Blake Lively (born August 25, 1987, Los Angeles, California, U.S.) is an American actress who first garnered attention for her role in the coming-of-age comedy-drama The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005). She then became a star with her portrayal of “It” girl Serena van der Woodsen in the TV series Gossip Girl (2007–12), about the scandalous lives of six privileged high schoolers. Lively also had continued success on the big screen, appearing in such films as The Town (2010), A Simple Favor (2018), and It Ends with Us (2024). The latter movie made headlines for its off-screen drama after Lively accused Justin Baldoni, the director and her costar, of sexual harassment.

Early life and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Lively is the younger of two children born to Elaine (née McAlpin) Lively, a talent agent, and Ernie (né Brown) Lively, an actor; both parents were also acting coaches. In addition to her older brother, Eric Lively, she has three half-siblings, Lori, Jason, and Robyn Lively, from her mother’s first marriage. All four of her siblings have worked in the entertainment industry. After Blake Lively’s mother married Ernie Brown in 1979, he adopted her three children and took her last name so the children would not have to change their surname. Ernie Lively’s original surname, Brown, is listed on both Eric and Blake Lively’s birth certificates.

Blake Lively spent a good part of her childhood on film sets and observing her parents’ acting classes. She made her film debut in 1998, appearing in a minor role in Sandman, a family musical. Although initially uninterested in an acting career, she was encouraged by Eric Lively to continue auditioning. Near the end of her junior year in high school, Blake Lively landed a role in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The coming-of-age movie was adapted from Ann Brashares’s young-adult novel about a group of friends who stay connected during their first summer apart by taking turns wearing a pair of secondhand jeans. The movie was released in 2005 and was a hit. That same year Lively graduated from Burbank High School.

Gossip Girl, The Town, and A Simple Favor

A series of roles followed. Lively starred alongside Justin Long and Jonah Hill in the teen comedy Accepted (2006), and she was cast opposite Max Minghella in the indie drama Elvis and Anabelle (2007). Also in 2007 she began appearing in the TV series Gossip Girl. The drama, which ran for six seasons, follows a group of conniving teenagers at an elite private school in New York City. Hugely popular, the show made Lively a star.

During this time Lively continued to appear in films. After The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008), she was cast in The Town (2010). The crime drama—which was cowritten and directed by Ben Affleck, who also had a starring role—featured Lively as a drug-addicted single mother whose brother is part of a group of bank robbers. Others in the cast included Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm. Lively next had a major role in Oliver Stone’s Savages (2012), which was adapted from Don Winslow’s drug-war novel. She portrayed the shared lover of two successful California marijuana growers (played by Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson) whose business is threatened by the head of a Mexican drug cartel (Salma Hayek).

Continuing to showcase her versatility, Lively starred in the romantic fantasy-drama The Age of Adaline (2015) as a woman who stops aging after an accident and lives a solitary life until she falls in love after a chance encounter. In the horror thriller The Shallows (2016), Lively’s character fights for survival after she is stranded near shore while surfing in the feeding ground of a great white shark.

In 2018 Lively starred in Paul Feig’s dark-comedy thriller A Simple Favor, which was based on Darcey Bell’s novel of the same name. Lively portrayed a glamorous publicist who asks a busybody single mother (Anna Kendrick) to pick up her son from school and then disappears without a trace. The movie was well received, and a sequel, Another Simple Favor, was released in 2025.

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It Ends with Us

The 2024 romantic drama It Ends with Us, based on Colleen Hoover’s novel, stars Lively as a woman whose relationship with a charming neurosurgeon, played by Justin Baldoni, turns abusive. Several months after its release, Lively publicly alleged that Baldoni, who also directed the movie, had sexually harassed her during filming. She said he had made inappropriate comments, entered her trailer while she was partially undressed, and failed to respect her physical boundaries, among other allegations. On December 31, 2024, she sued Baldoni as well as his film studio and public relations team for “retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns.” A number of other lawsuits followed, and in January 2025 Baldoni sued Lively, her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, and others, saying they had falsely accused him of sexual harassment.

Personal life

Lively met Reynolds while filming the superhero action-adventure Green Lantern (2011). They married in 2012 and have four children, three daughters (James, Inez, and Betty) and a son (Olin).