Super heroes always seem to get the girl. And Ryan Reynolds is no exception since he got his girl, the dazzling Blake Lively. From a vampire hunter to Deadpool to Green Lantern, Ryan Reynolds has been swooping women off their feet his whole career–while looking good doing it.
Reynolds started off on the small screen. He played the lovable Berg on the indie hit show Two Guys, A Girl, and A Pizza Place. Following the success of the sit-com, Reynolds was cast as the title character in National Lampoon’s Van Wilder. A moderate success at the box office, but an instant cult classic in the vein of Ferris Bueller.
He had a series of big budget features after Van Wilder, both critically and commercially. And he was featured in People magazine’s “Sexiest People” issue in 2007. His popularity among the ladies was not going unnoticed. He was engaged to singer Alanis Morisette, but broke off the engagement in 2007—the same year he began to date actress Scarlett Johansson. Reynolds and Johansson were married the following year, but their marriage did not last. A heartbroken Reynolds announced in 2010 that they would be getting a divorce.
Reynolds would meet Blake Lively while the two filmed the action flick, Green Lantern. At the time of the filming, Reynolds was still married to Johansson, but he and Lively became friends and stayed in touch. Even after Ryan’s divorce with Scarlett, the timing wasn’t perfect. Lively began dating Leonardo DiCaprio and Reynolds became interested in Charlize Theron. However, there was something about Blake Lively that stuck with Ryan like super-powered cosmic radiation.
Blake Lively was born into a showbiz family. Both of her parents and all of her siblings are, or have been, in the entertainment industry. Her father was an actor, her mom a talent manager. Her half-brother Jason worked with Chevy Chase in National Lampoon’s European Vacation, while her half-sister Robin, was the lead in The Karate Kid 3 and Teen Witch.
Lively was initially not that interested in acting. Instead, she had her own dreams of attending Stanford University. Nevertheless, during the summer between her junior and senior years of high school, her brother Eric, realizing her untapped potential, asked his agent to send her on a few auditions over a period of a few months. From these few auditions, she got the role of Bridget for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Lively filmed her scenes in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants between her junior and senior years at Burbank High School, where she was class president. Lively’s performance in the film earned her a nomination for a Teen Choice Award for “Choice Movie Breakout – Female.”
After filming Traveling Pants, Lively returned to Burbank for her senior year and graduated in 2005. After finishing her diploma, she immediately returned to acting, starring opposite Justin Long and Jonah Hill in the 2006 comedy Accepted. A year later, in 2007, Lively landed her most famous role to date on the CW’s hit teen drama Gossip Girl. Bolstered by intense media coverage, including a provocative and controversial photo shoot in Rolling Stone magazine, Gossip Girl quickly developed a cult-like fan base. Its young and beautiful cast became nearly ubiquitous on celebrity magazine covers and websites. The fashion-forward show, and Lively’s character in particular, also had enormous influence over style trends. Any outfit Lively wears as Serena in an episode of Gossip Girl sells out of stores the day after the episode airs.
Lively and Reynolds quickly became inseparable. They bought a home together in Bedford,New York, in April 2012. Managing to keep their plans hidden from the media, the pair married in a special ceremony on September 9, 2012, near Charleston,South Carolina. About 70 guests attended the couple’s nuptials held at Boone Hall Plantation. Lively’s friend, singer Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine, performed at the reception.
What’s next for the super couple? Well, a family of little ones seems to be in the near future. Reynolds has said, “”We both come from big families—my parents did four, Blake’s did five. A lot of people say it’s crazy, but we’ll only know when we’re there, you know? We’ll walk through that fire pretty happily, I think.”
Lively has added, “”With film and TV, you don’t see the results for months,” she reasons. “Building a home, you get immediate gratification…. My greatest passion is my personal life.”
