The girl who got her start playing Lizzie McGuire on the Disney Channel has seen an explosive career in several different industries.

Hilary Erhard Duff was born September 28, 1987 in Houston, Texas. She had a few minor film roles, including 1998's Casper and 1999's The Soul Collector, before she landed her breakthrough role in the Disney Channel/ABC Kids show Lizzie McGuire. She continued to pursue her big screen aspirations, appearing in the indie film Human Nature, as well as working on her singing career. Her first single, "Santa Claus Lane," was written for the Disney film The Santa Clause 2, in which she also created her own Christmas album, titling it after her debut track. As Lizzie McGuire fever catapulted into something Disney channel had only seen a few times before, Duff started to move out of her preteen role. By 2003 she appeared in Frankie Munoz's Agent Cody Banks and stared one last time as the role that made her a star, with The Lizzie McGuire Movie. The film featured two of Duff's original songs,"Why Not" and "I Can't Wait," which launched her career as a musical artist.

She released Metamorphosis, a debut album that clearly demonstrated she was not the character she played on her Disney channel sitcom. From there, Duff went on tour promoting her new album and was one of the dozen kids on the Steve Martin film Cheaper by the Dozen. She continued to appear in more second-rate Hollywood films and released her self-titled sophomore effort that revealed an even edgier Duff. The singer remained in the spotlight even when she wasn't performing or acting as a tabloid regular, dating Good Charlotte member Joel Madden. She released her third album, Most Wanted followed by her fourth, Dignity, in 2007, which was inspired by her breakup with the before-named rocker.