Blake Lively bio
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008She stars in the book-based TV series “Gossip Girl” as the main character
Serena van der Woodsen, and has appeared in several films including “Accepted”
and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”
Early life
Lively,
the youngest of five children, was born in Tarzana, California, the daughter
of actors Ernie and Elaine Lively. Raised as a Southern Baptist, Lively has
two sisters, Lori and Robyn, and two brothers, Jason and Eric. Both of her parents
and all four of her siblings are, or have been, in the entertainment industry.
Her brother-in-law is Bart Johnson. As a child, Lively was homeschooled. Lively
attended Burbank High School in Burbank where she participated in the National
Show Choir, was senior class president and a cheerleader. Lively has said that
she was not initially interested in acting. She wanted to attend Stanford University,
but during the summer between her junior and senior year of high school, her
brother made his agent send her out on a few auditions. Of the two auditions,
she got the role of Bridget for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
Career
1998. In 2005, Lively played Bridget in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,
for which she received a Teen Choice Award nomination for “Choice Movie
Breakout - Female.” She will be reprising the role in 2008 in the sequel,
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, alongside co-stars Alexis Bledel, America
Ferrera and Amber Tamblyn. She starred in Accepted, Simon Says, and Elvis and
Anabelle in 2006. She also received the Breakthrough Award from Hollywood Life
for her role in Accepted on December 10, 2006. Lively was cast in the CW’s new
series Gossip Girl which premiered in September 2007 and plays Serena van der
Woodsen in the teen drama, co-starring alongside Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley,
Chace Crawford, Taylor Momsen and Ed Westwick. Her first magazine cover was
the November 2007 issue of Cosmo Girl, where she discussed her time in high
school and her career prior to Gossip Girl. She has since appeared on the January
2008 cover of shopping magazine Lucky. She has more recently appeared on the
March 2008 cover of Teen Vogue, as well as the May 2008 cover of NYLON with
her Gossip Girl co-star Leighton Meester.
Personal
life
Lively dated actor Kelly Blatz from 2004 to 2007; the two had
been friends since childhood. In late 2007, it was reported that Lively was
dating her Gossip Girl co-star and former childhood classmate Penn Badgley,
though Lively refused to ever comment on the rumors - in Teen Vogue interview,
when asked if she was dating Badgley. Lively said that “I try not to talk about
my dating life. I want to, but once you start, it’s all downhill from there.”.
In May 2008, People magazine published photos of Lively and Badgley kissing
while on vacation in Mayan Riviera, Mexico.
Filmography
| Year | Movie |
| 1998 | “Sandman” |
| 2005 | “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” |
| 2006 | “Accepted”, “Simon Says”, “Elvis and Anabelle” |
| 2008 | “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2″, “New York, I Love You”, “2009″ |
Blake Lively says she’s not like her “gossip girl”
character:
The CW’s Gossip Girl has put the spotlight on Blake
Lively, who plays Serene van der Woodsen in the series, but the young
actress is quick to point out the differences between her and the character
that she plays.
“Serena was brought up very differently than I was brought up,” Lively
said in an interview with the Associated Press. “Serena was given everything
her whole life. … I grew up in a small little town in California - Burbank
. I went to high school and what we would do on our nights off was go to a school
fundraiser, go to a football game, where these people have masquerade balls
or go lounge at The Palace Hotel and sip martinis.”
However, she did also recognize that she and Serena had some commonalities
when it came to dealing with fame and popularity. In fact, she said that both
of them try their best to be a “good person” despite the pressures
of being in the spotlight.
“At the heart of it all, Serena really wants to be a good person - despite
all odds, despite all the chaos that’s going on around her and all the other
people in her life,” Blake Lively explained. “So I think that I strive
to do the right thing and not fall into the norm like so many young people in
Hollywood who - because they were raised differently - get caught up in some
of the nonsense. And I really try to steer clear of that. So, you know, we’re
like that in the same way.”
Add to that the fact that they “both giggle a lot” and look alike.
Due to the recent success of the show, Lively felt an increase in the way people
recognize her on the street, as now, people of all walks and ages seem to see
her as the Serena from Gossip Girl.
“It’s pretty crazy. I get recognized not only as Serena van der Woodsen,
but people know my own name,” Lively told the Associated Press. “Everyone
from young girls, teenage girls, women in their 30s and 40s to, like, Guido-type
guys, like frat boys. One day these, like, thuggish guys were, like, coming out,
rolling out of their Escalade and they go - they’re like, ‘Man, that’s gossip
girl!’ And they were, like, freaking out. It was so strange how many people would
just get giddy over it. And it’s people that you would not expect at all.”
Blake Lively ooops…
