Blake Lively

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Lively

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).

Early life

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. Blake and her four older siblings/half-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.

Career

A young blonde female wearing an orange dress. The female is making a hand gesture with her right hand. Lively at the premiere of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 on August 3, 2008 in New York City Lively began her acting career at age 10, when she appeared in the 1998 film Sandman, which was directed by Lively's father. She describes her role as a "bit part". She appeared in the film adaptation of the novel of the same name, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, in 2005, as Bridget, one of the four female leads. Lively's performance in the film earned her a nomination for a Teen Choice Award for "Choice Movie Breakout – Female. In 2006, Lively co-starred with Justin Long in Accepted, and Lively had minor roles in the horror film, Simon Says. While Accepted was not well received by critics, Lively's performance was, earning her a 'Breakthrough Award' from Hollywood Life. In 2007, she played one of the two title characters in Elvis and Anabelle as Anabelle, a bulimic girl who hoped to win a beauty pageant. Lively said of getting into character for the role that she had 'shed serious weight' for her height. Lively stated that that process was difficult for her because food is "the No. 1 love of my life." MovieLine.com praised her performance in the film and credited it as having been her "breakthrough role".

Lively was cast in The CW's series Gossip Girl, based on the book series of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar, which premiered in September 2007. She played Serena van der Woodsen in the teen drama until 2012 when the show ended. 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. In 2008, Lively reprised her role in the sequel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Similar to the first film, Lively was positively received by critics. As of November 2008, the film had earned over $44 million at the box office. In 2009, Lively appeared as Gabrielle DiMarco, a minor role in the romantic comedy, New York, I Love You, a sequel to the 2006 film Paris, je t'aime. Despite positive critical reception from critics, the film did not fare well at the box office.

One of Lively's most acclaimed roles to date is her supporting role playing the younger version of the title character in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009). Paul Byrnes, of the Brisbane Times, described Lively's performance in the film as being "sensational". In October 2009, Lively began filming her scenes for her role as Kristina "Kris" Coughlin, in the 2010 film The Town, based on Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves. The film, which stars Ben Affleck, was released in the United States on September 17, 2010. Lively played Carol Ferris, the female lead and love interest of Hal Jordan in the superhero film Green Lantern, which was released in June 2011. The film grossed a worldwide total of $219,851,172. but was considered as a summer disappointment as it "failed to perform to expectations" even though it grossed more than its budget. Lively appeared in the music video for The Lonely Island's "I Just Had Sex" together with Jessica Alba in December 2010.

In 2011, she was featured in the annual TIME magazine 100 influential people. Additionally, AskMen.com named her the most desirable woman of 2011 and People magazine named her one of 2012's Most Beautiful at Every Age. In 2012, she starred in Oliver Stone's Savages alongside Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Salma Hayek, and John Travolta. Lively replaced Jennifer Lawrence as Ophelia, after the latter dropped out to do The Hunger Games instead. HitFix film critic Drew McWeeny was positive of Lively's work, which he described as "smart and sad precisely because she plays O as such a broken, needy little soul". That same year, she was selected as the face of the new Gucci fragrance titled Gucci Premiere. She appeared in a short film ad directed by Nicolas Winding Refn for the fragrance. In October 2013, Lively was named the new face of L'Oreal, marking her first major makeup campaign. Most recently, Lively starred in the film The Age of Adaline (2015), opposite Michiel Huisman and Harrison Ford, playing a woman who becomes immortal. The film was a modest commercial success, grossing $54.5 million from a production budget of $25–30 million. In 2016, Lively starred in the survival horror film The Shallows. It received mostly positive reviews and Lively's performance was praised by critics.

Other ventures

Celebrity homemaker

Lively describes herself as a "foodie and cook", and Martha Stewart is Lively's "idol"; she is also a fan of Nigella Lawson's work. In 2008, Lively baked a cake with Stewart during an episode of The Martha Stewart Show. In 2009, Lively stated that she "hoped one day to have an interior decorating company," citing her love for antiques and fascination with "colors and textures and layering things." In 2010, she attended a tailor-made workshop at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and has spoken of her desire to return to the culinary school for further instruction.

Also in 2010, Lively spent an evening working as a pastry chef at the renowned Per Se in New York City. She has remarked that, when travelling, she always takes cookery classes to immerse herself in the local culture. In 2010 and again in 2011, Lively spoke publicly of her desire to become a restaurateur. In 2011, the actress created a S'mores cupcake to be sold at Sprinkles bakeries. In 2012, Lively's wedding reception was featured in Martha Stewart Weddings; food photography was the focal point of the picture spread. In 2013, she appeared in Elle Decor to recount her experience of designing a custom La Cornue oven for her newly purchased Bedford home. In 2013, she filmed a cooking segment for Vogue's website, demonstrating how to make a brie pastry. In 2014, she launched Preserve, a digital magazine and e-commerce website with hand-made one-of-a-kind items all selected by Lively; On October 9, 2015, Lively closed the site citing that it had been launched before it was really ready, planning to rebuild and relaunch it properly.

Advocacy

During the 2008 United States presidential election, Lively expressed her support for Barack Obama. Lively and Penn Badgley appeared in a pro-Obama commercial, as part of MoveOn.org's Youth Vote program. The commercial, directed by Doug Liman, aired during Gossip Girl on the CW, MTV and Comedy Central. In 2013, she appeared in a video clip for Gucci's "Chime for Change" campaign that aims to raise funds and awareness of women's issues in terms of education, health, and justice.

Personal life

In late 2007, rumors circulated that Lively and her Gossip Girl co-star Penn Badgley were dating. In May 2008, after People magazine published photos of the two kissing while on vacation in Mexico, they became more open about their relationship. Badgley and Lively ended their three-year relationship in mid-September 2010. Lively dated actor Leonardo DiCaprio in 2011.

Lively met actor Ryan Reynolds while filming Green Lantern in early 2010, and the two began dating in October 2011. They bought a home in Bedford, New York in June 2012, and got married on September 9, 2012, at Boone Hall in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. They have one daughter, James, born in December 2014. In April 2016, it was reported that she and Reynolds are expecting their second child.

Lively began her acting career at age 11, when she appeared in the 1998 film Sandman, which was directed by Lively's father. Lively describes her role in the film as having been a "bit part". After not having any involvement with acting for almost seven years, Lively stepped into a shared pair of big screen blue jeans and, along with her fellow co-stars America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn, became a rising star with the teen set after starring in her first major role, “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” (2005).

Over the summer of 2006, she took a part in her father’s producing effort, the thriller “Simon Says” (2007), in which she starred along with Lively’s sisters, Lori and Robyn, as the terrorized victims of demented killer Crispin Glover. “Sisterhood” was released in June to glowing critical reviews and became a modest box office hit. She then continued on with Universal Pictures’ college comedy “Accepted” (2006). Looking for more dramatic challenges, Lively also starred in the independent drama “Elvis and Anabelle” (2007), in which she played the part of a dead beauty queen resurrected by the kiss of Max Minghella’s morgue worker.

Upon the release in “Accepted” in the summer of 2006, Lively was already transitioning into two new challenges, particularly the world of television and series leading roles, as the anchoring actress on the pilot for “Gossip Girl” (The CW, 2007- ), a teen drama series based on the series of Cecily Von Ziegesar novels of the same name. Lively took on the role of Serena, a savvy girl operating within New York’s privileged and debauched world of private schools. The program premiered in the fall of 2007 and was one of the more talked-about debuts, garnering enough ratings to return the following year when the writer’s strike of 2008 cut its first season short. Meanwhile, Lively had proved a hit with young audiences and earned a number of Teen Choice Awards. She followed with the successful sequel “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” (2008), which found her character a year older and contemplating an archeology career abroad. Lively next had a supporting role in the adaptation of Rebecca Miller’s bestselling novel “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” (2009) and appeared in one of the twelve short films that made up the anthology, “New York, I Love You” (2009).

In October, 2009, Lively began filming her scenes for her role as Krista Coughlin, in the up-coming 2010 The Town, based on Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves. The film, which also stars Ben Affleck, is set to be released on September 10, 2010.