Hilary Duff

Hilary Duff mini-bio: Hilary Erhard Duff was born on September 28th, 1987, in Houston, Texas, to Bob and Susan Duff. When Hilary was six, she had been traveling in the Cechetti Ballet with her sister Haylie Duff but decided she wanted to fulfill her dream of acting. Her first part was in the mini-series True Women (1997) (TV), but her first starring role was as "Ellie" in The Soul Collector (1999) (TV), for which she won a Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot (Supporting Young Actress) Young Artist Award. Hilary also starred in Casper Meets Wendy (1998) (TV) in 1998, in which she played the young witch "Wendy".

Success came again as she took the role of the starring title character "Lizzie McGuire" in the #1 hit Disney Channel series "Lizzie McGuire" (2001). "Lizzie" was extremely successful and spawned The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003). In 2002, she made the Disney Channel movie Cadet Kelly (2002) (TV). Hilary continues her upward spiral, guest-starring on TV shows, filming movies, recording albums and doing television concerts.

Early life and Career

She is the second child of Susan Colleen (née Cobb), a homemaker and a film producer, and husband Robert Erhard Duff, a partner in a chain of convenience stores, who resides at the family home in Houston to maintain the family's convenience store business. She has an elder sister, Haylie Duff, who is also an actress/singer. Duff's mother encouraged Hilary to take up acting classes alongside her elder sister, Haylie, which resulted in both girls winning roles in various local theatre productions. At the ages of eight and six, respectively, the Duff sisters participated in the ballet, The Nutcracker Suite with Columbus BalletMet in San Antonio. The siblings became more enthusiastic about the idea of choosing acting as a profession, and eventually relocated to California with their mother. Duff's father stayed at the family home in Houston to take care of their business. After several years of auditions and meetings, the Duff sisters were cast in various television commercials.



Trivia

• Older sister actress Haylie Duff is in music group Inventing Venus.

• Daughter of producer Susan Duff.

• Her mom is a music producer.

• She was rated the #1 Hottest Teen Female Star for 2003 based on her acting, singing, public appearances, and charity work.

• Shot the music video to her song "So Yesterday" on Venice Beach in Marina Del Rey, California.

• Re-did the song "Our Lips Are Sealed" by The Go-Go's with sister Haylie Duff for the A Cinderella Story (2004)-Soundtrack.

• Likes all types of music but dislikes techno music.

• Accepted the lead role in A Cinderella Story (2004) because Charles Perrault's story "Cinderella" was her favorite fairy tale when she was growing up.

• Her favorite film is Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997).

• Has been homeschooled since the age of 10. Along with her sister, currently taking two online correspondence courses via the Harvard Extension School.

• Has been working for the charity Kids With a Cause (which helps children stricken by poverty, hunger, sickness, a lack of education, abandonment, neglect and/or abuse) since it was founded in September 1999, and is the 2004 Official International Spokesperson for the non-profit organization.

• According to the Chinese Calender, she was born in the year of the rabbit.

• Her favorite episode of her hit show "Lizzie McGuire" (2001) is First Kiss where her character Lizzie falls in love with the paperboy and shares a kiss with him.

• Was voted the Biggest Breakthough of 2003 at VH1's Big in 2003 award show.

• Has her own clothing line "Stuff by Hilary Duff" at Target stores which made $5 million in its first year in stores.

• She enjoys gymnastics, swimming, reading, singing, writing, and hanging out with older sister, Haylie Duff.

• One of Teen People 25 Hottest Stars Under 25 [2004].

• Was named the 14th Greatest Teen Idol of all time by VH1 in 2003, based on her acting, singing, public appearances and charity work.

• Donated sales from her sold out Most Wanted Tour to the Tsunami victims in South Asia. [2005]

• Donated many signed head-shots to Rocky Stone to be auctioned off to raise money to buy more toys for the Toy Mountain Campaign 2004. She was also very kind enough to give a personalized & signed head-shot to everyone listed in the "Special thank-you to:" section on http://www.rockyskidz.com site that helped out in this past years Toy Mountain Campaign 2003.

• Is recording tracks with the help of boyfriend Joel Madden and his brother Benji Madden for her newest album due in summer 2005.

• Ex-boyfriend Joel Madden is the lead singer for Good Charlotte.

• Her song "Wake Up" hit Disney Radio before making it to national airwaves.

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