Lively was born in Los Angeles to actors Ernie and Elaine Lively. She was raised as a Southern Baptist.The youngest of five siblings, Lively has a brother, Eric, two half-sisters, Lori and Robin, and a half-brother, Jason. Both of her parents and all 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. Lively attended Burbank High School in Burbank where she participated in Burbank High School's show choir, In Sync, and was a cheerleader. Lively stated in an interview for the August 2008 Seventeen that she attended 13 schools. She wanted to attend Stanford University. Lively was not at all interested in acting but during the summer between her junior and senior year, her brother, Eric, made his 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.
Career
Lively at the New York premiere of 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.
Lively was cast in the CW's series Gossip Girl which premiered in September 2007. She plays Serena van der Woodsen in the teen drama. While rumors of infighting among the Gossip Girl co-stars have circulated in the tabloids, Lively denies that there is any unfriendly competition on-set. “The media is always trying to pit us against each other," she said in an interview, "I guess because it’s just not interesting to say, ‘Everyone gets along; everybody just works 18-hour days and goes home to sleep.’ That’s not fun to read, I guess.” 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 co-stars 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. In January 2009 Lively was voted one of the top "35 Most Stylish Women To Look Out For" by Glamour UK. Lively also appears on the cover of Glamour magazine (August 2009) with an eight-page spread inside."
