Blake Lively

Blake Lively (birthname: Blake Ellender Brown) has carefully built an acting career on the big screen while having made her biggest impression as elegant Serena on the hit CW series, Gossip Girl (2007-2012). Lively technically made her big-screen debut in her director father Ernie Lively’s movie, Sandman (1998), but made her meaningful debut in Warner Bros.’ The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), with Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel, Bradley Whitford, and Nancy Travis under Ken Kwapis’s direction, grossed a decent $42 million globally.

Lively joined the rowdy cast of the Steve Pink-directed comedy, Accepted (2006), with Justin Long, Anthony Heald, and Lewis Black. Then Lively was cast in the slasher movie, Simon Says (2006), written and directed by William Dear and starring Crispin Glover. Lively, after earning good reviews for her first co-starring role in the HBO-aired Elvis and Anabelle (2007) which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival, revived her role as Bridget in the sequel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008), with new cast members Shohreh Aghdashloo and Blythe Danner, grossing a mediocre $44.3 million worldwide for Warner Bros.

Blake Lively joined the anthology movie, New York, I Love You (2009), for a segment directed by Brett Ratner and co-starred Anton Yelchin, James Caan, and Olivia Thirlby, and then Lively portrayed the young Pippa in director-writer Rebecca Miller’s screen version of her novel, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009), starring Robin Wright, Alan Arkin, Maria Bello, Monica Bellucci, Julianne Moore, Keanu Reeves, and Winona Ryder, and premiering at the Berlin Film Festival.

Lively played major support in star/director/writer Ben Affleck’s Boston crime movie, The Town (2010), with Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Oscar-nominated Jeremy Renner, Titus Welliver, Pete Postlethwaite, and Chris Cooper, and grossing a strong $154 million (against $37 million costs), and then Lively co-starred with (future husband) Ryan Reynolds in her first superhero movie, the Martin Campbell-directed Green Lantern (2011), with Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett, and Tim Robbins, but losing money for Warner Bros. ($220 million gross).

Lively co-starred with Chloe Grace Moretz and Eddie Redmayne in the Vegas comedy-drama, Hick (2011), directed by Derick Martini, and co-starring Rory Culkin, Juliette Lewis, Ray McKinnon, Anson Mount, and Alec Baldwin, and premiering at the Toronto Film Festival before a release by Phase 4 Films.

Lively co-starred with Taylor Kitsch, Benicio del Toro, Aaron Johnson, Salma Hayek Pinault, and John Travolta in Oliver Stone’s feature version of co-writer Don Winslow’s crime novel, Savages (2012), returning a middling $83 million (on $45 million costs), and then Lively landed her first title starring role in the Lee Toland Krieger-directed fantasy romance, The Age of Adaline (2015), with Michiel Huisman, Kathy Baker, Harrison Ford, and Ellen Burstyn, grossing a fine $65.7 million for distributor Lionsgate and excellent reviews for Lively.

Blake Lively was star of Columbia Pictures’ shark thriller, The Shallows (2016), directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and released by Sony Pictures Releasing to a potent $119 million gross, followed by Lively cast by Woody Allen in his comedy-drama, Café Society (2016), co-starring Jeannie Berlin, Steve Carell, Jesse Eisenberg, Parker Posey, Kristen Stewart, Corey Stoll, and Ken Stott, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival and released by Amazon Studios/Lionsgate with $44 million returns (on $30 million costs).

Lively co-stars with Jason Clarke of co-writer/director Marc Forster’s drama, All I See You (2016), which delivered a terrible box office ($678,000 gross against $30 million expenses) after a Toronto Film Festival premiere, and then Lively had perhaps her biggest artistic and commercial success to date as co-star (with Anna Kendrick) of producer-director Paul Feig’s dazzling crime comedy for Lionsgate, A Simple Favor (2018), with Henry Golding, Linda Cardellini, Rupert Friend, and Jean Smart, and grossing an excellent $97.6 million globally.

Lively and her performance was about the only element anyone appeared to like about Paramount Pictures’ widely lambasted Reed Moreno-directed thriller, The Rhythm Section (2020), with Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown, and bombing at the box office ($6 million take on $50 million costs). Lively then joined husband-star Ryan Reynolds on two back-to-back 2024 movies: as a voice on director/writer/producer/star John Krasinski’s underperforming fantasy comedy, IF, with Cailey Fleming, Fiona Shaw, Louis Gossett Jr., and Steve Carell; and then Lively appeared in the Marvel Comics sequel, Deadpool & Wolverine, co-starring Reynolds and Hugh Jackman reviving their title roles, with Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Leslie Uggams, and Matthew Macfadyen.

Blake Lively was the star and executive producer of Columbia Pictures’ big-screen version of Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us (2024), with director and co-star Justin Baldoni, Jenny Slate, and Hasan Minhaj, and released by Sony Pictures Releasing. Lively revived her delicious co-starring role in Lionsgate’s untitled sequel to A Simple Favor (date to be announced), again co-starring Anna Kendrick and with Henry Golding and Allison Janney under Paul Feig’s direction and released by Amazon MGM Studios.

Lively partnered as lead with the acclaimed Hungarian filmmaking team of director Kornel Mundruczo and Kata Weber on the sci-fi drama, Proxy (date to be announced), and then Lively co-starred with Richard Gere, Diane Keaton, and Lin-Manuel Miranda in the rom-com, The Making Of (date to be announced), written by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick