About Miley

Biography

Born in Franklin, Tennessee,^[1] a suburb of Nashville, Miley Cyrus attended Heritage Middle School,^[3] but now has a private tutor.^[4] She grew up on her parents’ farm outside of Nashville.^[5] Cyrus is the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and Leticia “Tish” Cyrus,^[1] and the granddaughter of the late Ron Cyrus and Ruth Ann Cyrus. She has two elder half-brothers, Christopher Cody and Trace, the latter being the vocalist and guitarist of an electronic rock band, Metro Station in California.^[6] She also has an elder half-sister, Brandi, a younger brother, Braison, and a younger sister, Noah, who is also an actress.^[7] She was named Destiny Hope because her parents believed that she would accomplish great things.^[1] Cyrus gained her nickname “Miley” because she kept smiling (“Smiley”) as a youngster.^[1] In an interview with USA Today, Cyrus was quoted as saying her faith is “the main thing” and is the reason why she works in Hollywood.^[8] When interviewed by Parade, she added that she attends church regularly with her family.^[9] She also has many pets, including horses, dogs, cats, fish and chickens.^[10]

Career

Cyrus became interested in acting at age nine when the family briefly lived in Toronto, Canada. Her first acting role was as a guest star on her father’s television series Doc, in which she played a girl named Kylie.^[11][2] In 2003, she played “Young Ruthie” in Tim Burton‘s Big Fish and was credited as Destiny Cyrus. She was also featured in Rhonda Vincent‘s music video for “If Heartaches Have Wings”, and appeared on Colgate Country Showdown with her father, who was hosting the program.

Cyrus was eleven years old when she originally auditioned for Disney for the lead as well as the “best friend” roles;^[12] Disney Channel executives then judged her to be “too small”, however Miley was persistent in her desire to be part of the show, so Disney called her back for further auditions when she turned 12. According to Disney Channel Executive Vice President Gary Marsh, Cyrus was chosen for Hannah Montana because of her energetic and lively performance and was seen as a person who “loves every minute of life”,^[13] with the “everyday relatability of Hilary Duff and the stage presence of Shania Twain“.^[5] She spent several years to get rid of her Southern accent, but in the end Disney wanted her to revive it. Later in an unusual twist, Cyrus had to audition her own father, Billy Ray Cyrus, to see if he would fit the role as Hannah’s dad.^[14] Cyrus currently stars in Hannah Montana as the lead character Miley Stewart, whose alter ego is the pop music sensation Hannah Montana. Cyrus also performs in character as Hannah Montana for albums and concerts.

In 2004, Cyrus became a spokesperson for Daisy Rock Guitars, when she was presented with her first Daisy Rock guitar— the Stardust Series Acoustic Electric Pink Sparkle. It was given to her by her parents from her father’s Country Music Television fan meet-and-greet when she was twelve years old.^[15]

On June 22, 2006, a performance of a Hannah Montana concert (featuring Cyrus as Hannah Montana) at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida was recorded for the Disney Channel. Cyrus spent the rest of 2006 opening for The Cheetah Girls on 20 dates of their 39-city tour.^[16] Cyrus also appeared in the Disney Channel Hannah Montana promotion, “Hannah Montana’s Backstage Secrets”, in which she portrays Hannah Montana in a fictional interview set in the show’s canon.

Walt Disney Records released the Hannah Montana soundtrack on October 24, 2006. The soundtrack included eight of the songs that Cyrus performed as Hannah Montana. Cyrus also signed a four-album major record deal with Hollywood Records for her own albums.

Cyrus is good friends with fellow Hannah Montana co-stars Emily Osment and Mitchel Musso, often texting and conference calling each other during busy days.^[4] Miley Cyrus also taught Emily Osment how to play the guitar and Osment taught Cyrus how to knit. She is also friends with the stars of the highly successful TV movie High School Musical, including Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale,and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody stars including Brenda Song.Cyrus had a brief cameo in High School Musical 2 credited as “Girl at Pool”, where she danced in front of the pool wearing a yellow baby doll top before the end credits.

Cyrus performed as Hannah Montana at the Walt Disney Christmas Parade on December 25, 2006, singing her version of the holiday classic “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”

In June 26, 2007, exactly eight months after the release of the first soundtrack, Cyrus released a double album, Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus. The first disc served as the second Hannah Montana soundtrack, while the second disc was Cyrus’ debut album as herself. She co-wrote, credited as “Destiny Hope Cyrus”, eight of the ten songs.

While attending the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix premiere, Cyrus stated that they are working on ideas for a Hannah Montana movie. The feature-length film is to be produced by Cyrus’s both on and off-screen dad, Billy Ray Cyrus.^[17]

Disney released a Hannah Montana clothing collection in late summer. Cyrus helped to design some of the pieces from the collection. “It’s not a costume. A tween girl isn’t doing dress-up, they want to look like they could be Hannah Montana’s friend. This is a fashion line.”^[18]

Walt Disney Records has announced that Cyrus will be performing both as herself and in character as Hannah Montana on a 54-date North American Best of Both Worlds Tour starting October 18, 2007 in St. Louis, Missouri and ending January 9, 2008 in Albany, New York.^[19]. The Jonas Brothers will be the opening act. Tour tickets for each date have been selling out in record time after they have gone on sale disappointing large numbers of fans.^[20]. In Summer 2007, she began appearing as Yatta on The Emperor’s New School as a guest star, but the role soon blossomed into a recurring role.^{[citation needed]} In December 2007, Miley Cyrus was ranked at #17 in the Forbes Top 20 Earners Under 25, with an annual earning of US$3.5 million.^[21]

Pregnancy rumor hoax

On September 24, 2007 rumors began circulating that Cyrus was pregnant.^[22] The cause of the rumor was an image of a page of J-14 Magazine circulating on the Internet entitled “Miley’s Meltdown” and saying among other things “Miley herself confirmed the pregnancy rumors during a J-14 interview”.^[23] J-14 immediately responded saying that, “Someone doctored the “This Just In” article that appeared on page 16 of J-14’s July 2007 issue” and that “this story is completely fabricated!”^[24][25] The real story on J-14’s Page 16 magazine was about ‘Miley’s Gross Habits’ told by her co-stars on the set of Hannah Montana.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2008	Hannah Montana: The Movie	Miley Stewart / Hannah Montana	Main Character
	Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert	Hannah Montana / Herself	Feb 1-7 in selected theaters. Disney Digital 3-D movie of live concert Best of Both Worlds Tour.
2007	High School Musical 2	Girl At Pool	Cameo dancer
2003	Big Fish	Young Ruthie	credited as Destiny Cyrus

Television

Year	Show	Role	Notes
2006-present	Hannah Montana	Miley Stewart / Hannah Montana	Original run since March 24, 2006

Guest appearances

Year	Show	Role	Notes
2007	The Oprah Winfrey Show	Guest
	The Replacements	Celebrity Starr	Voice Actor
	The Emperor’s New School	Yatta
2006
	The Suite Life of Zack & Cody	Hannah Montana	Concurrent with “That’s So Suite Life of Hannah Montana“
2003	Doc	Kylie	One episode

Self Appearances

Year	Title	Notes
2007	American Music Awards	Presenter
	Teen Choice Awards	Presenter
	High School Musical 2 Premiere
	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Premiere
	Disney Channel Games 2007	Green Team
2006	Annual CMA Awards	Presenter
	Disney Channel Games 2006	Green Team
	2006 American Music Awards	Presenter
	Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade	Performer
	Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade
	Disney Channel’s New Year Bowl-athon

Discography

Main article: Miley Cyrus discography

• 2006: Hannah Montana (#1 US)
• 2007: Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus (#1 US)
• 2007: Hannah Montana 2: Rock Star Edition

Concert tours

• 2007-2008: Best of Both Worlds Tour (Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana / Herself, Opening Act Jonas Brothers)

Awards

• 2007 Winner of the “Favorite TV Actress” for the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards
• 2007 Winner of the “Poptastic Queen” for Popstar Magazine’s^[26]
• 2007 Winner of the “Choice TV Actress: Comedy” for the Teen Choice Awards^[27]
• 2007 Winner of the “Choice Summer Artist” for the Teen Choice Awards^[27]