Blake Ellender Lively is an American actress. She’s best known for her role as Serena van der Woodsen in the CW teen drama television series Gossip Girl. She starred in movies such as, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Accepted, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The Town, Green Lantern, Savages, The Age of Adeline and The Shallows. Take a look below for 30 more fun and interesting facts about Blake Lively.

1. Lively was born in Tarzana, Los Angeles, California on August 25, 1987.

2. She’s the daughter of actor Ernie Lively and talent manager Elaine Lively. She has 4 siblings, Eric Lively, Lori Lively, Jason Lively and Robyn Lively.

3. She began first grade when she was 3 years old. Her 6 year old brother was so nervous about starting first grade alone that her mother told the school that Blake was also 6 years old so that she could accompany him.

4. She went to Burbank High School and originally wanted to go to Stanford University.

5. Blake was popular in high school. She was class president, a cheerleader and performed at the national championship show choir.

6. When she was a child, her parents often took her with them to acting classes that they taught because they didn’t want to leave her with a babysitter. She’s often said that watching her parents teach acting classes helped her gain confidence as an actor when she got older.

7. In her junior year of high school, she audition for and landed a big role in the 2005 blockbuster The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

8. When she first auditioned for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, she just walked in and gave them her photo. She had never done an audition before up to that point.

9. Her performance in the movie earned her a nomination for a Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Breakout – Female.

10. The movie wasn’t only her first acting job, it was her first job overall.

11. She was teased by the cast and crew while on the set of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 because she was so accident prone.

12. Her first romantic relationships was with actor Kelly Blatz, who was also her childhood friend. They dated for 3 years, between 2004 and 2007.

13. Lively has known her Gossip Girl co-star Penn Badgley ever since she was 11 years old.

14. After finishing her high school and getting her diploma, she immediately returned to acting by starring in the 2006 comedy Accepted.

15. She gained international popularity when she got the leading role in Gossip Girl as Serena van der Woodsen.

16. The show became so popular that any outfit which Lively wore as Serena in an episode of Gossip Girl would sell out of stores the next day.

17. In 2007, Lively began dating her Gossip Girl co-star Penn Badgley, who plays Dan Humphrey on the show.

18. She has said that filming the intimate scenes on Gossip Girl was uncomfortable as there’s 40 people in the room watching you and telling you exactly what to do.

19. Her salary per episode of Gossip Girl was $60,000.

20. During the 2008 United States presidential election, Lively expressed her support for Barack Obama. Lively and Penn Badgley even appeared in a pro-Obama commercial, as part of MoveOn.org’s Youth Vote program.

21. Lively and Ryan Gosling were rumored to be dating in October, 2010, when they were seen in Disneyland, however, they claim to be just good friends.

22. She was voted number 4 in Maxim’s Hot 100 Women List in 2010.

23. Some of her favorite musicians include Ray Charles, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.

24. In 2012, she starred in Oliver Stone’s Savages alongside Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Salma Hayek, and John Travolta. She replaced Jennifer Lawrence as Ophelia, who dropped out to film Hunger Games.

25. She met Ryan Reynolds while filming Green Lantern and the two eventually began dating. Reynolds was married to Scarlett Johansson at the time.

26. In April, 2012, Lively and Reynolds purchased a home together in Bedford, New York. The house cost $7.5 million.

27. They got married in a small ceremony on September 9,  2012, near Charleston, South Carolina.

28. In October, 2013, she was named the new face of L’Oreal, marking her first major makeup campaign.

29. Lively has once said that she doesn’t like wearing heels because she finds herself tall enough.

30. Her favorite movies include Waiting for Guffman, Wizard of Oz, Moulin Rouge! and Romeo and Juliet.