Name: Blake Lively
Birthdate: August 25, 1987
Birthplace: Tarzana, Los Angeles, California
Claim to fame: She is best known for her years starring on the CW series Gossip Girl as Serena van der Woodsen.
What we can see her in next: Lively will hit the big screen once again when her movie, The Age of Adaline, hits theatres on April 24, which she plays the lead role of Adaline.
Interesting fact: She booked the movie Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants while still in high school, and it was not only her first acting job, but also her first job ever. When she auditioned for the movie, she just walked into the room and gave them nothing but her photo, since she had never done any acting or auditioning previously, they all thought she was joking until she just walked out of the room. Casting decided right there on the spot that she was definitely the Bridget they were looking for.
Best quote: “If you ever want something badly, let it go. If it comes back to you, then it’s yours forever. If it doesn’t, then it was never yours to begin with.”
Why we love her: This week’s WCW is Blake Lively, the gorgeous blonde actress and former star of the CW series Gossip Girl. Even for those who never followed the show during its tenure, you definitely will know Lively’s face. She was the most popular and most successful star from the show and has gone on to see success in numerous ways since the show’s end. She’s even got the attention of some of Hollywood’s most prominent A-listers at one point or another: there was Leo Dicaprio briefly, as well as Ryan Gosling, and obviously now another Ryan as her husband, Vancouver-born actor Ryan Reynolds, whom she met on the set of The Green Lantern. The movie, I’m sure, would have been deeply regrettable had it not been for the two of them working together (we all should know the movie flopped by now).
For Lively, she comes across as the bubbly, bright-eyed, girl-next-door type who would have been the hottest girl at your high school, as well as the nicest. But she has managed to shed this “good girl” image at times for roles such as her one opposite Affleck in The Town, her turn as the younger version of the title character The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, and in Oliver Stone’s Savages. All of these were vast departures from her years on Gossip Girl and showed she could excel outside the glamorous streets of the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Another thing that makes Lively that much more interesting is she seems to have dropped off the Hollywood map voluntarily in recent years to pursue other passions and become the domestic wife she’s always wanted to be. She married Reynolds, moved out to suburbia in Bedford, New York and has spent her time installing her dream oven and creating desserts and baked goods — she created a S’mores cupcake to be sold at Sprinkles bakeries. Most recently, she launched a digital magazine and e-commerce website called Preserve, which sells hand-made one-of-a-kind items that are all selected by Lively herself.
None of that really sounds that interesting, does it? Well that’s probably exactly what makes her so interesting. She seems content on withholding her big Hollywood image from the world to do nothing more than the occasional movie, all so she can be a stay-at-home mom (her and Reynolds had their first kid in December) and blog about crafts and bake cupcakes.
Now that’s exactly the thing that makes Lively so attractive, she’s just normal. She may look like a Hollywood movie star but all she wants to do is sit at home and watch Martha Stewart and cook you awesome and delicious things. Now no guy is going to argue with that.
You can see Lively in her latest movie, The Age of Adaline, in theatres on April 24.
