Blake Lively got her start in Hollywood with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants films — the first of which premiered in 2005 — and never looked back.
Shortly after playing Bridget in the coming-of-age movie, Lively landed the role of Serena van der Woodsen on The CW’s Gossip Girl. The teen drama, which premiered in 2007, shot the actress to superstardom and her star has only risen in the decades since.
Following a romance with Gossip Girl costar Penn Badgley, which ended in 2010 after three years, and a brief fling with Leonardo DiCaprio, Lively found love with her Green Lantern costar Ryan Reynolds. The couple wed in 2012 and have since welcomed four children.
Lively has also expanded her brand with several business ventures including Betty Buzz and Blake Brown Beauty.
Scroll down to see Lively’s evolution in Hollywood:
2005
Lively landed her first big role as Bridget in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants based on the novel of the same name.
2006
The following year, the actress starred alongside Justin Long in the movie Accepted.
2007
Lively’s star rose when Gossip Girl premiered on The CW in 2007.
2009
The teen drama star stunned at the 2009 Emmys in Versace.
2011
Lively’s time as a redhead was brief, but memorable.
2012
Lively and Reynolds exchanged vows in 2012.
2014
After Gossip Girl wrapped, Lively launched a lifestyle site called Preserve. That same year, she and Reynolds welcomed their first child, daughter James. Preserve was shut down in 2015 and Lively returned to making movies.
2016
The California native looked chic at The Shallows premiere in January 2016 wearing a strapless gown and leather gloves. Later that year, she gave birth to her and Reynolds second baby, daughter Inez.
2016
Lively and Reynolds made a rare public appearance with daughters James and Inez at his Walk of Fame ceremony.
2018
The fashion icon turned heads at the 2018 Met Gala.
2019
Lively announced she is pregnant with baby No. 3 in 2019.
2019
Us confirmed in October 2019 that the actress had given birth to her and Reynolds’ third child earlier that summer. Their daughter’s name, Betty, was later revealed.
2020
Lively headed back to work after giving birth to promote her film Rhythm Section in January 2020. The star revealed that she was still on mommy duty as she pumped breast milk during a press day. “PUMP @therhythmsection press day Pump,” she captioned an Instagram Story photo of her Medela USA pump.
2020
Lively and the Deadpool star documented their trip to drop off their vote-by-mail ballots in October 2020. She wore a chic tweed coat over pink trousers.
2021
Lively looked her happiest when she received her COVID-19 vaccination in a photo shared via Instagram. “Find you someone who looks at you like I look at the heroic nurse vaccinating me 💕,” she captioned the March 31 post.
2021
The Gossip Girl alum went on a date with Reynolds to a Yankees baseball game. “After 14 years in NY, I think tonight made me an official Yankee… ⚾️🍎,” she captioned her photos via Instagram on April 30.
2021
The Gossip Girl alum supported her husband at the August red carpet premiere of Free Guy, matching her glitzy gown with a pair of sneakers. Days later, the Deadpool actor credited Lively’s help in the creation of the film.
“Free Guy wouldn’t be the movie it is without @blakelively,” he captioned an Instagram Story of the pair, adding a “partners in crime” animated sticker. “She was essential in every part of the making of this film, creatively and emotionally, and the cameo everyone is talking about was entirely her idea. #WorkWife.”
2021
Lively launched her nonalcoholic line of mixers and drinks called Betty Buzz. The Betty in Betty Buzz is a nod to her late father, Ernest Brown Jr.’s mom and sister’s names.
2022
While cohosting the Met Gala alongside Reynolds in May 2022, Lively rocked an epic Versace gown that transformed on the red carpet.
2022
“☀️summer lovin’ …had me a blast,” Lively captioned an August Instagram photo of herself standing poolside in a white bikini.
2022
The actress announced her fourth pregnancy while stepping out at the 10th annual Forbes Power of Women’s Summit that September.
2023
Lively seemingly revealed that her fourth baby had arrived when she no longer had a baby bump while celebrating the Super Bowl in February. It wasn’t until June 2024 that Reynolds confirmed their son’s name is Olin.
2023
“Drinking isn’t my thing. But for f* sake, flavor is,” Lively wrote via Instagram in June announcing her alcohol brand, Betty Booze. “Homemade recipes. Real fruit. Real ingredients. Quality booze. No crap. Also a real time saver. Which is why I really did it. @bettybooze.”
2024
Lively joined the beauty community in July with the launch of her own brand, Blake Brown Beauty, tailored to hair products. (Her family’s last name is Brown, which he gave up when he married her mother, Elaine.)
She also reunited with Reynolds onscreen voicing Ladypool in Deadpool & Wolverine.
2024
Lively starred as lead Lily Bloom in the highly anticipated movie It Ends With Us, which hit theaters in August. The story is based on the best-selling novel by the same name and follows Lily as she falls in love with an abusive surgeon named Ryle (Justin Baldoni) just as her first love Atlas (Brandon Sklenar) comes back into her life.
While promoting the project, rumors swirled that Lively and Baldoni didn’t get along and they were feuding off camera.
Lively filed a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us costar and director Baldoni in December 2024, claiming he sexually harassed her, inflicted emotional distress and invasion of privacy among other allegations. The filling came after the actress filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department one week prior.
Baldoni filed a countersuit in December 2024 against The New York Times for libel after the publication allegedly painted him a false light and invaded his privacy with its “We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” article that claimed Baldoni sexually harassed Lively for months on set.
2025
While Lively and Baldoni’s It Ends With Us lawsuits were filed at the end of 2024, the legal battle trickled over into the new year. Baldoni’s lawyers claimed on January 3 that Baldoni did not coordinate a smear campaign against Lively like she alleged.
“Justin Baldoni, from the get-go, said, ‘I don’t want to do anything negative toward her. I don’t want to hurt her,’” the attorney said during an appearance on the Today show. The lawyer also said that Baldoni plans to countersue Lively and release all of their text conversations from their time working together.