AP Photo/Louis LanzanoTo kick off the Totally Tube 2007 festivities, I bring you Five Newbies You'll Love. These are the five breakout stars of the new season—I adore them, and I have a pretty strong inkling that you'll love them, too. The countdown begins today, with...Number Five: Blake Lively!
Who She Is: Ladies and gentlemen, meet your new favorite Sister of the Traveling Pants. Blake is the last of the Sisterhood to have her own TV show. (If only all movie casts were so lucky!) First, we met Alexis Bledel, aka Rory Gilmore of Gilmore Girls fame. Then we got to know Amber Tamblyn, aka Joan Girardi from Joan of Arcadia. Third at bat was America Ferrera, now a huge star thanks to Ugly Betty.
Last but not least, Blake makes her television debut this fall, after spending most of her career so far in film. Better known to you Sisterhood fans as "Bee," Blake is the youngest of the four ingenues.
Where to Meet Her: This season on the CW, Blake stars on Gossip Girl as Serena van der Woodsen. Serena is a complicated beauty who has returned to her hometown of New York after a tour at boarding school. A woman with secrets, Serena nonetheless has a good heart, and she wants to do right by her friends and family. Of course, that goal is complicated by her tempestous relationship with her mother and her frienemies at school, not the least of whom is the beautiful but insecure Blair Waldorf.
According to Blake, "Serena does have a past of being a bit wild, but what's interesting is that even though she's so young, she realizes that the way she's been living her life is wrong. It just makes her a cool person, that she's able to see that and wants to change."
Why You'll Love Her: Well, just look at her. Gorgeous! Of course, just to make you love-hate her all the more, she's also talented, smart, funny and genuine. And she's very, very excited to be here! She says: "It just hit me yesterday that our show is going to come out soon! I thought, Oh crap, the show is going to premiere in two weeks! It's so anonymous right now, and people are going to see it!" Are they ever!
Want to meet Blake for yourself? Watch the video below, where Blake discusses her own school daze (including meeting costar Penn Badgley in a previous life) and then tune in Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. on the CW for the series premiere of Gossip Girl. See you there!