Blake Ellender Brown (born August 25, 1987), known professionally as Blake Lively, is an American actress and entrepreneur.
A daughter of actor Ernie Lively, she made her professional debut in his directorial project Sandman (1998). She had her breakthrough role in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) and its 2008 sequel. Lively achieved stardom with her portrayal of Serena van der Woodsen in the CW teen drama television series Gossip Girl (2007–2012). During this period, she also took on supporting roles in the romantic comedies New York, I Love You (2008) and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009), as well as in the thrillers The Town (2010) and Savages (2012).
She starred in the romantic fantasy The Age of Adaline (2015), the survival film The Shallows (2016), the comedy Café Society (2016), and the comedy thriller A Simple Favor (2018) as well as its 2025 sequel. She expanded her career by directing Taylor Swift's 2021 music video "I Bet You Think About Me". Lively produced and starred opposite Justin Baldoni in the romantic drama It Ends with Us (2024).
Blake Ellender Brown was born on August 25, 1987, in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Elaine Lively (née McAlpin), worked as a talent scout, and her father, Ernie Lively (né Brown), was an actor and director. Lively was named after her grandmother's brother. She has an older brother, Eric, and three half-siblings from her mother's previous marriage, Lori, Robyn, and Jason. Her parents and siblings have all worked in the entertainment industry.
During Lively's childhood, her parents took her along to the acting classes they taught, rather than leave her with babysitters. She later said that watching her parents teach helped her learn the "drills" and gain confidence as she got older and began working in the industry herself. She made her professional debut at age 10, appearing in the 1998 film Sandman, directed by her father. Lively describes her role as a "bit part". She was initially not interested in acting and wanted to attend Stanford University.
She is a 2005 graduate of Burbank High School, where she was a cheerleader, a member of the championship choir, and class president. Her older brother asked his talent agent to send her to several auditions during the summer months. Subsequently, Lively was cast as Bridget in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) and filmed her scenes between her junior and senior years of high school.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was released in 2005. Lively's performance 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 she had minor roles in the horror film, Simon Says. Accepted was not well received by critics, but Lively's performance was, earning her a 'Breakthrough Award' from Hollywood Life. Lively starred in Elvis and Anabelle (2007) as Anabelle, a bulimic girl who hoped to win a beauty pageant. She said of getting into character for the role that she had "shed serious weight" for her height. She stated that food was "the No. 1 love of my life", which made that process difficult for her.
Lively was cast in The CW's series Gossip Girl, based on the novel series Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar, which premiered in September 2007. Already having deferred college for a year, Lively intended to turn the role down and become a student, but was told that she could attend college part-time while filming the show (she later said "This is advice to anyone: when they say, 'We promise, but we can't put it in writing,' there's a reason they can't put it in writing"). She played the role of Serena van der Woodsen in the teen drama until 2012 when the show ended. Her first magazine cover was the November 2007 issue of CosmoGirl, where she discussed her time in high school and her career prior to Gossip Girl.
In 2008, Lively reprised her role as Bridget in the sequel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Similarly to the first film, Lively's performance was positively received by critics. As of November 2008, the film had earned over $44 million at the box office. In 2009, she appeared as Gabrielle DiMarco in the romantic comedy New York, I Love You, a sequel to the 2006 film Paris, je t'aime. Despite positive reception among critics, the film failed at the box office.
Lively portrayed the younger version of the titular character in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009) to critical acclaim. Paul Byrnes, of the Brisbane Times, described her performance in the film as "sensational". In October 2009, she 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 was directed by and starred Ben Affleck, was released in the United States on September 17, 2010. On her performance, Variety wrote that Lively was "almost unrecognizable [and] has fierce, pained moments as the moll and single mother...tossed aside". In December of that year, she appeared in the music video for The Lonely Island's "I Just Had Sex" together with Jessica Alba. 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. In 2011, she was featured in Time magazine's annual list "The 2011 Time 100".In 2012, Lively starred in Oliver Stone's Savages alongside Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Salma Hayek, and John Travolta. She replaced Jennifer Lawrence as Ophelia, after Lawrence dropped out to do The Hunger Games. HitFix film critic Drew McWeeny said Lively's performance was "smart and sad precisely because she plays O as such a broken, needy little soul". Also that year, she was selected as the face of the new Gucci fragrance, Gucci Premiere. She appeared in a short film ad directed by Nicolas Winding Refn for the fragrance.
She starred in the film The Age of Adaline (2015), opposite Michiel Huisman and Harrison Ford, playing a woman who "stops aging after recovering from a near-fatal accident." The Atlantic stated that she showed her "potential as a leading lady" primarily in the second half of the film, citing her "clipped delivery and coy restraint" as well as her "capable perform[ance]" within the emotional intensity of the film. In 2016, Lively starred in the survival horror film The Shallows. It received positive reviews and her performance was praised by critics. That year, she also starred in Woody Allen's romantic comedy film, Café Society which premiered at the 69th Cannes Film Festival. During the film's press tour, Lively was asked about working with Allen amid sexual abuse allegations made by his daughter, Dylan Farrow. On her experience working with Allen, Lively stated, "It's really cool to work with a director who's done so much, because he knows exactly what he wants", and described him as "very empowering". Asked about Ronan Farrow's essay criticizing Allen's collaborators, she declined to comment, saying she had not read it.
Lively starred opposite Jason Clarke in psychological drama All I See Is You (2016), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and received mixed reviews. In 2018, she starred in the mystery-thriller A Simple Favor, alongside Anna Kendrick and Henry Golding, and directed by Paul Feig. The film was released on September 14 and Lively's performance was acclaimed. Variety wrote that "She has her moments...many of them physical...Lively's Emily is both repellent and irresistible". Some critics believed Lively could achieve her first Academy Award nomination for the role; however a nomination never eventuated.
Lively next played the lead, a drug-addicted prostitute turned assassin, in The Rhythm Section (2020), the film adaptation of the Mark Burnell novel The Rhythm Section, produced by Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, and directed by Reed Morano. The film was released by Paramount Pictures. Variety noted Lively's performance as "display[ing] a realistic near-incompetence in the face of danger [that] makes her relatable in ways very few cinematic assassins have ever been".