Duff, Hilary

September 28, 1987 • Houston, Texas

Actress, singer

Young teens everywhere first came to know Hilary Duff as Lizzie McGuire, the title character of the Disney Channel show that aired from 2001 until 2003. As Lizzie, Duff played an awkward, slightly clumsy junior high schooler—a bit of a stretch for the confident, multitalented actress. Since establishing a successful television career with Lizzie McGuire, Duff has branched out to conquer multiple fronts: she has acted in a number of feature films, including starring roles in The Lizzie McGuire Movie and A Cinderella Story; she has released her own album, Metamorphosis ; and she presides over a line of clothing, makeup, and accessories, called Stuff by Hilary Duff. Duff accomplished all of this before her seventeenth birthday, but in spite of her rapid ascent to fame, she works hard to remain grounded, helped along by close relationships with her family and friends.

Texas girl heads to Hollywood

Duff was born in Houston, Texas, far from the glitter and glamour of Los Angeles. She knew from a young age, however, that she enjoyed performing. She studied gymnastics and ballet, and when her older sister, Haylie, began taking acting lessons, Hilary joined her. At age six Duff joined a touring production of The Nutcracker ballet, and she also acted in local commercials as a youngster. She earned her first television role in 1996, in the miniseries True Women, which aired the following year.

"I get zits and bad hair just like everyone else. But I think you have to work through it. I'm very into embracing your flaws and knowing that you're beautiful for a lot of different reasons besides just what you look like on the outside."

Once Haylie and Hilary began getting acting jobs, they persuaded their parents that they had to live in Los Angeles if they were to have any chance at a career in the entertainment industry. During the late 1990s, despite her declaration in Newsweek that she "never wanted to be a stage mom," Susan Duff drove her daughters, their possessions, and their pets from Texas to Los Angeles. The girls' father, Bob, stayed in Texas—he is a partner in a convenience-store chain—but he flies to California every few weeks to spend time with his family. Soon after the move, Duff hit the audition circuit, trying out for every part she could find. She was cast as Wendy in the direct-to-video film Casper Meets Wendy in 1998. She earned a role in the television movie The Soul Collector and a guest appearance on Chicago Hope. Then, in 2000, Duff auditioned for the Disney Channel's upcoming new show, Lizzie McGuire. After appearing before the show's producers four times, Duff was hired. Rich Ross, president of the Disney channel's entertainment division, commented in Newsweek on the number of tryouts: "She wasn't doing anything wrong. She just wore such great outfits, and we wanted to see what she'd come in with next."

Amanda Bynes Makes the Transition

Amanda Bynes (1986–), a standout among the crop of young stars getting their start on television shows aimed at the tween audience, spent several years sharpening her comedic skills on the Nickelodeon network before successfully heading to the big screen. Born in 1986 and raised in the Los Angeles area, Bynes entered show business at a young age. She was discovered while participating in a children's comedy workshop at the age of seven, and by her tenth birthday she had been hired as part of the cast of Nickelodeon's All That. During her four years on that sketch comedy show, Bynes displayed her sharp comic timing and physical comedy chops. The network felt her potential was so great that she earned her own show in 1999, The Amanda Show. Both shows highlighted Bynes's facility for goofy humor; Time 's Richard Corliss wrote of comparisons made between Bynes and two highly respected queens of comedy: "She has been called the new Lucille Ball and the next Gilda Radner, thanks to her deft, daft turns on [Nickelodeon]." Bynes attracted a large following, particularly among preteen viewers. She was voted favorite television actress three years in a row on Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice awards.

While Bynes enjoyed the years of silly wigs and outrageous pratfalls, she longed for the opportunity to be viewed as a legitimate actress. Knowing she eventually wanted to make the transition to more challenging roles, preferably on the big screen, Bynes waited until she was well into her teen years before pursuing that goal. She appeared opposite Frankie Muniz in the 2002 film Big Fat Liar, and later that year she earned a starring role in a new sitcom on the WB, What I Like about You. Costarring Jennie Garth, formerly of Beverly Hills 90210, the series features Bynes as a suburban teen who moves in with her city-dwelling older sister. In 2003 she scored a headlining role in What a Girl Wants, a modern-day retelling of the 1958 hit The Reluctant Debutante. Bynes plays a free-spirited American girl who jets off to London to find her father, an aristocratic Englishman who does not even know she exists. While the film received mixed reviews, many critics were struck by Bynes's fresh-faced appeal and easy on-camera confidence. What a Girl Wants served as an effective launching pad for Bynes, who began entertaining numerous other film offers soon after its release.

Like her fellow teen queen Hilary Duff, Bynes has retained a down-to-earth outlook amidst her international stardom. She has expressed a desire to have a long-term acting career, but she has little interest in the glitzy entertainment-industry scene. Bynes told Corliss: "I pride myself on not being Hollywood. I could go to the parties and stuff, but for me it's so fake."

Life as Lizzie

Lizzie McGuire began airing in 2001, when both Duff and the character she played were thirteen years old. On the show, Lizzie—sweet, smart, but not terribly smooth—encounters problems typical for a girl navigating the treacherous waters of adolescence: crushes on boys, arguments with friends, and difficulties with parents. While Lizzie sometimes fumbles her way through crisis situations, the cartoon version of Lizzie, who appears periodically to comment on the circumstances, always knows just what to say and do. The show quickly became a huge success, earning a massive following among tween girls—that is, girls between the ages of about eight and fourteen—and even among older teens and people in their twenties. Parents approved of the show for its positive outlook, and kids loved Lizzie because it portrayed the problems of a normal, average girl. The show's executive producer, Stan Rogow, told Entertainment Weekly 's Tim Carvell that Lizzie was characterized "by what she wasn't: She wasn't the cheerleader, she wasn't the diva, she wasn't the jock, she just was Lizzie."

Watching "just Lizzie" week after week was more than enough for viewers, who adored the character as well as the actress who played her. Duff became a celebrity almost overnight; she could hardly go anywhere without encountering young fans who wanted her autograph or a photo. Famous for playing a typical teen, Duff suddenly had a life that was far from typical. Rather than go to school, she worked with an on-set tutor several hours a day. In addition to filming episodes of Lizzie McGuire, Duff also branched out to film roles, playing young Lila Jute in Human Nature in 2001 and the title role in the 2002 television movie Cadet Kelly. At this time she also began expanding her career to include singing, recording "I Can't Wait," the opening track for the Lizzie McGuire show. She contributed a track to the CD Disneymania, and she (along with several featured guests) released a Christmas album in 2002, Santa Claus Lane.

Triple threat

Two thousand three was a banner year for Duff, when she made the transition from Disney-bred tween sensation to bona fide star of television, films, and pop music. Lizzie McGuire continued as the Disney Channel's number-one series, spawning the equally successful Lizzie McGuire Movie, which features Lizzie heading to Rome for a summertime class trip. While there, she meets a handsome Italian singer named Paolo and is persuaded to assume the identity of pop star Isabella, Paolo's partner, who happens to be a dead ringer for young Lizzie. In addition to starring in the film, Duff recorded several songs for the hit soundtrack. Also during 2003, Duff had a starring role opposite fellow television actor Frankie Muniz (1985–) in the movie Agent Cody Banks, in which she plays Natalie, Cody Banks's love interest. The year was capped off with a role as one of the twelve children in Cheaper by the Dozen, starring Steve Martin (1945–).

Duff's whirlwind success encountered an obstacle when she and Disney parted ways during the negotiations for a sequel to The Lizzie McGuire Movie. The television series was in its final season, with Disney limiting it to sixty-five episodes, and when the two parties were unable to reach a deal for a second movie, Duff faced a Lizzie-less future.

Although Lizzie fans were heartbroken, the effect on Duff's career proved minimal. She continued to score film roles, starring in both A Cinderella Story and Raise Your Voice in 2004. She also made a successful transition from actress to pop singer, releasing her first full-length solo album, Metamorphosis, in August of 2003. By October of that year, the album had gone platinum, meaning one million copies had sold. Three months later, that number had nearly tripled. The executives at her label, Buena Vista (which is owned by Disney), made it a priority to market Duff's music not just to her preteen Lizzie fans but also to an older audience. The songs were crafted by a team of veteran pop songwriters and producers; however, two tracks were written by a relative newcomer: Duff's big sister, Haylie.

Crucial to the acceptance of Duff as more than just a tween queen was her presence on MTV, as noted by Craig Rosen in Billboard : "The Disney Channel show Lizzie McGuire may have launched Duff's career, but MTV has been influential in helping her make the transformation from TV personality to pop star." The video for the album's hit single "So Yesterday" reached number two on Total Request Live (TRL), MTV's must-see all-request show. The video of another single, "Why Not," also appeared regularly on TRL. Another important partner helping Duff find musical success was America Online, or AOL, which offered its Internet subscribers exclusive and abundant access to Duff videos, concerts, photos, and more. Metamorphosis found success in more conventional channels as well: "So Yesterday," for example, made a huge splash on Top 40 radio and reached number one on Billboard 's Hot 100 chart.

Marketing and merchandise

In November of 2003 Duff expanded her territory even farther, releasing a DVD called All Access Pass. Her first music DVD, All Access Pass includes videos for the singles "So Yesterday," "I Can't Wait," and "Why Not." It also features footage of live performances as well as behind-the-scenes glimpses of Duff and her creative team hard at work. The fall of 2003 also saw the release of three Hilary Duff fashion dolls, each of which represents a facet of Duff's career: rock star, movie star, and TV star. The following spring, Duff premiered her own line of clothing, shoes, cosmetics, and accessories; Stuff by Hilary Duff is sold at Target in the United States and by other retailers elsewhere, including Zellers in Canada and Kmart in Australia.

Going well beyond a simple acting and singing career, Duff presides over a multimedia empire. In spite of having grown up in front of a camera, Duff has managed, according to family and friends, to remain a sincere, down-to-earth person. In Entertainment Weekly, Lizzie McGuire executive producer Rogow gave much of the credit to Duff's parents, acknowledging the dangers of allowing a child into show business: "It takes an extraordinary effort, I think, to avoid [the pitfalls]. It's a full-time thing ... and somehow, the Duffs have been able to do it." In an attempt to use her fame to change the world, Duff is active in Kids with a Cause, a nonprofit organization that helps combat poverty, illness, and neglect among young people. An animal lover, she is also involved with a wild horse sanctuary called Return to Freedom. Duff has expressed a true appreciation for what she has achieved, showing no signs of taking her success for granted. In a 2004 interview with CosmoGirl! magazine, she looked back on her pre-Lizzie days and gave credit to the whole Duff clan: "I've worked really hard—and it hasn't been just me. It's been a team effort with my entire family, including my sister, Haylie. Over the last five years, I auditioned and auditioned and kept trying and trying, and now we're seeing the reward for all the work we did."

For More Information

Periodicals

Berger, Lori. "Hilary Duff." CosmoGirl! (March 2004): p. 126.

Carvell, Tim. "The Girl in the Bubble." Entertainment Weekly (May 9, 2003): p. 34.

Corliss, Richard. "The Fresh-Face Factory." Time (April 14, 2003): p. 76.

Rosen, Craig. "Hilary Duff: A Performer's Metamorphosis." Billboard (January 31, 2004): p. 10.

Stroup, Kate. "Girl Power." Newsweek (March 17, 2003): p. 56.

Web Sites

Hilary Duff. http://www.hilaryduff.com/html_2003/main_site/frameset.htm (accessed on June 26, 2004).

Hilary Duff: Metamorphosis. http://buenavistarecords.go.com/hilaryduff/ (accessed on June 26, 2004).

Hilary Duff

Singer

Hilary Duff became a household name and a worldwide phenomenon thanks to her starring role in the hit Disney series Lizzie McGuire. With her wholesome blonde looks and exuberant personality, Duff stepped into the part of the likable middle-schooler with ease, though she had very little professional experience before the show debuted in early 2001.

Duff was suddenly dubbed the new "tween queen" in the media, a superstar for a generation of pre-teens whose age group had now grown to include ten-year-olds. This new "tween" category was a marketing phenomenon that took off with Duff and her cohorts around 2002. But as Newsweek 's Kate Stroup noted, the Texas teen was a cut above. "Duff, who's got a giddy charm and unexpected vulnerability in person, has established herself as the best actress of her generation," Stroup asserted, "easily outclassing the Olsen twins and Nickelodeon's Amanda Bynes."

Duff was born on September 28, 1987, and grew up in Boerne, Texas, a part of the state known as Hill Country. She was close to her older sister, Haylie, who was two years her senior, and took gymnastics and ballet lessons from an early age. She eventually won a part in The Nutcracker with BalletMet Columbus in the Ohio company's tour of the Christmastime classic. Their mother, Susan, who had once worked as a makeup artist, decided to take the girls to Los Angeles, California, to try their luck in television commercials. Right away, they landed jobs. "We were like, 'This is so easy!'" Duff recalled when Taylor Hanson spoke with her for an Interview article. "Then we went back to Texas … and came back to L.A. for the next pilot season. We thought that would be easy, too, but you audition and audition, and you don't get anything."

Headed to Hollywood

On that second trip to Los Angeles in 1996, Duff's mother had decided to resettle there in order to be closer to the entertainment business. Their father, Bob, was a partner in a chain of convenience stores back in Texas, and agreed to the plan, with visits from him every three weeks. The Duff women headed to Hollywood in a car with all their belongings, which included a pair of goldfish, a hermit crab, gerbil, and rabbit. Both Duff and her sister won parts in a television miniseries, True Women, in 1997, and Duff also appeared in a movie that went straight to video, Casper Meets Wendy.

A rough patch followed, and Duff did not work for almost two years. "Some kids have success too quickly, and they take it for granted, but it definitely didn't come too fast for us," she reflected in an article that Texas Monthly invited her to write. She appeared in the pilot episode of an NBC sitcom, Daddio, but the show's producers replaced her when casting the regular series, which did not last anyway. After that, she won a guest role on a Chicago Hope episode that aired in March of 2000, but was beginning to feel disillusioned by the search for work. "I was, like, wanting to quit," she recalled in an interview with Entertainment Weekly journalist Tim Carvell, "and I had one audition left, and it was Lizzie McGuire."

Became Lizzie McGuire

Duff actually auditioned for the Disney show four separate times, as the network's entertainment-division president Rich Ross told Stroup in the Newsweek article. "She wasn't doing anything wrong," Ross said of the multiple auditions. "She just wore such great outfits, and we wanted to see what she'd come in with next." Clearly, Duff had a natural star quality, and Ross and his colleagues decided she was a perfect fit in the role of a normal middle-school student with an amusing animated alter ego. Lizzie McGuire debuted in January of 2001, and quickly garnered a huge following among younger viewers for its lighthearted look at the ups and downs in the life of a klutzy middle-schooler.

With plots revolving around Lizzie's adventures at home and at school, and helped out by her two best friends, Gordo and Miranda, the show was a hit with critics and even older viewers, too. Many of the storylines "typically prey upon Lizzie's insecurities, which are more about what she wants to do when she grows up than about the size of her tummy, or crushes on boys," the New York Times's Hillary Frey reflected. "In stark contrast to the contrivances of prime-time teenage dramas," Frey continued, "Lizzie's problems are plausible, her character believable. This is key: Lizzie is the luminous and loyal friend any kid would want to have at a stage of adolescence when the world just begins to seem very dark."

More than one television critic and celebrity confessed to being a fan of Lizzie McGuire. "Lizzie's fizzy middle-school misadventures, like buying a bra and scoring a first kiss, are always sweet, never syrupy—making the show palatable for parents and even twentysomethings," declared Stroup in Newsweek. Carvell, writing in Entertainment Weekly, noted that Duff's hit show "amounts to Ally McBeal with longer skirts and homework: Lizzie negotiates all the crises of middle school, while her cartoon alter ego supplies fantasy sequences and wry commentary." Duff herself explained Lizzie's particular appeal. "She doesn't exactly fit in at school," the actress reflected in an interview with Time 's Richard Corliss. "Even though she's cool, and she dresses cool, she doesn't know who she is yet."

Lizzie McGuire became the Disney Channel's highest-rated program, and also the highest-rated program on basic cable in its 7:30 p.m. time slot. The Disney marketing machine went into overdrive, merchandising tie-in material that included a series of Lizzie McGuire novels, a clothing line, and then a big-screen version. Duff's status as the new "Tween Queen" was cemented by a Vanity Fair cover for its annual Hollywood issue. Though The Lizzie McGuire Movie, released in 2003, was savaged by many critics, it took in $17.3 million on its opening weekend, a testament to the legions of Duff/McGuire fans. Its plot began with the end of her middle-school career for McGuire, and an exciting summer class trip to Rome, where Lizzie becomes involved with a handsome Italian teen pop star named Paolo (Yani Gellman).

For the Record . . .

Born Hilary Ann Lisa Duff on September 28, 1987, in Houston, TX; daughter of Bob (a retail executive) and Susan (a business manager) Duff.

Appeared in a BalletMet Columbus tour of The Nutcracker, c. 1993; film appearances include: Human Nature, 2001; Agent Cody Banks, 2003; The Lizzie McGuire Movie, 2003; A Cinderella Story, 2004; Raise Your Voice, 2004; The Perfect Man, 2004; Outward Blonde, 2005. Launched singing career with "Santa Clause Lane," included on the soundtrack to The Santa Clause 2, 2002, and on her own Christmas album Santa Claus Lane, 2002; released Metamorphosis, 2003; released single "So Yesterday," 2003; released single "Come Clean," 2004; contributed to A Cinderella Story soundtrack, 2004.

Awards: Young Hollywood Award, "Today's Superstar," 2004.

Addresses: Office—c/o Boo Management and Consulting, 10061 Riverside Dr., Ste. 1061, Toluca Lake, CA 91602. Website—Hilary Duff Official Website: http://www.hilaryduff.com.

Disney also owned the ABC network, and had planned to move Duff into prime-time on the broadcast network with a new series that would feature Lizzie as a high-schooler. There were, however, reportedly two other broadcast networks vying for a chance to give Duff her own prime-time sitcom, and Duff's mother, who served as her business manager, was reportedly unhappy with Disney's offer for a big-screen sequel. There was further rancor involving an alleged $500,000 bonus Disney had promised when The Lizzie McGuire Movie had earned $50 million at the box office. "Disney thought they'd be able to bully us into accepting whatever offer they wanted to make, and they couldn't," Susan Duff told Entertainment Weekly writer Allison Hope Weiner. "We walked away from a sequel. They walked away from a franchise."

Music Career Blossomed

Duff was already a feature-film veteran by then, with a role in another tween hit, Agent Cody Banks with Frankie Muniz, and signed to a $2 million paycheck for the lead in A Cinderella Story. She had also segued into a recording career, with a CD, Metamorphosis, on Buena Vista/Hollywood Records—also owned by Disney but part of a separate contract from her film and television work. Her debut record of pop tunes went platinum weeks after its release in August of 2003, yet further evidence of Duff's ongoing appeal to her vast Lizzie McGuire audience. Her move to pop stardom was somewhat unexpected, she told Billboard writer Craig Rosen, but certainly not unwelcome. In 2001, she had taken part in a Radio Disney concert, and saw "all these pop acts backstage at the concert," Duff told Rosen. "They were all getting ready backstage and warming up, and I was like, 'I want to do this so bad.'"

Despite her thriving career in television and film, Duff's first actual singing appearance before a live audience was unnerving, she confessed. It came at the American Music Awards telecast in November of 2003, with several industry heavy-hitters, among them country superstar Faith Hill, sitting in the front row. "I was so nervous I thought I was going to throw up," she wrote in the article for Texas Monthly. But Duff then embarked on a concert tour to promote Metamorphosis, and the tour dates also served to boost her profile for her next project: her appearance in the Steve Martin family comedy Cheaper by the Dozen, which hit theaters in time for the holiday 2003 season.

Duff's career in television seemed to end with the 65-episode run of Lizzie McGuire. She was the object of a bidding war between networks in the fall of 2003, and walked away with a sitcom development deal with CBS. A few months later, however, the network announced that there would not be a new Duff series, after writers and producers failed to come up with a suitable project for the teen star.

Her career in Hollywood and on stage, meanwhile, continued at an exciting pace: in June of 2004, she and her sister, Haylie, released a single, the remake of the early 1980s Go-Go's classic, "Our Lips Are Sealed," which was slated to appear on A Cinderella Story 's soundtrack. The movie was set in California's San Fernando Valley, and starred Duff as Sam, a high-schooler whose father dies and leaves his restaurant to Sam's brutish stepmother, played by Jennifer Coolidge (Legally Blonde, American Pie). Sam is overworked at home and at the restaurant, and ignored at school, until she begins receiving mysterious text messages from the cute boy at school, played by Chad Michael Murray (Freaky Friday, The Gilmore Girls). Duff was also slated to appear in The Perfect Man, opposite Heather Locklear and Chris Noth, about a daughter determined to find a mate for her single mom.

Released Sophomore Album

Duff's second album, Hilary Duff, was released in September of 2004 on Hollywood Records. Keeping with the emerging pop themes and styles being established by artists such as Ashlee Simpson and Avril Lavigne, the album, as described on All Music Guide, "might take itself a little seriously, it might be a little uneven, but it feels like the soundtrack to the life of a smart, ambitious, popular teenager trying to sort things out." The album peaked on the American Billboard 200 at number two. Duff is especially popular in Canada, and in 2004, Metamorphosis was nominated for a Juno Award. For the second year in a row, Duff achieved number one status on the Top Canadian Albums chart.

As for herself, Duff has had a difficult time dating with such a high public profile. The press avidly chronicled the perceived ups and downs of her relationship with pop singer Aaron Carter for most of 2003. Despite the multimillion-dollar contracts and endless business meetings, she remains very much a teenager. She travels with a tutor, who assigns typical high-school homework for her to complete, and for months she told reporters that she could only think about turning 16 and being able to get her driver's license. Nor is she immune to standard bouts of freak-out. "I think I have about two really good cries a year about being so overwhelmed and having so much stress," she confessed to CosmoGirl! writer Lori Berger. "Sometimes you don't even know what you're crying about because you've held it inside for so long."

Duff's efforts to balance these "freak-outs" involve the "feel-good" charity, Kids With A Cause, a non-profit organization with the mission "to teach philanthropy to today's youth by interacting and sharing experiences with those less fortunate."

Selected discography

(Contributor) The Santa Clause 2 (soundtrack), Disney, 2002.

Santa Claus Lane, Disney, 2002.

Metamorphosis, Buena Vista, 2003.

"So Yesterday" (single), Festival, 2003.

"Come Clean" (single), Festival, 2004.

(Contributor) A Cinderella Story (soundtrack), Hollywood, 2004.

Hilary Duff, Hollywood, 2004.

Sources

Periodicals

Billboard, January 31, 2004, p. 10; June 5, 2004, p. 32.

Billboard Bulletin, September 11, 2003, p. 1.

CosmoGirl!, March 2004, p. 126.

Daily Variety, May 2, 2003, p. 8; March 22, 2004, p. 7.

DSN Retailing Today, January 5, 2004, p. 2.

Entertainment Weekly, May 9, 2003, pp. 34-36; June 13, 2003, pp. 14-15.

Film Journal International, April 2003, p. 57.

Girls' Life, August-September 2003, p. 46.

Interview, February 2004, p. 122.

New Statesman, September 8, 2003, p. 46.

Newsweek, March 17, 2003, pp. 56-57.

New York Times, April 27, 2003, p. 13.

People, May 12, 2003, p. 37; May 19, 2003, pp. 83-84; April 5, 2004, p. 20.

Texas Monthly, April 2004, p. 80.

Time, April 14, 2003, pp. 76-79.

WWD, December 18, 2003, p. 2.

Online

"Hilary Duff," All Music Guide,http://www.allmusic.com (January 11, 2005).

Hilary Duff Official Website, http://www.hilaryduff.com (January 11, 2005).

Kids With a Cause, http://www.kidswithacause.org (January 11, 2005).

"Sizzlin' 16, 2003: Hilary Duff," E! Online, http:www.eonline.com/Features/Features/Sizzlin2003/Girls/index2.html (January 3, 2004).

—Carol Brennan

Hilary Duff

Actress and singer

Born Hilary Ann Lisa Duff, September 28, 1987, in Houston, TX; daughter of Bob (a retail executive) and Susan (a business manager) Duff.

Addresses:

Office—c/o Boo Management and Consulting, 10061 Riverside Dr., Ste. 1061, Toluca Lake, CA 91602.

Career

Appeared in a BalletMet Columbus tour of The Nutcracker, c. 1993; cast in television commercials. Film appearances include: True Women (uncredited), 1997; Casper Meets Wendy, 1998; Human Nature, 2001; Agent Cody Banks, 2003; The Lizzie McGuire Movie, 2003; Cheaper by the Dozen, 2003; A Cinderella Story, 2004; Raise Your Voice, 2004; The Perfect Man, 2004; Outward Blonde, 2005. Television appearances include: The Soul Collector (movie), 1999; Chicago Hope, 2000; Lizzie McGuire, 2001–03; Cadet Kelly (movie), 2002; George Lopez, 2003; American Dreams, 2003; Frasier (voice), 2004. Launched singing career with "Santa Clause Lane," included on the soundtrack to The Santa Clause 2, 2002, and on her own Christmas album Santa Claus Lane, 2002; released Metamorphosis, 2003; released single "So Yesterday," 2003; released single "Come Clean," 2004; contributed to A Cinderella Story soundtrack, 2004.

Sidelights

Hilary Duff became a household name and a worldwide phenomenon thanks to her starring role in the hit Disney series Lizzie McGuire. With her wholesome blonde looks and exuberant personality, Duff stepped into the part of the likable middle–schooler with ease, though she had very little professional experience before the show debuted in early 2001.

Duff was suddenly dubbed the new "tween queen" in the media, a superstar for a generation of pre–teens whose age group had now grown to include ten–year–olds. This new "tween" category was a marketing phenomenon that took off with Duff and her cohorts around 2002. But as Newsweek's Kate Stroup noted, the Texas teen was a cut above. "Duff, who's got a giddy charm and unexpected vulnerability in person, has established herself as the best actress of her generation," Stroup asserted, "easily outclassing the Olsen twins and Nickelodeon's Amanda Bynes."

Duff was born on September 28, 1987, and grew up in Boerne, Texas, a part of the state known as Hill Country. She was close to her older sister, Haylie, who was two years her senior, and took gymnastics and ballet lessons from an early age. She eventually won a part in The Nutcracker with BalletMet Columbus in the Ohio company's tour of the Christmas-time classic. Their mother, Susan, who had once worked as a makeup artist, decided to take the girls to Los Angeles, California, to try their luck in television commercials. Right away, they landed jobs. "We were like, 'This is so easy!'" Duff recalled when Taylor Hanson spoke with her for an Interview article. "Then we went back to Texas and came back to L.A. for the next pilot season. We thought that would be easy, too, but you audition and audition, and you don't get anything."

On that second trip to Los Angeles in 1996, Duff's mother had decided to resettle there in order to be closer to the entertainment business. Their father, Bob, was a partner in a chain of convenience stores back in Texas, and agreed to the plan, with visits from him every three weeks. The Duff women headed to Hollywood in a car with all their belongings, which included a pair of goldfish, a hermit crab, gerbil, and rabbit. Both Duff and her sister won parts in a television miniseries, True Women, in 1997, and Duff also appeared in a movie that went straight to video, Casper Meets Wendy.

A rough patch followed, and Duff did not work for almost two years. "Some kids have success too quickly, and they take it for granted, but it definitely didn't come too fast for us," she reflected in an article that Texas Monthly invited her to write. She appeared in the pilot episode of an NBC sitcom, Daddio, but the show's producers replaced her when casting the regular series, which did not last anyway. After that, she won a guest role on a Chicago Hope episode that aired in March of 2000, but was beginning to feel disillusioned by the search for work. "I was, like, wanting to quit," she recalled in an interview with Entertainment Weekly journalist Tim Carvell, "and I had one audition left, and it was Lizzie McGuire."

Duff actually auditioned for the Disney show four separate times, as the network's entertainment–division president Rich Ross told Stroup in the Newsweek article. "She wasn't doing anything wrong," Ross said of the multiple auditions. "She just wore such great outfits, and we wanted to see what she'd come in with next." Clearly, Duff had a natural star quality, and Ross and his colleagues decided she was a perfect fit in the role of a normal middle–school student with an amusing animated alter ego. Lizzie McGuire debuted in January of 2001, and quickly garnered a huge following among younger viewers for its lighthearted look at the ups and downs in the life of a klutzy middle–schooler.

With plots revolving around Lizzie's adventures at home and at school, and helped out by her two best friends, Gordo and Miranda, the show was a hit with critics and even older viewers, too. Many of the storylines "typically prey upon Lizzie's insecurities, which are more about what she wants to do when she grows up than about the size of her tummy, or crushes on boys," the New York Times' Hillary Frey reflected. "In one episode Lizzie, who has quit many an extracurricular activity, worries that she isn't as talented as" Gordo, a wannabe film-maker, and Miranda, a violin prodigy. "In stark contrast to the contrivances of prime–time teenage dramas," Frey continued, "Lizzie's problems are plausible, her character believable. This is key: Lizzie is the luminous and loyal friend any kid would want to have at a stage of adolescence when the world just begins to seem very dark."

More than one television critic and celebrity confessed to being a fan of Lizzie McGuire. "Lizzie's fizzy middle–school misadventures, like buying a bra and scoring a first kiss, are always sweet, never syrupy—making the show palatable for parents and even twentysomethings," declared Stroup in Newsweek. Carvell, writing in Entertainment Weekly, noted that Duff's hit show "amounts to Ally McBeal with longer skirts and homework: Lizzie negotiates all the crises of middle school, while her cartoon alter ego supplies fantasy sequences and wry commentary." Duff herself explained Lizzie's particular appeal. "She doesn't exactly fit in at school," the actress reflected in an interview with Time's Richard Corliss. "Even though she's cool, and she dresses cool, she doesn't know who she is yet."

Lizzie McGuire became the Disney Channel's highest–rated program, and also the highest–rated program on basic cable in its 7:30 p.m. time slot. The Disney marketing machine went into overdrive, merchandising tie–in material that included a series of Lizzie McGuire novels, a clothing line, and then a big–screen version. That was slated for a spring release in 2003, and Duff's status as the new "Tween Queen" was cemented by a Vanity Fair cover for its annual Hollywood issue. Though The Lizzie McGuire Movie was savaged by many critics, it took in $17.3 million on its opening weekend, a testament to the legions of Duff/McGuire fans. Its plot began with the end of her middle–school career for McGuire, and an exciting summer class trip to Rome, where Lizzie becomes involved with a handsome Italian teen pop star named Paolo (Yani Gellman).

Disney also owned the ABC network, and had planned to move Duff into prime–time on the broadcast network with a new series that would feature Lizzie as a high–schooler. There were, however, reportedly two other broadcast networks vying for a chance to give Duff her own prime–time sitcom, and Duff's mother, who served as her business manager, was reportedly unhappy with Disney's offer for a big–screen sequel. There was further rancor involving an alleged $500,000 bonus Disney had promised when The Lizzie McGuire Movie had earned $50 million at the box office. "Disney thought they'd be able to bully us into accepting whatever offer they wanted to make, and they couldn't," Susan Duff told Entertainment Weekly writer Allison Hope Weiner. "We walked away from a sequel. They walked away from a franchise."

Duff was already a feature–film veteran by then, with a role in another tween hit, Agent Cody Banks with Frankie Muniz, and signed to a $2 million paycheck for the lead in A Cinderella Story. She had also segued into a recording career, with a CD, Metamorphosis, on Buena Vista/Hollywood Records—also owned by Disney but part of a separate contract from her film and television work. Her debut record of pop tunes went platinum weeks after its release in August of 2003, yet further evidence of Duff's ongoing appeal to her vast Lizzie McGuire audience. Her move to pop stardom was somewhat unexpected, she told Billboard writer Craig Rosen, but certainly not unwelcome. In 2001, she had taken part in a Radio Disney concert, and saw "all these pop acts backstage at the concert," Duff told Rosen. "They were all getting ready backstage and warming up, and I was like, 'I want to do this so bad.'"

Despite her thriving career in television and film, Duff's first actual singing appearance before a live audience was unnerving, she confessed. It came at the American Music Awards telecast in November of 2003, with several industry heavy–hitters, among them country superstar Faith Hill, sitting in the front row. "I was so nervous I thought I was going to throw up," she wrote in the article for Texas Monthly. But Duff then embarked on a concert tour to promote Metamorphosis, and the tour dates also served to boost her profile for her next project: her appearance in the Steve Martin family comedy Cheaper by the Dozen, which hit theaters in time for the holiday 2003 season.

Duff's career in television seemed to end with the 65–episode run of Lizzie McGuire. She was the object of a bidding war between networks in the fall of 2003, and walked away with a sitcom development deal with CBS. A few months later, however, the network announced that there would not be a new Duff series, after writers and producers failed to come up with a suitable project for the teen star.

Her career in Hollywood and on stage, meanwhile, continued at an exciting pace: in June of 2004, she and her sister, Haylie, released a single, the remake of the early 1980s Go–Go's classic, "Our Lips Are Sealed," which was slated to appear on A Cinderella Story's soundtrack. The movie was set in California's San Fernando Valley, and starred Duff as Sam, a high–schooler whose father dies and leaves his restaurant to Sam's brutish stepmother, played by Jennifer Coolidge (Legally Blonde, American Pie). Sam is overworked at home and at the restaurant, and ignored at school, until she begins receiving mysterious text messages from the cute boy at school, played by Chad Michael Murray (Freaky Friday, The Gilmore Girls). Duff was also slated to appear in The Perfect Man, opposite Heather Locklear and Chris Noth, about a daughter determined to find a mate for her single mom.

As for herself, Duff has had a difficult time dating with such a high public profile. The press avidly chronicled the perceived ups and downs of her relationship with pop singer Aaron Carter for most of 2003. Despite the multimillion–dollar contracts and endless business meetings, she remains very much a teenager. She travels with a tutor, who assigns typical high–school homework for her to complete, and for months she told reporters that she could only think about turning 16 and being able to get her driver's license. Nor is she immune to standard bouts of freak–out. "I think I have about two really good cries a year about being so overwhelmed and having so much stress," she confessed to CosmoGirl! writer Lori Berger. "Sometimes you don't even know what you're crying about because you've held it inside for so long."

Selected discography

"Santa Clause Lane," The Santa Clause 2 (soundtrack), Disney, 2002.

Santa Claus Lane, Disney, 2002.

Metamorphosis, Buena Vista, 2003.

"So Yesterday" (single), Festival, 2003.

"Come Clean" (single), Festival, 2004.

(Contributor) A Cinderella Story (soundtrack), Hollywood, 2004.

Sources

Periodicals

Billboard, January 31, 2004, p. 10; June 5, 2004, p. 32.

Billboard Bulletin, September 11, 2003, p. 1.

CosmoGirl!, March 2004, p. 126.

Daily Variety, May 2, 2003, p. 8; March 22, 2004, p. 7.

DSN Retailing Today, January 5, 2004, p. 2.

Entertainment Weekly, May 9, 2003, pp. 34–36; June 13, 2003, pp. 14–15.

Film Journal International, April 2003, p. 57.

Girls' Life, August–September 2003, p. 46.

Interview, February 2004, p. 122.

New Statesman, September 8, 2003, p. 46.

Newsweek, March 17, 2003, pp. 56–57.

New York Times, April 27, 2003, p. 13.

People, May 12, 2003, p. 37; May 19, 2003, pp. 83–84; April 5, 2004, p. 20.

Texas Monthly, April 2004, p. 80.

Time, April 14, 2003, pp. 76–79.

WWD, December 18, 2003, p. 2.

Online

"Sizzlin' 16, 2003: Hilary Duff," E! Online, http:www.eonline.com/Features/Features/Sizzlin2003/Girls/index2.html (January 31, 2003).

—CarolBrennan

DUFF, Hilary 1987–

PERSONAL

Full name, Hilary Ann Lisa Duff; some sources cite original name as Hilary Tenley Erhard Duff; born September 28, 1987, in Houston, TX; daughter of Bob (a partner in a convenience store chain) and Susan (a makeup artist, rancher, and producer) Duff; sister of Haylie Duff (an actress and musical performer). Avocational Interests: Collecting picture frames, hats, and shoes.

Addresses: Manager— Curtis Talent Management, 9607 Arby Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90210.

Career: Actress, singer, composer, and dancer. Concert performer at venues throughout the United States. Appeared in print advertisements for milk, American Dairy Farmers, 2003. Creator of the clothing and makeup line, Stuff. Kids with a Cause, founding member, 1999, and volunteer; Return to Freedom (wild horse sanctuary), youth ambassador, 2003.

Awards, Honors: Young Artist Award nomination, best performance in a television movie, pilot, miniseries, or series by a young actress age ten or under, 1999, for Casper Meets Wendy; Young Artist Award, best supporting young actress in a television movie or pilot, 2000, for The Soul Collector; platinum record certification, Recording Industry Association of America, 2002, for Lizzie McGuire; Young Artist Award nominations, best performance by a leading young actress in a television comedy series, 2002, and best ensemble on a television comedy or drama series (with others), 2002 and 2003, and Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award nomination, favorite television actress, 2003, all for Lizzie McGuire; Teen Choice Award, choice breakout movie actress, and Teen Choice Award nominations, choice movie actress in a comedy, choice television actress in a comedy, and choice " female hottie, " all 2003; Radio Disney Music Award, best style, 2003.

CREDITS

Television Appearances; Series:

Title role, Lizzie McGuire, The Disney Channel, 2001–2003.

Television Appearances; Movies:

Wendy, Casper Meets Wendy, 1998.

Ellie, The Soul Collector, CBS, 1999.

Kelly Collins (title role), Cadet Kelly, The Disney Channel, 2002.

Television Appearances; Miniseries:

True Women, 1997.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Hilary Duff's Island Birthday Bash, The WB, 2003.

Hilary Duff WB Holiday Music Special, The WB, 2003.

VH1 Big in '03, VH1, 2003.

Real Access: Hot 24 in 2004, Noggin Network, 2003.

Cohost, MTV's New Year's Eve 2004, MTV, 2003.

Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular, NBC, 2003.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, 2003.

Also appeared in Jingle Ball Rock, Fox.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

Jessie Seldon, " Cold Hearts, " Chicago Hope, CBS, 2000.

Guest, Good Day L.A., Fox, 2003.

Judge, Star Search, syndicated, 2003.

Guest, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC, 2003.

Stephanie, " Team Leader, " George Lopez, ABC, 2003.

Guest host, Total Request Live, MTV, 2003.

Guest, Good Morning America, ABC, 2003.

" Hilary Duff: In the Driver's Seat, " Diary, MTV, 2003.

Guest, The Frank Skinner Show, BBC (England), 2003.

Guest, Punk'd, MTV, 2003.

Member of the Shangri–Las, " Change a Comin, " American Dreams, NBC, 2003.

Guest, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, multiple appearances, syndicated, 2003.

" Come Clean, " Making the Video, 2003.

Host, " 50 Greatest Teen Icons, " The Greatest, 2003.

" The Lizzie McGuire Movie, " Movie Surfers, 2003.

Cohost, Access Hollywood, NBC, 2003.

Host, Teen Nick, Nickelodeon, 2004.

Voice of Britney, " Frasier–Lite, " Frasier, NBC, 2004.

Television Appearances; Awards Presentations:

The 16th Annual Aria Music Awards, Ten Network (Australia), 2002.

Presenter, 2003 MTV Movie Awards, MTV, 2003.

2003 Teen Choice Awards, Fox, 2003.

Presenter, MTV Video Music Awards, MTV, 2003.

2003 Radio Music Awards, NBC, 2003.

The 31st Annual American Music Awards, ABC, 2003.

Presenter, Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2003, Nickelodeon, 2003.

Television Appearances; Other:

Appeared in a public service campaign of short spots called Express Yourself.

Television Work; Movies:

(Uncredited) Song performer, " I Can't Wait, " Right on Track, The Disney Channel, 2003.

Film Appearances:

Young Lila Jute, Human Nature, Fine Line, 2002.

Natalie Connors, Agent Cody Banks, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer, 2003.

Lizzie McGuire/Isabella Parigi, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Buena Vista, 2003.

Lorraine Baker, Cheaper by the Dozen, Twentieth Century–Fox, 2003.

Sam Montgomery (some sources cite Samantha Martin), A Cinderella Story, Warner Bros., 2004.

Film Work:

Song performer, " Santa Claus Lane, " The Santa Clause 2, Buena Vista, 2002.

Stage Appearances:

(Stage debut) The Nutcracker, Columbus Ballet (some sources cite Cechetti Ballet), tour of U.S. cities, 1993.

Radio Appearances; Episodic:

Guest host, Reality Radio, KIIS–FM, 2003.

Guest on local radio programs.

RECORDINGS

Albums:

Santa Claus Lane, 2002.

(Contributor) Lizzie McGuire (soundtrack album), 2002.

(Contributor) Disneymania, 2002.

Metamorphosis, Buena Vista Records, 2003.

Also recorded the singles " Tell Me a Story, " 2002; " So Yesterday, " 2003; and " Why Not, " 2003.

Videos:

Hilary Duff: All Access Pass, 2003.

Appeared in the music videos " So Yesterday " and " Why Not, " both 2003.

WRITINGS

Film Music:

Song composer, " What Dreams Are Made Of " and " Why Not, " The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Buena Vista, 2003.

Television Music; Series:

Song composer, Lizzie McGuire, The Disney Channel, between 2001 and 2003.

OTHER SOURCES

Periodicals:

Billboard, July 5, 2003, p. 33; December 13, 2003, p. 30.

Entertainment Weekly, May 9, 2003, pp. 34–36; June 13, 2003, pp. 14–15.

Newsweek, March 17, 2003, p. 56.

Parade, May 19, 2003, p. 83; December 21, 2003, p. 14.

People Weekly, January 28, 2002, p. 71; August 4, 2003, p. 24.

TV Guide, April 13, 2002, p. 54; December 14, 2002, p. 56; April 19, 2003, pp. 35–38.

Vanity Fair, July, 2003, pp. 156–57.

Electronic:

Official Hilary Duff Web Site, http://www.hilaryduff.com, January 10, 2004.