Biography - Hilary Duff

“Lizzie McGuire” star Hilary Duff has had the career ups and downs of a Hollywood veteran - four albums, some successful films, notable failures, and public dramas with Lindsay Lohan. That’s an impressive list for a 19 year-old.

Duff was born on September 28, 1987 in Houston, Texas. Along with her older sister Haylie, who has recently become a star herself, Hilary performed in the ballet “The Nutcracker Suite” in San Antonio when she was six years old. The sisters soon moved to California with their mother to pursue careers as professional child actors, and in 1998 Hilary nabbed her first lead role in “Casper Meets Wendy”, the second straight-to-video sequel to the 1995 family hit “Casper”. Nonetheless, Duff’s career took a while to take off, but after a string of failed opportunities she was cast in the Disney Channel series “Lizzie McGuire” in the lead role. The show quickly became one of the most popular programs in the network’s history, and Duff became enormously popular with pre-teen girls.

Quickly after becoming of the most popular child actors around, Duff recorded her first pop vocal album in 2002, the Christmas-themed “Santa Claus Lane”. The album was a minor hit, and in 2003 she released her second album “Metamorphosis” which surprisingly sold nearly 4 million copies in the U.S. alone. The same year saw her in “The Lizzie McGuire Movie”, the pre-teen actioner “Agent Cody Banks” alongside Frankie Muniz, and the hit Steve Martin comedy “Cheaper by the Dozen”. Duff’s successful pop career has recently produced a self-titled album in 2004, and 2005’s “Most Wanted”, which despite selling less than her previous efforts has garnered her some significant critical acclaim. After 2004’s hit romantic comedy “A Cinderella Story”, Duff’s film career has been less successful, with “Raise Your Voice”, “The Perfect Man”, and the recent “Material Girls” failing to ignite much box office activity.

Duff is currently dating Good Charlotte rocker Joel Madden, a relationship that has proven far less dramatic than her pre-teen fling with wannabe pop star Aaron Carter in 2000. Carter was also involved with fellow teen queen Lindsay Lohan, and the two pop stars embarked on a brief but highly publicized tabloid feud. Luckily, Duff is focusing on her performing talents these days, with a hotly anticipated album on the way this fall, and next year she will star in the comedy “Outward Blonde”.