Although she’s one of TV’s freshest faces, Blake Lively is no stranger to Hollywood. The youngest of five children, all in the business, when she was younger Blake thought she didn’t want to act. “I wanted to be an interior decorator. Baking and flower arranging have always been my favorite hobbies. I love Martha Stewart.” But her older brother saw beyond her domestic goddess dreams. He decided she was meant to be an actress and sent her pictures to his agent. “I played along and did a few auditions,” she says. “After eight weeks, I got my role in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”

How does Blake Lively stay grounded? Strong family ties. “They are my best friends, anything that goes wrong I go to them. I’m not a wild person at all,” she says, “you never read about me dancing on a banquette at some club because that never happens." In fact, much unlike her character Serena, Blake’s ideal Saturday night consists of charades, Guitar Hero, game night, or a bake off.

“In one scene, I was totally falling off the barstool (making out with Chace Crawford). I was trying to be sexy. So I think, ‘what would Britney Spears do?’ So I whished around my hair." But Blake isn't a fan of what the limelight has done to Britney. "I feel so sad for Britney", she says. "I want to see what everyone else would do in her situation, she so talented and misguided. She has lived her whole life in front of an audience."

So does Blake have anything in common with her character Serena van der Woodsen? She loves Serena's style, often buying pieces of Serena's wardrobe. However Blake's high school experience was the complete opposite of what you see on Gossip Girl. "For fun, I’d go to school fundraisers at Fuddruckers, not drink martini’s at the New York Palace bar.”

And what about those rumors of on-set strife? “There is always going to be drama on set, but it’s just not true that Leighton [Meester] and I dislike each other.” Of her rumored romance with co-star and on-screen boyfriend Penn Badgley, she says, smiling, “I try not to talk about my dating life. I want to, but once you start, it’s all downhill from there.”

Blake just finished the indie film Elvis and Annabelle, in which she stars opposite Max Minghella as a bulimic beauty queen. Plus, the sequel to Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants comes out in early summer, reuniting her with the 2005 cast -- America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel, and Amber Tamblyn. “When we got back together, it was like no time had passed,” she says. “We stayed together in two connecting suites, talked and sang Disney songs all night.”

The March 2008 issue of TEEN VOGUE is on sale nationwide on February 5th.