Blake Lively

Blake Lively (born Blake Ellender Brown August 25, 1987) is an American actress, model and celebrity homemaker. She starred as Serena van der Woodsen in the CW drama Gossip Girl, and has co-starred in such films as The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The Town, Green Lantern, Accepted and Savages. Following her 2012 marriage to actor Ryan Reynolds, the couple relocated to Bedford, a suburb in Westchester County, New York.

Early life

Lively was born Blake Ellender Brown in Tarzana, Los Angeles, California, to actor Ernie Lively (né Ernest Wilson Brown, Jr.) and his wife, Elaine (née McAlpin), a talent scout. She was named after her grandmother's brother. Blake and her four older siblings/half-siblings were raised as Southern Baptists. 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. During her 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.

Lively was initially not particularly interested in acting; she 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 few auditions, she got the role of Bridget for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Lively filmed her scenes in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants between her junior and senior years at Burbank High School.