Blake Lively is an American actress who gained attention while in high school. She then played the lead role in the 2005 blockbuster The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Two years later, Lively played her most famous part in the hit teen drama Gossip Girl. Find out more at los-angeles.pro.
After finishing filming in Gossip Girl in 2012, Lively appeared in such movies as The Age of Adaline, Café Society and A Simple Favor. She is married to actor Ryan Reynolds. Following this link, you will learn more about the creation of a unique film studio Universal in Hollywood.
Early acting career
Blake Lively was born on August 25, 1987, in Los Angeles. Her family worked in the show business industry. Her father, Ernie, was an actor and director, and her mother, Elaine, was a talent scout. Lively is the youngest of five children. All four of her older siblings are also actors.
Before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in show business, Lively’s parents lived in Georgia. The family always kept their Southern charm.
Blake started first grade when she was just 3 years old. Her 6-year-old brother was nervous to go to first grade alone. So her mother told the school administration that Blake was also 6 years old so she could accompany him. A few weeks later, the school said they would send the girl to classes for mentally-retarded children because she couldn’t keep up with the others. Teachers assumed that Blake showed poor progress because she wanted to sleep while other children worked on their projects.
Lively attended 13 different schools before finishing elementary school. She eventually ended up at Burbank Middle School, where she excelled both academically and in extracurricular activities. Lively was an A-grade student, the class president and a member of the school choir.
Movies and TV Shows
Despite strong pressure from her older siblings to drop out of school and pursue an acting career, Lively initially showed no interest in acting. She dreamed of enrolling at Stanford University. However, sensing her artistic potential, her older brother Eric persistently encouraged her to try out for auditions. He began contacting agents and telling them about his beautiful and talented younger sister.
In her junior year of high school, at the age of 17, Lively finally agreed to attend a few auditions, and she immediately succeeded. Just a few months of auditions, she landed the lead role in the 2005 blockbuster The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The shooting took place during the summer between her junior and senior years of high school. This movie earned Blake a Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Breakout – Female.
TV Show Gossip Girl
After filming The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Lively returned to Burbank for her senior year and graduated in 2005. Then she returned to acting, starring alongside Justin Long and Jonah Hill in the 2006 comedy Accepted.
A year later, Lively played her most famous role in the hit teen drama Gossip Girl. The series tells about the lives of privileged teenagers on the Upper East Side of New York, where Lively plays the main part of Serena van der Woodsen, a stylish blonde and a partygoer.
The actors of the series quickly gained a huge fan base. The young and beautiful cast started appearing on magazine covers and celebrity websites.
As for the on-screen romance that turned into real love, in 2007, Lively began dating her co-star from Gossip Girl, Penn Badgley, who played Dan Humphrey. However, in 2010, they broke up.
Lively won a Teen Choice Award in 2008 for her acting in the series. The final episode of Gossip Girl was released in December 2012.
Filmography
With her dazzling appearance, natural acting gift and devoted support from Gossip Girl fans, Lively seemed to be on the brink of becoming a top-tier movie star. In January 2010, the magazine Esquire described Lively as the “most promising, interesting and talented actress of the year.” That same year, playing a young mother in Ben Affleck’s crime thriller The Town, she demonstrated a more tougher act. Both the movie and Lively’s performance got a lot of praise from critics.
The following year, Lively starred alongside Ryan Reynolds in the film Green Lantern, which was based on a classic comic series. Although the movie turned out to be a commercial disappointment, Lively and Reynolds transferred their love from the screen to real life.
In 2015, Lively appeared in the romantic fantasy The Age of Adaline, where she portrayed a woman who, due to a strange accident, did not age. She then played a lead role in the horror film about sharks, The Shallows, followed by a comedic thriller, A Simple Favor by Paul Feig, in which she played a mysteriously disappearing woman. Later, Lively appeared as an assassin in the 2020 action film The Rhythm Section.
Marriage with Ryan Reynolds
One of Hollywood’s favorite couples, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, seem to have perfectly balanced relationships, especially when they playfully tease each other on social media. The couple began dating in 2011 and got married a year later. They have been happily married for over ten years and have four children.
Lively and Reynolds met at work. They played in the superhero film Green Lantern, but at that time, they were not dating. In fact, they were both in other relationships. Lively was dating her co-star from Gossip Girl, Penn Badgley, while Reynolds was married to Scarlett Johansson. They first appeared together at Comic-Con in San Diego in 2010 before the movie was released.
When Lively and Reynolds walked the red carpet at the premiere of Green Lantern in Hollywood on June 15, 2011, there were no rumors about their romance. At that time, Lively had an affair with Leonardo DiCaprio. Lively and DiCaprio were first photographed together in Cannes in May of the same year and then spent the summer together.
But a new love came in the fall. By Christmas, Lively had already visited Reynolds’ hometown of Vancouver at the end of December and became acquainted with his family. The couple returned to Vancouver in the spring to meet Reynolds’ brother.
Hiding their plans from the media, the couple got married in a private ceremony on September 9, 2012, near Charleston, South Carolina. Around 70 guests attended the wedding of the couple, which took place at Boone Hall Plantation. Lively’s friend, singer Florence Welch from the band Florence and the Machine, performed at the wedding. The bride wore a couture gown by Marchesa, while Reynolds was in a classic Burberry suit.
In 2014, on her lifestyle website Preserve, Lively announced that she was expecting her first child with Reynolds and shared a photo. She gave birth to their eldest daughter, James, in December 2014. In February 2016, Reynolds and Blake appeared together on the red carpet at the premiere of the movie Deadpool, which was very important for him. This was their first major appearance after the birth of their child.
In September 2016, their second child, Inez, was born. Their children made their debut on the red carpet when Reynolds was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 2019, at the red carpet premiere of Reynolds’ project Pokémon Detective Pikachu, the couple also announced their third pregnancy. Lively wore a stunning yellow dress that accentuated her figure and the expectation of their third child, daughter Betty.
In 2022, at the Forbes Power Women’s Summit, Lively announced that they were expecting their fourth child. It was also a girl. So four sisters are raised in the family.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Reynolds shared how he and Lively keep their romance alive after ten years together. The secret ingredient is friendship.