Blake Christina Lively (born
August 25,
1987) is an
American actress. She stars in the book-based TV series
Gossip Girl as the main character
Serena van der Woodsen. She appeared in several films including
Accepted and
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.
Biography
Early life
Lively, the youngest of five children, was born in
Tarzana, California, the daughter of actors
Ernie and Elaine Lively. 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 (one of her homeschool classmates was actor
Penn Badgley).
Lively attended
Burbank High School in
Burbank where she participated in the National Show Choir, was senior class president and a cheerleader.
[People] Lively stated in a interview for the August 2008 Seventeen magazine that she attended thirteen schools. 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.
