VetFamily: Blake Lively

Popular actress Blake Lively is best known for her TV and film roles in “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and “Gossip Girl.” While it’s widely known that she comes from a Hollywood family, she also has ties to the military. Her father, Ernie Lively, served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam before shifting to acting and coaching.

Ernie was born Ernest Wilson Brown Jr. on January 29, 1947 in Baltimore. He served as a lieutenant in Vietnam, returning as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. In 1979, he married talent manager Elaine and took her last name “Lively.” While his daughter Blake is more in the public eye, Ernie enjoyed a 50-year career onscreen before his death in 2021. He died of cardiac complications at the age of 74 in Los Angeles, CA. 

His television roles included parts in The Waltons, The Dukes of Hazzard, and That ‘70s Show. On the big screen, his credits included turns in Mulholland Falls, The Beverly Hillbillies, Passenger 57, The Man in the Moon, Showdown in Little Tokyo, Air America, and Shocker. He was also a director and acting coach, notably to his children.

One of his more recognizable roles was playing the onscreen father to his actual daughter in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in 2005 and its sequel in 2008. That film launched Blake into fame. As an L.A. native, she shot the film between her junior and senior years at Burbank High School. Blake had previously made her film debut in 1998 under her dad’s direction in Sandman at the age of ten. The father-daughter duo also appeared together in the 2006 slasher film "Simon Says."

After Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Blake achieved recognition for her role in Gossip Girl, which ran for five seasons on CW. She won the Teen Choice Award in 2008 and 2011 for that role. Then she appeared in romantic comedies like New York, I Love You, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, and Café Society. Other film credits include The Age of Adaline, All I See Is You, and The Rhythm Section. She met her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, while shooting the superhero movie Green Lantern, released in 2011. The Hollywood couple has four children together and are close with singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, who is godmother to three of their kids. Blake also directed Taylor Swift's 2021 music video "I Bet You Think About Me."

Blake has one brother, Eric (So Weird), and three half siblings from her mom’s previous marriage: Lori (ER), Jason (National Lampoon’s European Vacation), and Robyn Lively (Twin Peaks), who were all adopted by Ernie when he married Elaine. The entire Lively family found success in Hollywood and appeared onscreen over the years, but Blake has had the most prolific career thus far.

The 37-year old’s most recent film, It Ends With Us, was released last August. 

When her father passed in 2021, she posted a loving photo of the two of them together on Instagram, where she's seen leaning on her father's shoulder as he gives her a forehead kiss. The top of the post? A heart emoji, showing her feelings for her veteran dad.