Lena Kaligaris

Lena Kaligaris
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants character
Lena Kaligaris played by Alexis Bledel in films
First appearance	Book Series: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Movie Series: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (film)
Last appearance	Book Series: Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood Movie Series: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
Created by	Ann Brashares
Portrayed by	Alexis Bledel Alanna Dawn Ekkert (Young Lena)
Information
Nickname(s)	Lenny Len
Gender	Female
Occupation	Book Series: Artist Movie Series: Artist
Family	Book Series: Ariadne "Ari" Kaligaris (mother) Georgos "George" Kaligaris (father) Effie Kaligaris (sister) Valia Kaligaris (paternal grandmother) Bapi Kaligaris (paternal grandfather) Movie Series: Effie Kaligaris (sister) Mrs. Kaligaris(mother) Yia Yia (grandmother) Papou (grandfather)
Spouse(s)	Leo (ex-boyfriend) Kostos Dounas (boyfriend)

Lena "Lenny" Kaligaris is a fictional character in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, a best-selling series of young adult novels by Ann Brashares. In the 2005 film version of the first book, and the 2008 sequel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, she is portrayed by Alexis Bledel.

Lena is a shy, introspective aspiring artist of Greek heritage. Lena is very beautiful, but feels uncomfortable when her looks draw attention. Lena considers her biggest weaknesses are her inability to love and trust freely and her tendency to avoid the real situation because it is emotionally difficult to deal with. She feels especially guilty that people like her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Kostos, and one of her best friends, Bridget, who have lost so much in their lives, can live and love freely when she is reluctant to trust others. Another one of her best friends, Tibby, adds that "If you asked Lena to pick A or B, she'd always choose C," meaning that Lena has difficulty following her emotions. Rather, she justifies and overthinks everything. She has long dark hair and light green eyes.

Sister: Lena has an outgoing and somewhat promiscuous younger sister named Effie. She and Effie generally get along, even though they are very different. She does, however, have some disagreements with her sister, as Effie sometimes feels like Lena chooses her friends (the Sisterhood) over her own family. Effie is loud and lighthearted. She is not as beautiful as Lena (having a "large Greek nose") but is the more charismatic of the two sisters. Effie is still quite attractive though. Effie likes vintage clothes and adores boys.

Mother: Lena's mother, Ari, is a psychologist of Greek descent. She is very similar to her daughter in that she tends to be closed off and serious. Ari had a very passionate love affair when she was a young woman, but her lover left for Greece, telling her he'd return and never did, leaving her heartbroken. Lena and her mother sometimes have difficulty connecting, but they find emotional support in one another during Lena's break-up, as her mother can relate. Ari is described as very ambitious.

Father: Lena's father, George, is equally ambitious. His father wanted him to continue the family restaurant business in Greece, but he left for America to pursue a career as a lawyer. He is very old-fashioned and is not at all keen about Lena joining art school because he knows she will be painting nude models. Lena observes that though he puts on a tough "man of the house" exterior, he is actually quite vulnerable and is just worried about losing his daughters.