Early life, family, educational background
American actress Robyn Elaine Lively Johnson was born on 7 February 1972, in Powder Springs, Georgia, USA, making her an Aquarius, and of English, German and Scottish descent. Robyn was raised by her mother Elaine Lively (née McAlpin), a talent manager, and her actor father Ronald Otis “Ronnie” Lively, who was Elaine’s first husband. After her parents’ divorce, Elaine married Ernie Lively. Robyn has a brother named Jason and sister Lori, as well as half-brother Eric and half-sister, Blake; all of her siblings are actors too.
Robyn is best known for her roles in “Twin Peaks,” “Saving Grace,” “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” “The Karate Kid Part III,” and “Teen Witch.”
Family’s personal life
Ernie Lively
American actor and acting coach Ernest Wilson “Ernie” Lively (né Brown) Jr. was born on 29 January 1947 in Baltimore, Maryland, US, making him an Aquarius. Ernie was the son of Ernest W. Brown Sr. and Beatrice Gray. He was married to Elaine Lively (née McAlpin) from 1979 to the time of his passing on 3 June 2021 in Los Angeles due to cardiac complications. He had a heart attack in 2003, and in November 2013, he underwent an experimental retrograde gene procedure made up of stem-cell therapy. He’s the biological father of Blake, and Eric, and the adoptive father of Lori, Jason, and Robyn – Elaine’s children from her previous marriage. He changed his surname from Brown to Lively so he could have the same surname as Elaine and their five children.
He appeared in “That ‘70s Show,” “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “The X-Files,” “Passenger 57,” and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” films as Blake’s character’s father.
Lori Lively
American acting coach, television co-host, actress and designer Lori Lynn Lively, was born on 9 November 1966 in the US, making her a Scorpio. Her parents are Elaine Lively and Ronald Otis “Ronnie” Lively. Not much is known about her personal life, but she’s best known professionally for her work as Jill in 1991’s “Deep Space,” Siana in a 1998 episode of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” Maryanne in “Melrose Place,” and Doctor Lori Light in 2010’s “I Kissed a Vampire.”
Jason Lively
American actor Ronald Jason Lively was born on 12 March 1968 in Carroll County, Georgia, US, making him a Pisces. He is the son of Elaine and Ronnie and the adoptive son of Ernie. Jason is married to Lani Lively. He is best known for his work in 1985’s “European Vacation” as Russel “Rusty” Griswald, a 1983 episode of “The Dukes of Hazzard” as Rod Moffet, 1986’s “Night of the Creeps” as Chris, and 1991’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Forever” as Donovan. Aside from acting, he has also worked at a tech company and is the former operator and owner of a mobile roasted corn business called Jimmy Crack Corn.
Eric Lively
American actor Eric Lawrence Lively (né Brown) was born to parents Ernie and Elaine Lively, on 31 July 1981, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, making him a Leo. In 2005, he married Angelina Davydova. His debut film was 1983’s “Brainstorm” when he was just a baby. When he was 13, he guest-starred as Stephanie Tanner’s boyfriend in an episode of “Full House.” Following high school, in 2000 he relocated to New York City to study his passion for photography at Parsons New School for Design. He has also appeared in “American Pie,” 2006’s “The Butterfly Effect 2,” and “Simon Says” with Margo Harshman and Crispin Glover, “24: Redemption” in 2008, and 2013’s “A Madea Christmas.” He has modeled for Abercrombie and Fitch and appeared in Pink’s music video for “Please Don’t Leave Me” as her on-screen boyfriend in 2009.
Who is Blake Lively?
American actress Blake Ellender Brown was born to parents are Ernie and Elaine Lively. on 25 August 1987, in Los Angeles, California, US, making her a Virgo. Blake is married to actor Ryan Reynolds and the couple has three daughters together, James, Inez, and Betty, and their fourth child is on the way. Blake met Ryan in early 2010 when they starred in “Green Lantern,” they began dating in October 2011, and married on 9 September 2012.
She is probably best known for her roles as Bridget Vreeland in 2005’s “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” and the 2008 sequel “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2”, and from 2007 to 2012 in the teenage drama series “Gossip Girl” as Serena van der Woodsen.
Aside from having a successful acting career all these years, she has also tried other business ventures. In 2021, she launched her line of non-alcoholic drink mixers, Betty Buzz. Blake also made her directorial debut that year as the director and co-writer of Taylor Swift’s music video for “I Bet You Think About Me.” The song is one of the ‘vault’ tracks from Taylor’s “Red (Taylor’s Version)” album that was released on 15 November 2021. Blake is very close friends with Taylor, and received praise for her work on the music video. She is vocal about her love of cooking and baking, and often stands up for what she believes in such as human rights and the significance of voting.
Career
Robyn’s acting career began when she was six years old, making her debut in the 1978 television film “Summer of My German Soldier” as Sharon Bergen. In 1983, she played Amanda in an episode of “Boone,” and in 1984 she played Lisa in two episodes of “Punky Brewster,” and Becky Phillips in an episode of “Knight Rider.” 1986 was a busy year for Robyn – she played Alice Needham in “Wildcats,” Tammy in “Silver Spoons,” Stevie Gerber in “Fuzzbucket,” Kate in an episode of “Amazing Stories,” and Beth in an episode of “Starman” entitled “Like Father, Like Son.”
In 1987 she played Becky Carson in the television film “Not Quite Human,” reprising her role in 1989’s “Not Quite Human II,” and that year she also played Louise Miller in “Teen Witch,” and Helen Akkerly in “21 Jump Street.” In an interview, she praised her mother for Louise’s fashion sense: ‘She was super involved and is super creative, so I wore a lot of my actual clothes in the movie,’ adding ‘Truly, Louise was my mom’s vision. She really created an iconic character.’
Robyn was next cast as Jessica Andrews in “The Karate Kid Part III”, but the producers had to alter her role as she was 16 at the time, but was meant to be the love interest of the protagonist Daniel LaRusso, portrayed by Ralph Macchio who was 27 at the time of filming, despite him playing a 17-year-old. Whereas Jessica and Daniel were written to be romantic partners, the writers changed their relationship to that of a close friendship. She reprised her role as Jessica in 2022’s season five of “Cobra Kai,” when the audience finds out that Jessica didn’t marry Daniel; instead, he married her cousin named Amanda.
When she was 19, Robyn attended the Emmy Awards as she was nominated for her performance as an insecure teenager in the “ABC Afterschool Special” episode entitled “Less Than Perfect Daughter”. She had recurring roles during the ‘90s in the series “Chicago Hope” as Nurse Maggie Atkisson, “Twin Peaks,” and “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” as Nurse Michele Farber. In 1996 she took one of the leading roles in the WB drama “Savannah,” as Lane McKenzie Collins, and played Nancy Stratemeyer in the television movie “The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father”, reprising her role as Nancy in the 1999 sequel, “The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Spring Break Adventure.” From 1997 to 1998, she portrayed Casey Wagonman in 20 episodes of “George and Leo,” and in 1998 she was Penelope Michaels in the “Love Boat: The Next Wave” episode “How Long Has This Been Going On?”
In 2000, she played Claire Dreyer in the television movie “Santa Who?”, and Sophie Calloway in the episode of “Chicken Soup for the Soul” entitled “Thinking of You/Mama’s Soup Pot/The Letter.” She played NCIS Special Agent Vivian Blackadder in two “JAG” episodes entitled “Meltdown” and “Ice Queen” in 2003, and the following year she was Connie in the series “Strong Medicine,” followed in 2005 as Sarah Myers in “CSI: NY,” and Madeline in the television film “Mystery Woman: Snapshot.”
In 2007, she appeared in an episode of “Saving Grace,” as Darlene Dewey alongside Holly Hunter, and in “Cold Case” as Miriam Gunden. Robyn reprised her role as Darlene Dewey in “Saving Grace” the following year, as well as playing Abby Corbin in “Criminal Minds,” Lauren in “Murder Dot Com (aka A Date with Murder), and Kelsey Winthrop in an episode of “30 Rock.”
She acted with co-stars from “Twin Peaks” in the 2010 episode of “Psych” entitled “Dual Spires,” and played Maddy Doherty in “Letters to God” alongside Bailee Madison and Sadie Harrington in an episode of “The Mentalist” entitled “Red All Over.” The following year she played Meredith Miller in the television movie “Who Is Simon Miller?” Macaire Leemaster in “Fishers of Men,” and in 2014 she starred as Claire, the mother of the titular character, in 35 episodes of “Gortimer Gibbon’s Life On Normal Street,” a television series by Amazon Studios. She also played Mrs Galardi in “Ouija.” In 2018, she portrayed Helen Meech in “Hawaii Five-0” in the episode entitled “ O na hoku o ka lani wale no kai ‘ike i kahi o Pae,” and in 2019 she played Diane Monroe in an episode of “The Good Doctor,” the recurring role of Deb Brady in season two of “Light as a Feather,” and as Lauren in episode 5.2 of “The Affair.”
Robyn starred in the thriller film “Through the Glass Darkly,” and on 19 September 2020, the film premiered at the Frameline Film Festival. In 2020, she also played Mrs. Dayton in “The Rookie,” and Nancy Frost in two episodes of “All Rise.”
In 1984, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her performance in “Bonne” under the category of Best Young Actress, and the following year she was nominated for Best Young Actress in a guest role in a television series for her portrayal in “Knight Rider.”
Haha yes this is me in an episode of #knightrider with @DavidHasselhoff when I was 12 #lovethis #fbf https://t.co/HWoZrmdkXv
— Robyn Lively (@RobynLively) February 5, 2016
Personal life
Before marrying her husband, Robyn dated other celebrities, in 1991 Jason Priestley, and from 1992 to 1993 Neil Patrick Harris. On 25 September 1999, she married actor Bart Johnson; Barton Robert Johnson was born on 13 December 1970, and is best known for his role in the “High School Musical” film series as Troy’s father, Coach Jack Bolton. They have three children together, Wyatt, Kate and Baylen Johnson – Wyatt’s second name is ‘Blake,’ which Robyn chose in honor of her sister. The family lives in the Hollywood Hills, practice Christianity, and are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
On 25 August 2022, ENews reported that two weeks before Blake’s 35th birthday, she and Robyn celebrated two weeks earlier at Disneyland. Blake posted photos on 14 August with the caption, ‘Find me a happier place on earth to start my birthday celebrations early… I’ll wait.’ On Blake’s birthday, Robyn shared a carousel of pictures on Instagram along with the caption, ‘Awww you’re my best friend. Now everyone knows you’re barely, barely younger than me. Happy Birthday sweet sissy, you’re kinda special to me.’
Hobbies, favorite things and interesting facts
- Robyn enjoys spending her free time surfing.
- She is James Reynold’s godmother and aunt.
- The actors playing Polly and Rhet, Mandy Ingber and Noah Blake, actually hated “Top That,” an infamous rap number from “Teen Witch.”
- In 1993, she voiced a video game character named Fairy for “Return to Zork.”
- While filming a dancing scene for the 1989 hit, she twisted her ankle when spinning around. Robyn jokes that she still blames her bad dancing on that injured ankle.
- Her favorite scenes in “Teen Witch,” were when multiple characters interrupt Louise and Brad’s date, and the bathtub scene with her on-screen brother, Richie who was portrayed by Josh Miller, purely because he made her laugh so much.
- Robyn and her brother Eric, performed the film’s finale dance sequence for Blake and Ryan’s wedding in 2012.
- That was not her first time recreating a scene from the film though – she got Dan to help her re-enact another scene from the movie for Eric’s birthday one year. ‘So, he walks in, sees me with Dan, loses his mind, and then we act out the whole scene. It was so much fun.’
According to US Weekly, when they were filming “Teen Witch,” Robyn had a crush on her co-star Dan Gauthier, who portrayed Brad Powell, ‘I had such a crush on him. But he was the ladies’ man on set. He was super flirty and so cute, but I played him so well. I had game at that age, I don’t even know how.’ However, Dan ended up marrying actress Lisa Fuller who played his on-screen girlfriend, Randa, in “Teen Witch,” and Robyn shared that although she was ‘heartbroken,’ she still attended their wedding. ‘Brad and Randa really lived happily ever after,’ she concluded.
She also spilt some information on Louise and Brad’s PG-rated sex scene. Robyn wishes that they could go back and remove the scene because in her opinion, ‘… it implies that something happened with Brad and Louise that I wasn’t aware of at the time…’ – to her, the scene feels out of place for the characters and the plot. She added that her mom wasn’t happy about being absent on that day of filming, as she would have fought against it. It was only many years later that Robyn truly grasped the success of the film, ‘We thought we were making a very serious movie. We didn’t know we were making a cult classic.’
Appearance
Robyn has light brown, reddish hair and brown eyes, stands at 5ft 8ins (173cm) tall, weighs about 125lbs (57kgs), with vital statistics of 35-26-36 and a slim build, wearing a US size 4 dress.
Net worth and salary
As of October 2022, her net worth is estimated at $5 million, thanks to her hard work as an actor, and the successful careers of her parents.
