Hilary Duff

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Hilary Duff

Hilary Ann Lisa Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress and pop music singer.

Early career

Duff was born in Houston, Texas, and started her career at the age of six in the Nutcracker Suite with Columbus Ballet Met in San Antonio with her older sister, ballet dancer Haylie Duff. She decided to pursue an acting career and appeared in a few television commercials.

Her first role was in the TV mini-series True Women in 1996. She appeared as the star of the 1998 video Casper Meets Wendy as the young witch Wendy with the animated character Casper the Friendly Ghost. She later appeared as Ellie in the TV movie The Soul Collector in 1999, winning a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot (Supporting Young Actress).

Acting

File:Hilary Duff on Cinderella Story.jpg

Hilary Duff in a A Cinderella Story

Duff's career breakthrough was as the star of the successful Disney Channel show Lizzie McGuire in 2001. Her appearance in this role as a typical teenager led to appearances on the covers of teen magazines and she became highly popular among children between the ages of seven and fourteen. Duff announced in 2003 that she would no longer act in the Lizzie McGuire show, because of a contract dispute with Disney. She was being paid $35,000 an episode to appear on the program, but by 2003 she was receiving millions of dollars to act in movies.

Duff's first movie role was in Human Nature, an independent US/French coproduction released in 2001. She starred in the television movie Cadet Kelly with Christy Carlson Romano and Gary Cole. Her first hit movie was Agent Cody Banks with Frankie Muniz in 2003. Duff then reprised the role of Lizzie McGuire in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, which was her first million-dollar movie role. Her final role of 2003 was costarring in the Disney film Cheaper by the Dozen with Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt. Her success as a singer led to her being rated as number 96 in the Forbes Top 100 Celebrity List.

In 2004 she appeared in A Cinderella Story, alongside Chad Michael Murray with a salary of $2 million, and in Raise Your Voice. As of November 2004, her next film roles are planned to be The Perfect Man and Outward Blonde, both anticipated to be released in 2005.

Music

Duff's first recorded singing performance was on the song "I Can't Wait", which appeared on the Lizzie McGuire Original Television Soundtrack in 2002. She would also sing on several tracks on the soundtrack to The Lizzie McGuire Movie in 2003. One of these tracks, "Why Not", was released as a single, reaching the top 20 in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

Her first album was a 2002 collection of Christmas songs called Santa Clause Lane, which made the lower reaches of the Billboard 200 album chart and number 3 on the kids music chart in 2002. The title track also featured on the soundtrack to The Santa Clause 2 starring Tim Allen.

In 2003 she recorded her first album, entitled Metamorphosis, which was released on August 26 and went to number one on the US and Canadian charts in that year (see 2003 in music). The Metamorphosis album featured music that would appeal to teenagers as well as the tweens who had supported her to date. The Matrix, who had worked with singers such as Avril Lavigne on her Let Go album and Liz Phair, provided three songs on the album. One of these songs, So Yesterday, was released as the first single, reaching number 2 in Canada, top 40 in Australia and just outside the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

Subsequent singles from the album include:

• "Come Clean" reached the Top 10 in Canada, top 20 in Australia and New Zealand and top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100; and
• "Little Voice" reached the Australian Top 40 in May 2004.

Metamorphosis was nominated in the Juno Awards of 2004 for "International Album of the Year", losing to 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin'.

On May 31, 2004, a video of her cover version of "Our Lips are Sealed" by the Go-Gos with her sister Haylie Duff made its MTV debut. The song is from the soundtrack of A Cinderella Story [1].

On September 28, 2004 (her birthday), she released her sophomore album, the self-titled Hilary Duff. She says that it has an edgier, rock feel into it. The album was supposed to be called "A Girl Can Rock." Its first single is "Fly", and it also includes "Haters", which is rumored to be about Lindsay Lohan, who is sometimes considered to be Duff's enemy.

Personal life

Duff has dated singer Aaron Carter, brother of Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter. There were reports that she had tried to have fellow teen actress Lindsay Lohan banned from the preview of Cheaper by the Dozen because Lohan had previously been dating Carter in late 2003, as well as other reports about a fistfight that supposedly took place between the two actresses.

Duff is involved with many charities, is an animal rights enthusiast, and a member of "Kids With a Cause." She gets up at 4.30 a.m. to allow her to study. Nicknames include Hil (allegedly the most common), Hilly and Hils.

Duff launched a clothing line, "Stuff" on March 12, 2004 with clothes distributed through Target in the United States and Zellers in Canada.

Roles

• Material Girls (Movie/pre-production) - ? (2006)
• Outward Blonde (Movie/announced) - Marie (2005)
• The Perfect Man (Movie/completed-currently unreleased) - Holly Hamilton (2005)
• Raise Your Voice (Movie)- Terri Fletcher (2004)
• A Cinderella Story (Movie) - Sam (2004)
• Cheaper by the Dozen (Movie) - Lorraine Baker (2003)
• The Lizzie McGuire Movie (Movie) - Lizzie McGuire/Isabella (2003)
• Agent Cody Banks (Movie) - Natalie Connors (2003)
• Cadet Kelly (TV Movie) - Kelly Collins (2002)
• Human Nature (Movie) - Young Lila Jute (2001)
• Lizzie McGuire (TV Series) - Lizzie McGuire (2001-2002)
• The Soul Collector (TV Movie) - Ellie (1999)
• Casper Meets Wendy (Video) - Wendy (1998)
• True Women (TV Miniseries) - uncredited (1997)

Discography

• Hilary Duff (2004)
• Metamorphosis (2003)
• Santa Claus Lane (2002)

External links

• Official fan site
• Hilary Duff at IMDb
• MTV Hilary Duff artist page
• All Music Guide Hilary Duff page
• All Movie Portal Hilary Duff Page
• Hilary Duff Directory