Portrait · David Shankbone / CC BY 3.0

Blake Lively

Actor, producer and director

Born 1987

Blake Lively was born with the name Blake Ellender Brown in Tarzana, Los Angeles. Her public career includes television, feature films, production and music-video direction. A childhood appearance in Sandman, directed by her father, preceded the work that made her widely known. Her father Ernie worked as an actor and her mother Elaine as a talent agent. In conversation with Ben Affleck, she described a family in which her siblings also worked in entertainment. Her brother Eric encouraged her to consider acting during a European trip. After making The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, she returned to high school for her senior year rather than immediately leaving education behind. The 2005 film cast her as Bridget, one of its central friends. She later described acting as a craft she was still learning in public. Sitting in on her parents’ acting classes helped her overcome shyness, while researching Krista’s background for The Town taught her to look beyond an accent to the character’s circumstances. Accepted followed with the role of Monica in 2006. Elvis and Anabelle gave her the title role of Anabelle. As Serena van der Woodsen, she became a lead in Gossip Girl, the television drama set around young people in New York. Its original production notes place her work on Gossip Girl from 2007 to 2012. She also returned as Bridget Vreeland in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Rebecca Miller’s The Private Lives of Pippa Lee cast her as Young Pippa, alongside Robin Wright’s adult character. Ben Affleck’s The Town placed her in the role of Krista Coughlin. She described dialect preparation and learning from people in the Boston area for that part, an approach different from her television work. Green Lantern cast her as Carol Ferris alongside Ryan Reynolds’s Hal Jordan. Hick added Glenda to her film work. In Savages, she appeared as O. The Age of Adaline made her the title character, Adaline Bowman, in a romantic fantasy about a woman whose ageing has stopped. The Shallows then placed her at the centre of a survival thriller as Nancy. Discussing that film in 2016, she connected the physical preparation with the demands of its swimming and extended takes, and credited trainer Don Saladino. Café Society cast her as Veronica. The production notes also record the 2011 CinemaCon Breakthrough Performer of the Year honour. All I See Is You featured her as Gina, whose restored sight changes the dynamics of her marriage. A Simple Favor paired her Emily with Anna Kendrick’s Stephanie under director Paul Feig. The film also gives Lively the role of Emily’s twin, Hope. The Rhythm Section cast her as Stephanie Patrick, in a revenge story following the death of the character’s family. Her work behind the camera includes directing and producing Taylor Swift’s I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version). That video received a 2022 Academy of Country Music nomination. It Ends with Us credited her as Lily Bloom and as a producer. She returned as Emily Nelson opposite Kendrick in Another Simple Favor, continuing their collaboration with Feig. Amazon’s checked record identifies the sequel as available on Prime Video. In 2025, National Geographic’s Secrets of the Penguins added documentary narration to her work. The three-part series began on April 20, with streaming on Disney+ and Hulu from April 21. TheWrap’s August 2025 announcement attached her as star and producer of the Lionsgate action romantic comedy The Survival List, written by Tom Melia. The publication’s May 2026 follow-up described the project as still in development and seeking a director. An announced project is not a completed or released film.

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Connected people

ConnectionAnna KendrickAnother Simple Favor co-star.

ConnectionPaul FeigSimple Favor films director.

ConnectionBen AffleckThe Town director and co-star.

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