Blake Lively | |
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Lively at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival
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Born |
Blake Ellender Brown August 25, 1987 Tarzana, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Residence | Bedford, New York, U.S. |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1998–present |
Spouse(s) | Ryan Reynolds (m. 2012) |
Children | 2 |
Blake Lively (born Blake Ellender Brown; August 25, 1987) is an American actress. She is best known as her role as Serena van der Woodsen in the CW drama series Gossip Girl (2007–12). Lively has also starred in such films as The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), Accepted (2006), The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009), The Town (2010), Green Lantern (2011), Savages (2012), The Age of Adaline (2015), and The Shallows (2016).
Lively was born on August 25, 1987, in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles. She is the daughter of Ernie Lively (né Ernest Wilson Brown, Jr.), an actor, and his wife, Elaine (née McAlpin), who worked as a talent scout. She was named after her grandmother's brother. She has an older brother, Eric, two half-sisters, Lori and Robyn, and a half-brother, Jason. Both of her parents and all of her siblings are, or have been, in the entertainment industry. She and her siblings were raised as Southern Baptists.
During Lively's childhood, her parents took her with them to acting classes that they taught because they did not want to leave her with a babysitter. Lively said that watching her parents teach acting classes helped her learn the "drills" of acting and gain confidence as she got older. She was initially not particularly interested in acting, and wanted to attend Stanford University. During the summer between her junior and senior years of high school, her brother Eric asked his agent to send her on a few auditions over a period of a few months. From these auditions, she was cast as Bridget for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Lively filmed her scenes in that film between her junior and senior years at Burbank High School. While at Burbank, Lively served as senior class president, a cheerleader, and a member of the championship choir.