Lively was born in Tarzana, California to actors Ernie and Elaine Lively. The youngest of five siblings, 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. "My mom and dad always taught acting, so instead of getting me babysitters, they would just bring me to class" Lively recalls.
As a child, Lively was homeschooled (one of her homeschool classmates was actor and boyfriend Penn Badgley). Lively attended Burbank High School in Burbank where she participated in Burbank High School's show choir, and was a cheerleader. Lively stated in a interview for the August 2008 Seventeen magazine that she attended thirteen schools. She wanted to attend Stanford University. She was not at all interested in acting but during the summer between her junior and senior year, her sister made her 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.
Lively started out in film with a bit role in Sandman in 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 reprised the role in 2008 in the sequel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. She starred in Accepted, Simon Says, and Elvis and Anabelle in 2006. She received the Breakthrough Award from Hollywood Life for her role in Accepted in December 2006.
She now plays the role of Serena van der woodsen in the tv series, Gossip girl. 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. She appeared on the cover of the August 2008 issue of Seventeen. The star also was on the cover of "Girls' Life"'s August 2008 issue, along with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants costars Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, and America Ferrera. More recently Lively also appeared on the cover of the September 2008 issue of Cosmopolitan and the cover of the February 2009 issue of Vogue.
We`ll have to wait to see what Blake lively has in store next!
