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Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28,
1987) is an American actress and singer. After gaining
fame for her starring role on the television show Lizzie
McGuire, Duff went on to have a film career, and her
most commercially successful pictures include Cheaper by
the Dozen (2003), The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003), and A
Cinderella Story (2004).
She reportedly earned $15 million in
2005. Duff has expanded her repertoire into pop music,
with three RIAA certified-platinum albums and over
thirteen million albums sold worldwide, and she has
launched a clothing line (Stuff by Hilary Duff) and an
exclusive perfume with Elizabeth Arden.
Her upcoming films include the 2007 action thriller War,
Inc. and animated comedy Foodfight!. Duff's new album
entitled Dignity, was released in April 2007.
Early life and career: Hilary Duff was born in
Houston, Texas, the second child of Bob Erhard Duff,
owner of a chain of convenience stores, and Susan
Colleen Duff, a homemaker. After Duff's mother
encouraged her to take an acting class alongside her
older sister, Haylie Katherine Duff, both girls won
parts 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 Ballet Met in San Antonio. The siblings became
more enthusiastic about the idea of acting
professionally, and eventually relocated to California
with their mother. Bob Erhard Duff stayed at the family
home in Houston to maintain their business. (Susan and
Bob separated in 2006.) After several years of auditions
and meetings, the Duff sisters were cast in several
television commercials.
Television, Early work: Most of Duff's first few
acting roles were small, starting off with an uncredited
appearance in Hallmark Entertainment's western
miniseries True Women (1997). She also served as an
extra, again uncredited, in writer-director Willard
Carroll's ensemble dramedy Playing by Heart (1998). Her
first major part was as the star of the 1998 film Casper
Meets Wendy, playing the young witch Wendy, who
encounters the animated character Casper. Like Casper: A
Spirited Beginning (1997), the second sequel to the
successful Casper (1995), the film was released
direct-to-video with generally unenthusiastic reviews.
Duff later appeared in a supporting role in the
television film The Soul Collector (1999), which was
based on a Kathleen Kane novel and starred Bruce
Greenwood as an angel who helps out a female farmer
(Melissa Gilbert) whose husband has recently died. Duff
won a Young Artist Award for "Best Performance in a
TV Movie or Pilot (Supporting Young Actress)".
Duff's first serious shot at fame came when she was cast
as one of the children in the pilot episode of the NBC
sitcom Daddio (2000). Actor Michael Chiklis, co-star of
Daddio stated, "After working with her the first
day, I remember saying to my wife, 'This young girl is
going to be a movie star'. She was completely at ease
with herself and comfortable in her own skin."
Lizzie McGuire: Before Daddio had aired, Duff was
dropped from its cast lineup and became reluctant to
continue her acting career. Her manager and mother
spurred her on, and a week later she successfully
auditioned for the family comedy show Lizzie McGuire. In
the series Duff portrayed a clumsy but average middle
school girl. The show focused on her life and her slow
growth into teenhood. Actors that starred alongside her
included Lalaine, Adam Lamberg, Jake Thomas, Clayton
Snyder, Ashlie Brillault, Robert Carradine, and Hallie
Todd.
Lizzie McGuire, which first aired on the Disney Channel
in January 12, 2001, was a ratings hit, drawing in 2.3
million viewers per episode, and became the career
breakthrough Duff had been waiting for. Her
participation in the show led to her becoming highly
popular among children between the ages of seven and
fourteen, with critic Richard Huff of the New York Daily
News calling her "a 2002 version of Annette
Funicello." After Duff fulfilled her entire
sixty-five episode contract with Lizzie McGuire, Disney
toyed with the idea of continuing the franchise in
further films and a prime-time television series to be
broadcast on ABC, but the plans deteriorated. A
successful feature film spin-off, The Lizzie McGuire
Movie (2003), was produced.
Other: During her time on Lizzie McGuire, Duff
starred opposite Christy Carlson Romano and Gary Cole in
the Disney Channel television film Cadet Kelly (2002),
which became the network's most watched program in its
nineteen-year history.
Duff has made several guest appearances in television
shows, her first as a sick child in the medical drama
Chicago Hope in March 2000. In a 2003 episode of George
Lopez she had a role as a makeup salesperson, and she
later reappeared in the show in 2005 as a feminist poet
friend of Carmen (Masiela Lusha), a character whose
poetry had roots in the work of Simone de Beauvoir,
Toril Moi, and Ranjit Hakim. She acted opposite her
sister Haylie as the 1960s pop group The Shangri-Las in
American Dreams in 2003, and played a classmate and
idolizer of the title character of Joan of Arcadia in a
2005 episode. During her Most Wanted tour, she performed
in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she filmed a brief
appearance on the soap opera Rebelde. She will also
guest star on The Andy Milonakis Show for its third
season premiere in 2007. Duff also makes a claymated
apperence on the popular celebrity wrestiling series
Celebrity Death Match, on March 23rd, 2007, taking on
Lindsay Lohan. The claymated Duff mentions the feud they
had between Aaron Carter. Duff ends up killing Lindsay
in the end (note the actresses were voiced by different
people).
Film career: Duff's first role in a theatrical
motion picture was in Human Nature (2002), an
independent film shot before Lizzie McGuire and first
shown at the Cannes and Sundance film festivals. Written
by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry, the
film follows a female naturalist, played by Patricia
Arquette. Duff played the younger version of Arquette's
character.
2003–2004: Her first major role in a feature
film was in the family action film Agent Cody Banks with
Frankie Muniz in 2003. The film received positive
reviews and was successful enough to spawn a sequel, in
which Duff did not participate. Afterwards, Duff
reprised her role as Lizzie McGuire for The Lizzie
McGuire Movie, which exceeded box office expectations.
Later that year Duff played one of the twelve children
of Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt in the family film
Cheaper by the Dozen, which remains her highest grossing
film. She reprised her role in the sequel to the film
called Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005), which failed to be
as financially successful as the original film and was
panned by critics.
In 2004 Duff starred in the romantic comedy A Cinderella
Story, an update of Charles Perrault's fairy tale
Cinderella. The film became a moderate box office hit,
and though reviews were mostly negative, some critics
were impressed by Duff's performance and her chemistry
with co-star Chad Michael Murray. A Cinderella Story
earned $66,068,046 worldwide and was a commercial
success. Later that year she starred in the film Raise
Your Voice, her first starring role in a drama film.
Some critics praised Duff for appearing in a more
dramatic role than previously, but the film was heavily
panned, with the Las Vegas Weekly writing:
"Effortlessly combining Duff's bad acting and bad
singing with bad writing and bad direction, Raise Your
Voice is an insulting waste of time that begs to be
silenced."Several reviews were negative to Duff's
vocals (several critics pointed out what appears to be
her digitally enhanced voice) and indifferent towards
her acting performance. The film received a muted
reception at the box office, and is Duff's least
successful film commercially, with total theater
receipts of just $13,573,284. Duff received her first
Razzie nomination for her role in Raise Your Voice.
2005–2006: In The Perfect Man (2005) she played
the oldest daughter of a divorced woman (Heather
Locklear), who moves to New York City as she desperately
searches for love. Reviews were mostly negative and the
film disappointed at the box office, grossing
$19,770,475 globally. That year, Duff was again
nominated for a Razzie Award, for both The Perfect Man
and Cheaper by the Dozen 2. The 2006 satirical comedy
Material Girls, in which she co-starred with her sister
Haylie, also disappointed, grossing only $14,189,525
worldwide. The Martha Coolidge-directed film,
co-produced by Madonna's independent film production
company Maverick Entertainment, starred the Duffs as
wealthy siblings who must fight to reclaim their fortune
following a scandal. For the film, Hilary was nominated
for another two Razzie awards.
2007–2008: The Duff sisters are due to lend
their voices to the computer animated comedy Foodfight!,
which Lions Gate Films is to distribute in 2007. The
film's director, Larry Kasanoff, said that he is
"absolutely thrilled to have the Duff sisters as
part of the cast." Duff is currently slated to star
opposite John Cusack in War, Inc., due for release in
late 2007. The film is set in a futuristic country and
Duff plays a European pop star named Yonica. Cusack
stated that he enjoyed working with Duff and that
"she is awesome in the movie".
Duff is also due to work on a second movie with Cusack,
the sci-fi/action thriller Talking with Dog. Little is
known about the film, although its theme revolves around
a future that faces some extreme consequences of global
warming (including human infertility). Filming is set to
begin in 2007, with a 2008 release date.
Music career, 2002–2004: Duff recorded a cover
of Brooke McClymont's "I Can't Wait" for the
original television soundtrack for Lizzie McGuire in
2002 (see Lizzie McGuire (soundtrack)), and "The
Tiki Tiki Tiki Room" for the first DisneyMania
compilation album.
Her first album was Santa Claus Lane (2002), a
collection of Christmas songs which included duets with
Lil' Romeo, Christina Milian, and her sister Haylie.
Accompanied by the Disney Channel-only single "Tell
Me a Story (About the Night Before)", it peaked
well outside the top 100 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album
chart, but eventually received a gold certification. The
track "Santa Claus Lane was included on the
soundtrack to The Santa Clause 2 and another song,
"What Christmas Should Be", was used in
Cheaper by the Dozen. Duff sang several tracks for the
2003 soundtrack to The Lizzie McGuire Movie (see The
Lizzie McGuire Movie (soundtrack)), including "Why
Not", which became a modest top twenty hit in
Australia.
Duff's second album and first studio album,
Metamorphosis (2003), included contributions by
songwriter-producers such as The Matrix and reached
number one on the U.S. and Canadian charts. It became
one of the biggest selling albums of the year in the
U.S. and has since gone to sell over 3.7 million copies.
The lead single, "So Yesterday", was a top ten
hit in several countries and its music video received
heavy airplay on MTV, while "Come Clean"
became Duff's first top forty U.S. hit and reached the
top twenty elsewhere. The third single, "Little
Voice", was not released in the U.S. and was a
minor hit in Canada and Australia. In late 2003 Duff
embarked on her first concert tour, the Metamorphosis
Club Tour and later the Most Wanted tour. All shows on
the tour were sold out, a feat neither Britney Spears
nor Christina Aguilera achieved that year.
The second DisneyMania disc, DisneyMania 2, was released
in January 2004 and contained a duet with her sister,
"The Siamese Cat Song". Another song,
"Circle of Life", featured Duff and other
Disney Channel stars. Duff and her sister recorded a
cover of The Go-Gos' "Our Lips Are Sealed" for
the soundtrack to A Cinderella Story, which included two
other songs by Duff. The video for "Our Lips Are
Sealed" was popular on MTV's TRL but the song
itself failed to chart on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Duff co-wrote several of the tracks on her third album,
the self-titled Hilary Duff, which she said had an
edgier, rock feel than Metamorphosis. It was released on
her seventeenth birthday (in September 2004) and debuted
at number two in the U.S. and number one in Canada. The
album sold over 1.5 million copies in the U.S. in eight
months, but the single "Fly" failed to chart
in the U.S. despite a popular video. "Fly" and
"Someone's Watching over Me" reached the
Australian top forty, but because the album was less
successful than Metamorphosis, no other singles were
released commercially. Duff also contributed the song
"(I'll Give) Anything But Up!" for Thanks
& Giving : All Year Long album (2004) with Marlo
Thomas & Friends for Atlantic/Wea. She then
continued nine more months of the Most Wanted Tour.
2005–2006: Duff's fourth album, Most Wanted
(2005), comprised her favorite tracks from her previous
two albums, remixes, and new songs inspired by pop-rock
musicians such as The Killers and Muse. Duff stated that
it was not a greatest hits album, but that her label
told her it was time to release a new album. She had
more creative control over Most Wanted compared to her
previous releases, co-writing the new material with
producers Joel Madden and his brother Benji, both of the
band Good Charlotte. The lead single, "Wake
Up", became Duff's highest highest peaking single
on the U.S. Hot 100 at the time, and its video received
heavy rotation on MTV. The video for the second single,
"Beat of My Heart", was also popular, but the
single itself did not chart in the U.S. The album itself
debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and became
her third number-one debut in Canada. By March 2006, it
had sold 1.3 million copies in the U.S. An Italy-only
compilation, 4Ever, was released in 2006.
Duff recorded new songs for her Madonna-produced film
Material Girls, including a Timbaland-produced cover
version of Madonna's "Material Girl" with her
sister.
2007: For Duff's third studio album, Dignity, she
co-wrote material with Kara DioGuardi, who co-produced
the album with Rhett Lawrence, Richard
"Humpty" Vission, Tim & Bob and others.
She said that compared to her previous music it would be
"more dancey" and make use of more real
instruments. "I don't know exactly how to explain
what we're doing, but it's fun and funky and different,
something new for me. It's really cool", she said.
She has also described the album's sound as "a
little less pop-rock and more electronic-sounding".
The first single, "Play with Fire", became a
minor club hit but failed to chart in the U.S.; the
second single, "With Love", was released in
early 2007 and was more successful, becoming Duff's
biggest U.S. Hot 100 hit. The music video for "With
Love" has also been used as the commercial for
Duff's first fragrance, With Love... Hilary Duff, which
was lauched in September 2006; the video reached number
one on Total Request Live. Initially slated for release
in late 2006, the album was released in April 2007 in
North America and earlier elsewhere. It has reached the
top three in the U.S. and Canada (charting at number
three in both countries), the top twenty in Australia
and the top forty in the UK. A tour is currently being
planned in support of the album.
Entrepreneurship: Duff launched a clothing line,
Stuff by Hilary Duff, in March 2004, with clothes
distributed through Target in the United States, Kmart
in Australia, Zellers in Canada and Edgars in South
Africa. The company started out as a clothing line but
has expanded to furniture, fragrances, and jewelry. It
is aimed at the teen and preteen crowd.
Playmates Toys released a celebrity doll of her in 2004.
In September 2006 Duff released her perfume, With
Love... Hilary Duff, which she premiered on The View.
Duff and her pet dog Lola made an appearance in the
Electronic Arts game The Sims 2: Pets, which was
released on October 2006. In console versions of the
game Duff's character will visit public areas and
players will be able to let their sims socialize with
her and Lola, the dog. However, in the PC expansion
pack, players must download the Duff sim from the Maxis
website before December 31 she and her dog will be fully
playable characters, rather than a non-player character.
Duff, along with celebrities Paris Hilton and Jessica
Simpson have been criticized for their displaying of the
dogs as fashion accessories rather than pets.
Personal life: Duff began dating singer Aaron
Carter in 2002. They met on the set of Lizzie McGuire,
when Carter had a cameo role on a Christmas episode. The
relationship lasted a year and a half. It was reported
that Carter left actress Lindsay Lohan for Duff. Carter
said he also cheated on Duff with her best friend, that
Duff "got her heart broken" and that he is
"sorry" for his actions. Duff and Lindsay
Lohan were later reported to have been involved in a
"feud" with each other, over their
relationship with Carter.
As of 2007, Duff and Lohan are reconciled. Lohan
attended the release party for Duff's album Dignity and
Duff told People magazine that she thought Lohan was
"fun" and "a nice girl".
Duff began dating Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden in
2004. Duff's mother Susan announced their relationship
in the June 2005 interview for Seventeen magazine, after
a long period of tabloid speculation. In a June 2006
interview with ELLE magazine, Duff was quoted as saying
"...(virginity) is definitely something I like
about myself. It doesn't mean I haven't thought about
sex, because everyone I know has had it and you want to
fit in." Duff later told MuchMusic that she didn't
say the quotes attributed to her in the article and that
the subject was "definitely not something that I
would talk about..." Duff and Madden broke up in
November 2006.
In late 2006 Duff took legal action against an alleged
stalker and the stalker's roommate. On November 3, 2006
Duff's stalker, Maksim Miakovsky, was arrested for
threatening to kill her that weekend. He was booked on
charges of making criminal threats and stalking. He came
to the U.S. "for the sole purpose of meeting and
becoming romantically involved with Ms. Duff."
Miakovsky is currently being held on $200,000 bail at
the Manhattan Beach jail. He was arraigned on November
7, 2006. On January 19, 2007 Miakovsky was sentenced to
117 days in jail and five years probation after pleading
no contest to the charges, according to the Associated
Press.
Duff is involved with several charities, is an animal
rights enthusiast, a member of Kids with a Cause, and
has donated US$250,000 to help the victims of Hurricane
Katrina. In late August 2006 Duff traveled to a New
Orleans elementary school and worked with USA Harvest to
distribute meals. In 2005 she donated more than 2.5
million meals to Hurricane Katrina victims in the south.
In August 2005 Duff said she received veneers because
she chipped off one of her front teeth on a microphone
during a concert. She subsequently had her veneers
redone to match the size of her original teeth. By 2005
Duff appeared to have lost weight, leading the media to
speculate that she had developed an eating disorder,
although Duff has denied this claim. Duff was
interviewed on the Australian current affair show Today
Tonight and stated that she lost weight by living a more
active lifestyle.
Later, an article on Digital Spy stated that in 2006,
Duff slimmed down to a U.S. size zero because of the
media reporting she had gained 15 pounds. She recently
said she has been feeling pressure to be thin, stating
that she's perceived in the media to be either too fat
or too thin. Duff called this "judgmental and
mean". |
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