’s okay to put herself first, which leads to her taking time for herself in New York and Hardin figuring out he needs to work on himself — leading to them coming back together from a healthy place in the final installment of the movie series.