Hilary Duff Biography

Birth Name: Hilary Erhard Duff

Birth Place: Houston, TX

Date of Birth / Zodiac Sign: 09/28/1987, Libra

Height

5' 2" (1.57 m)

Profession: Actor; pop singer

Family Father: Bob Duff.

Mother: Susan Duff.

Sister: Haylie Duff. Older; member of music group inventing venus

Significant Others:

Companion: Aaron Carter. Dated c. 2003, resulting in a high profile feud between Duff and actress Lindsay Lohan, who had also dated Carter; no longer together

Companion: Frankie Muniz.

Companion: Joel Madden. Lead singer of the band Good Charlotte ; began dating July 2004; split November 2006

Companion: Jordy Masterson. Brother of actor Danny Masterson; briefly dated in January 2004

Husband: Mike Comrie. Canadian; Began dating in 2007; got engaged while vacationing in Hawaii in February 2010; married Aug. 14, 2010

Education:

Harvard University, Boston , Massachusetts, 2005

Born in Houston, Texas, Hilary Duff began performing professionally at age six with the Columbus Ballet Met touring production of The Nutcracker. When she landed a role in a television commercial soon after, she realized she'd found her passion in life and began auditioning for roles in earnest.

Her first acting role came at the age of nine in the TV movie True Women (1997), with Dana Delaney and Rachel Leigh Cook. Then, she landed the starring role as Wendy in the video release Wendy Meets Casper (1998). Hilary went on to win a Young Artist Award for Best Supporting Young Actress in a TV Movie for her role as Ellie in The Soul Collector (1999), starring Bruce Greenwood and Melissa Gilbert. In 2000, she made a guest appearance on the hit TV series Chicago Hope, then found herself with a starring role in her own TV series, Lizzie McGuire, which premiered January 2001 on The Disney Channel.

Realizing that they had a major talent on their hands, Disney signed Duff up to star in a TV movie called Cadet Kelly while on a break from Lizzie McGuire. Shown in March 2002, Cadet Kelly became Disney Channel's highest rated original movie ever, the top-rated movie on both broadcast and cable television for its premiere week and cable television's highest rated movie to date in 2002. In the latter half of 2002, Hilary travelled to Vancouver to film her first starring role in a major motion picture -- Agent Cody Banks (2003), playing Natalie Conners, a popular high school girl who is pursued by Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz). She followed that up with The Lizzie McGuire Movie(2003), which follows the pursuits of the bubbly teenager as she goes on a vacation to Rome. In Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), Hilary played a middle daughter of Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt, who have twelve children, and in A Cinderella Story (2004), she starred as a girl whose father dies. She later meets a boy (played by Chad Michael Murray) online, not realizing that he's her high school's popular football star.

While promoting her 2005 film "The Perfect Man" and Most Wanted, Duff showed off a set of veneers that received a great deal of tabloid press. In fact, the paparazzi stepped up following her every move because her look went from girl-next-door to bombshell overnight. She said she got them because she chipped off one of her teeth on a microphone during a concert. In 2006, Duff got the chance to work with her sister Haylie in the movie "Material Girls." Although the film did poorly with critics, as well as in the box office, the sisters grew closer than ever, even scoring a minor hit with the film's theme - a cover of Madonna's classic "Material Girl" produced by Timbaland.

The album Dignity heralded a new chapter in Duff's career. Her fan base had grown a little older while her sound had matured, with the first single "Play with Fire" becoming a dance club hit. It was the right time for Duff to show she had become a woman. After her relationship with Madden ended, the star proclaimed independence through her music. She was also in control of a business empire, as CEO of the clothing line "Stuff by Hilary Duff." In September 2006, she released the fragrance "With Love," a Hilary doll for Mattel, and appeared in the Electronic Arts video game "The Sims 2: Pets" along with her dog Lola.

Milestones:

1993 Made her acting debut with the Columbus Ballet Met production of The Nutcracker

1998 Cast as Wendy, the friendly ghost s best friend in the successful video release Casper Meets Wendy

1999 Co-starred in the television feature Soul Collector

2001 Landed her breakout role as Lizzie in the Disney Channel original series Lizzie McGuire

2002 Starred in the Disney original movie Cadet Kelly

2003 Played one of Steve Martin s twelve children in the comedy Cheaper by the Dozen

2003 Portrayed the love interest to Frankie Muniz s character in Agent Cody Banks

2003 Released debut album, Metamorphosis

2003 Starred in the The Lizzie McGuire Movie

2004 Cast as an aspiring songwriter in Raise Your Voice opposite John Corbett

2004 Released self-titled sophomore album

2004 Starred in the modern day version of A Cinderella Story

2005 Played a teenager seeking the perfect partner for her single mom (Heather Locklear) in The Perfect Man

2005 Reprised her role as one of twelve children in the comedy Cheaper by the Dozen 2

2006 Co-starred with real life sister, Haylie Duff as a pair of cosmetics heiresses who lose their fortune in the comedy Material Girls

2007 Released third studio album, Dignity

2008 Co-starred with John Cusack in the political satire War, Inc.

2009 Co-starred with Steve Coogan in the independent comedy, What Goes Up

2009 Joined the cast of Gossip Girl (CW) for a multi-episode arc, as Olivia Burke, a movie star who enrolls at NYU

2010 Starred in the ABC Family romantic comedy Beauty & the Briefcase