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Hilary Duff
Early life and career
Duff was born in Houston, Texas, the second child of Bob Duff, owner of a chain
of convenience stores, and his wife Susan, a homemaker. After her mother
encouraged her to take an acting class alongside her older sister, Haylie Duff,
both girls won parts in various local theatre productions. At the age of six,
the Duffs participated in the ballet The Nutcracker Suite with Columbus Ballet
Met in San Antonio. The siblings became more and more enthusiastic about the
idea of acting professionally, and they eventually relocated to California with
their mother. Bob Duff stayed at the family home in Houston to maintain their
business. Through years of auditions and meetings, both sisters managed to
clinch appearances in several television commercials.
Acting
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), an adaptation of the novel by Janice Woods Windle. She also served as an
extra, again uncredited, in writer and director Willard Carroll's well-received
comedy drama Playing by Heart (1998), whose ensemble cast included Dennis Quaid,
Sean Connery and Angelina Jolie, star of True Women from the previous year.
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 first sequel to the hugely successful
Casper (1995), the film went direct-to-video with generally unenthusiastic
reviews.
Duff later appeared in a supporting role in the television movie The Soul
Collector in 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 ended up winning 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). Said Michael Chiklis, star
of Daddio, "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.(1)" However, before the show had even
aired, Duff was dropped from its cast lineup, an unfortunate turn of events
which made the twelve-year-old reluctant to continue her acting career. But her
manager and mother, Susan Duff, spurred her on, and she successfully auditioned
for the family comedy show Lizzie McGuire just a week later.
Lizzie McGuire, which first aired on the Disney Channel in January 2001, was an
instant hit, drawing in 2.3 million viewers per episode, and became the career
breakthrough Duff had been waiting for. Her performance in this role as a
typical teenager led to appearances on the covers of many teen magazines, and
she became highly popular among children between the ages of seven and fourteen.
After fulfilling her entire sixty-five episode contract, as well as
participating in a film spin-off, Disney toyed with the idea of continuing the
franchise in further movies and a prime-time television series to be broadcast
on ABC, but Duff refused the proposal. There were rumours that there was a
dispute over the amount of pay Duff would receive; reportedly, she had been
receiving $35,000 per episode, but her representatives, including her mother,
wanted that figure to be raised to $100,000.
Duff's second role in a theatrical motion picture was in Human Nature, an
independent US/French co-production released in most countries in 2002 following
a good reception 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, who has body hair growing all over her body. Tim
Robbins and Rhys Ifans co-starred. Duff played the younger version of Arquette's
character.
She starred in the Disney Channel television movie Cadet Kelly (2002) with
Christy Carlson Romano and Gary Cole. It became the network's most watched
program ever.
Her first hit movie was Agent Cody Banks with Frankie Muniz in 2003.
Duff then reprised the role of Lizzie McGuire in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, which
was her first million-dollar movie role.
She played the part of Lorraine Baker in the Twentieth Century Fox film Cheaper
by the Dozen with Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt.
In 2004, she appeared in the romantic comedy A Cinderella Story, a twenty-first
century update of Charles Perrault's classic fairy tale Cinderella. Comedienne
Jennifer Coolidge played the wicked stepmother of the picture, which was
directed by Mark Rosman, a veteran of Duff's Lizzie McGuire. Trashed upon its
release in the summer, the film nonetheless became a modest sleeper hit, and
many critics were impressed by Duff's performance, as well as her chemistry with
co-star Chad Michael Murray, another actor popular with teens, who plays Duff's
love interest in the film.
Later that year, she starred in the romance film Raise Your Voice, which marked
the third collaboration between Duff and director Sean McNamara (after Casper
Meets Wendy and episodes of Lizzie McGuire). While some critics praised Duff for
appearing in a more dramatic role than she had previously been seen in, the film
was heavily panned, with many slating in particular the striking similarities to
the musical film Fame (1980). Reviews were, by and large, indifferent towards
Duff's acting performance, although she did receive a Razzie award nomination
for "Worst Actress" (in addition to her work in A Cinderella Story). The film
also received a muted reception at the fall box office, where it became Duff's
least commercially successful film to date.
Duff's next film will see her play the eldest daughter of a divorced woman,
played by Heather Locklear, who moves to New York City as she desperately
searches for a good man to settle down with. The Perfect Man is scheduled to be
released in June 2005, and again sees Duff united with director Mark Rosman.
Duff is currently filming the satirical comedy Material Girls, which is
tentatively slated for a 2006 release
[1] (http://www.comingsoon.net/news.php?id=9080). The Martha Coolidge-directed
film, co-produced by Madonna's independent film production company Maverick
Entertainment, stars Hilary and her real-life sister Haylie as wealthy siblings
who must fight to reclaim their fortune following a scandal. Based on a script
written by John Quaintance, the film co-stars Angelica Huston, Lukas Haas and
Brent Spiner. The Duff sisters are also due to lend their vocal talents to the
computer animated comedy Foodfight!, to be distributed by Lions Gate Films
sometime in the fall of 2006
[2] (http://www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=8878).
Music
Duff's first recorded singing performance was on the song "I Can't Wait", which
appeared on the original television soundtrack for her television show Lizzie
McGuire in August 2002. The following month, the first Disneymania compilation
album was released, and featured Duff's singing in the song "The Tiki, Tiki,
Tiki Room".
Her first album was the 2002 collection of Christmas songs entitled Santa Claus
Lane, which made the lower reaches of the Billboard 200 album chart and Number 3
on the kids' music chart. Released in October, the album eventually achieved
gold sales in December of the following year. The title track was also included
on the soundtrack to The Santa Clause 2, starring Tim Allen.
She also sang on several tracks on the soundtrack to The Lizzie McGuire Movie
which was released in April 2003, a few weeks before the actual film came out.
One of these tracks, "Why Not", which is performed by Duff in the film, was
released as a single, and reached the Top 20 on singles charts in countries
including Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands.
Later that year, she recorded her first non-holiday album, entitled
Metamorphosis, which was released on August 26 and went to number one on the US
and Canadian charts in that year (see 2003 in music). The Metamorphosis album
featured music that would appeal to teenagers, as well as the younger children
who had supported her to date. Songwriting team The Matrix, who had worked with
singers such as Avril Lavigne (on her Let Go album) and Liz Phair, provided
three songs on the album. One of these songs, "So Yesterday", was released as
the first single, reaching Number 2 in Canada, the Top 40 in Australia, and
peaked just outside the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. Duff agreed
to perform "So Yesterday" at MTV's New Year Bash 2004 in New York City's Times
Square on December 31, but the song (and the vocals) playing over the speakers
during the performance skipped (in the same way that a CD does on a
malfunctioning CD player), revealing that she had been lip synching.
Metamorphosis became the eighth highest selling LP of the year, with over 2.4
million copies purchased in its first four months of release. It has since gone
three times platinum. Her success as a singer helped her to be ranked #96 on the
Forbes Top 100 Celebrity List of 2003.
Metamorphosis was nominated in the Juno Awards of 2004 for International Album
of the Year, losing to 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
On May 31, 2004, the music video for her cover version of "Our Lips are Sealed"
by the Go-Gos, which she performed with her sister Haylie Duff, made its MTV
debut [3] (http://www.netmusiccountdown.com/news/article.php?id=5567/1). The
song was commissioned for the soundtrack of Duff's film A Cinderella Story,
which came out the following July.
On September 28, 2004 (her seventeenth birthday), she released her second album,
the self-titled Hilary Duff. When describing the album to her fans, Duff noted
that she felt it has an edgier, rock feel to it. The album's working title was
The Girl Can Rock. Its first single is "Fly", and it also includes "Haters", the
lyrics of which were once rumoured to be about Lindsay Lohan, who is often
considered by the media to be Duff's rival
[4] (http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2004-11-30#celeb9).
On August 16, 2005, Hilary Duff will release her third official album called
Most Wanted. This will be a compilation of her most popular hits along side
three new songs, which she is working on in the studio. Hilary gets help from
Joel Madden, her boyfriend, to make her three new tracks edgier and more rock.
For inspiration, she is listening to stuff by The Killers, Muse, and more.
Personal life
Duff has dated singer Aaron Carter, brother of Backstreet Boys member Nick
Carter. There were reports that she had tried to have fellow teen actress
Lindsay Lohan banned from the preview of Cheaper by the Dozen because Lohan had
previously been dating Carter in late 2003, as well as other reports about a
fistfight that supposedly took place between the two actresses. Hilary Duff was
furious when she found out that Aaron Carter had been dating her and Lindsay
Lohan at the same time.
She also was involved in a celebrity feud with Avril Lavigne. Apparently, she
insulted Avril Lavigne by saying that she didn't respect her fans.
Duff has also been reported to have dated Jordan Masterson.
Duff is involved with many charities, is an animal rights enthusiast, and a
member of "Kids With a Cause." She gets up at 4.30 a.m. to allow her to study.
Nicknames include Hil (allegedly the most common), Hilly, Juicy Fruit, and Hils.
Duff launched a clothing line, "Stuff" on March 12, 2004 with clothes
distributed through Target in the United States and Zellers in Canada.
Hilary is very good friends with Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden.
Her sister, Haylie Duff, has been trying to sing, too. Hilary has helped her
with duet songs including "Our Lips Are Sealed" which have been successful in
the United States and in other countries, including Mexico and Colombia.
Her mother, Susan Duff, is a producer, and managed Hilary in her early career.
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Hilary Duff
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