Hilary Duff Music Career
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Teen actress Hilary Duff quickly rose to fame on the strength of her winning performance on the successful television series Lizzie McGuire. Born in Houston, TX, September 28, 1987, she developed an interest in dance at the age of six and began taking ballet lessons, later making her stage debut in a Christmas production of The Nutcracker. She developed a stronger passion for acting after being cast in a television commercial, and, in 1998, appeared in the direct-to-video Casper Meets Wendy as Wendy, a youthful witch.
After taking on more dramatic roles in the made-for-TV movie The Soul Collector and a guest appearance on Chicago Hope, Duff was cast in the title role of Lizzie McGuire in 2001. A sitcom for young people, Lizzie McGuire concerned the trials and tribulations of middle-school student Lizzie as she and her animated alter ego deal with the funny side of adolescence.
An immediate hit on The Disney Channel, the show made Duff a recognizable face to television viewers, and Disney quickly responded by casting her in a made-for-cable movie, Cadet Kelly, which earned high ratings. In 2002, the actress also made a brief appearance in the offbeat comedy Human Nature, playing Young Lila, a hirsute child who grows up to become Patricia Arquette.
After the success of Lizzie McGuire, Duff branched out into music, writing and singing a song for the show’s soundtrack album, and recording a Christmas album in 2002. Released in theaters in the summer of 2003, The Lizzie McGuire Movie provided the ideal cinematic alternative for pre-teen girls uninterested in the exploits of X2: X-Men United and too young to be swept up in the hype of The Matrix Reloaded. Taking in twice the cost of production in only four weeks at the box office, Duff stunned fans less than a month after the film’s stateside release by announcing that, due to contract negotiation failures, she would be departing from the lucrative Lizzie McGuire franchise to pursue other career opportunities.
By the time the show’s finale aired in 2004, Duff had already kicked her film career into high gear, closing out 2003 with three hit films under her belt: Agent Cody Banks, the aforementioned Lizzie McGuire Movie, and the holiday blockbuster Cheaper by the Dozen.
Hoping to keep her momentum growing, Duff attached herself to another trio of features in 2004, two of which were helmed by Lizzie McGuire director Mark Rosman.
Hilary Duff made a name for herself on the enormously successful Disney Channel/ABC Kids show Lizzie McGuire, which she parlayed into careers as a pop singer and film actress. Like most overnight successes, Duff paid her dues for a few years before her big break. Appearances in the 1997 women’s Western True Women, 1998′s Casper (as the Friendly Ghost’s human friend Wendy), and 1999′s The Soul Collector paved the way for her best-known role. Lizzie McGuire, which chronicled the ups and downs of junior high schooler Lizzie’s life with live-action and animated clips, debuted in 2001 and very quickly became a huge hit with the preteen set.
Aside from the show’s unique format, one of the main reasons for its success was Duff herself. As Lizzie, she was pretty, funny, and smart, but not intimidatingly so; she had two best friends, Gordo and Miranda, so she wasn’t super-popular or an outcast; and she was confident enough to do her own thing, but still vulnerable enough to have crushes on unattainable boys.
At the same time Lizzie was taking off, Duff also appeared in the indie film Human Nature, reflecting her continuing big-screen aspirations. Lizzie McGuire mania continued through 2002, and Duff began her first steps toward her singing career with the song “Santa Claus Lane,” which appeared on the soundtrack to The Santa Clause 2, as well as her own Christmas album, also named Santa Claus Lane. That year, production ended on Lizzie McGuire, freeing up Duff to pursue other opportunities.
Episodes of the show continued to run into 2003, but by that time Duff had begun to move on, appearing in the teen spy movie Agent Cody Banks and playing Lizzie one last time in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, where funnily enough, she goes to Italy and is mistaken for a teen pop star. The soundtrack to the movie also featured several songs by Duff, including the singles “Why Not” and “I Can’t Wait,” which were both successes in their own right; the soundtrack went platinum in summer 2003.
Around that time, Metamorphosis, Duff’s bona fide debut as a singer, was released. The album had a hipper and more eclectic sound than any of the material she had been given previously, and helped establish her as a personality outside of her Lizzie McGuire fame. The album charted number two on the Billboard 200 on the week of its release, and its single “So Yesterday” topped the pop singles chart earlier that summer.
Duff’s omnipresence in 2003 continued with appearances at that year’s MTV Video Music Awards and the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, where she accepted Lizzie McGuire’s trophy for Favorite TV Show. She also appeared in that year’s film Cheaper By the Dozen and embarked on a tour that fall. The year 2004 looked to be just as busy for Duff, with movies like A Cinderella Story and Agent Cody Banks 2 on the docket, as well as a new TV series with CBS in the works.
Duff is involved with various charities, is an animal rights enthusiast and a member of Kids with a Cause. She also donated $250,000 to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. In 2005, she donated over 2.5 million meals to Hurricane Katrina victims in the south. In August 2006, Duff traveled to a New Orleans elementary school and worked with USA Harvest to distribute meals. She has also served on the Advisory Board of the “Audrey Hepburn Child Benefit Fund” and the Celebrity Council of “Kids with a Cause”.
On October 8, 2008, Duff starred in a public service announcement for The Think Before You Speak Campaign by Ad Council and GLSEN, to prevent youth from using anti-LGBT vocabulary, such as the phrase “That’s So Gay”. In July 2009, Duff was named as a Youth Ambassador to the children of the Colombian capital, Bogota. As a Youth Ambassador, she will spend five days in the country, distributing backpacks filled with food to needy children.
Duff has stated numerous times that she’s a strong animal rights supporter and has commented, when asked what she would be doing if she weren’t a celebrity, “I always wanted to be a veterinarian when I was younger, but then I figured out that animals actually die there, so that was not the job for me. Definitely something with kids or animals or something like that.”
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