Serena van der Woodsen

Serena Celia van der Woodsen is a central character in the Gossip Girl novel series and its TV adaptation, in which she is portrayed by Blake Lively. Serena is featured on the blog of the series' mysterious narrator, "Gossip Girl." Serena is Blair Waldorf's best friend and is a character that appears to easily get whatever she wants, because of her good looks, energy and charisma.

Novel series

Serena is tall, blonde, thin teenage girl from the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Many of the girls at the Constance Billard school accuse her of using her good looks as a means to secure everything she wants. She is not particularly academically skilled, but she is often told that she is not meeting her full potential. Her father runs the same Dutch shipping firm his great-great-grandfather founded in the 18th century, and her mother, Lillian van der Woodsen, is a socialite, art collector, and philanthropist. Her parents are on the boards of all major charities and art organizations in the city. The van der Woodsens reside at 994 Fifth Avenue, a ritzy, white-gloved doorman building directly across the street from The Met and Central Park. Serena and her family own half the top floor in a 14-room penthouse.

Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, originally ran on The CW for six seasons from September 19, 2007 to December 17, 2012. Narrated by the omniscient blogger "Gossip Girl", voiced by Kristen Bell, the series revolves around the fictional lives of privileged adolescents living in Manhattan's Upper East Side.

The series begins with the return of Upper East Side it girl Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) from a "mysterious absence." Gossip Girl reveals that Serena has been away at boarding school in Cornwall, Connecticut, but not everyone welcomes Serena back to Manhattan with open arms. Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), whom creators describe as being "at the center of their chess game," is The queen bee of Constance Saint Jude prep school's social scene. She also happens to be the childhood "best friend" and occasional rival of Serena van der Woodsen. The story also follows scholarship student Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), who is a self-described "outsider" from Brooklyn, Blair's first love and the so-called "golden boy", Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), and the "bad boy" heir apparent Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), who is also part of "Manhattan's elite". Other characters of the turbulent Manhattan scene: Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr), Dan's childhood best friend. Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen), Dan's adolescent sister who the 'Queen B' dubs as 'Little J'. Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford), Serena's mother and heiress, and Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle), former 90's band 'Lincoln Hawk' frontrunner and an independent art gallery owner in Manhattan. He is Dan and Jenny's father and primary guardian. Dorota (Zuzanna Szadkowski) is Blair's primary housekeeper since her youth.

Blake Lively

Blake Lively (born Blake Ellender Brown; August 25, 1987) is an American actress, model, and celebrity homemaker. She starred as Serena van der Woodsen in the CW drama Gossip Girl (2007–12), and has co-starred in such films as The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), Accepted (2006), The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009), The Town (2010), Green Lantern (2011), Savages (2012) and The Age of Adaline (2015).

Early life

Lively was born in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles, to actor Ernie Lively (né Ernest Wilson Brown, Jr.) and his wife, Elaine (née McAlpin), a talent scout. She was named after her grandmother's brother. She has an older brother, Eric, two half-sisters, Lori and Robyn, and a half-brother, Jason. Both of her parents and all of her siblings are, or have been, in the entertainment industry. Blake and her four older siblings/half-siblings were raised as Southern Baptists.

During her childhood, her parents took her with them to acting classes that they taught because they did not want to leave her with a babysitter. Lively said that watching her parents teach acting classes helped her learn the "drills" of acting and gain confidence as she got older. She was initially not particularly interested in acting, and wanted to attend Stanford University. During the summer between her junior and senior years of high school, her brother Eric 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.

Serena

Serena is a feminine given name.

Serena may also refer to:

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