These are the former Disney and Nickelodeon personalities who have best leveraged their child-star fame into powerhouse careers as adults
In a sea of talent, who’s going to make it all the way to Britney-like icon status? Photo: Getty Images Over the past two decades, Disney and Nickelodeon have rocket-launched young talents to superstardom with TV shows, movies, and record deals. Some teens take a step back after working throughout their childhood, while others continue on to become some of the world’s biggest pop stars.
Power Move: Keeping the voice-acting checks coming with Disney long after High School Musical and Suite Life were over.Bottom Line: Tisdale is fun and refreshing to see onscreen, but she isn’t toppling the charts or breaking down box offices. 23. Bridgit Mendler .youtube[data-uri="www.vulture.com/_components/youtube/instances/cjwurs6wk00373g66hw2ipz5v@published"].border-top:before { content: 'Watch'; } Child-Star Highlights: After playing a recurring character on Wizards of Waverly Place, Mendler starred in her own show, Good Luck Charlie, and then, as these things go, the Disney Channel original movie Lemonade Mouth.
Adult Highlights: Wolff swept the teen romantic comedies for a time with Stuck in Love, The Fault in Our Stars, and Paper Towns. He also played Light Turner in Netflix’s adaptation of Death Note. Lately, he has pivoted to drama and horror with the upcoming films Mainstream and Body Cam. Nat and his brother, Alex, continue to make music together.Notable Deals: None at the moment.
Adult Highlights: She has made her way to Disney’s teen channel, Freeform, playing Ava Jalali in the Pretty Little Liars spinoff, The Perfectionists. Adult Highlights: He was actually really, really good playing the high-school-age titular serial killer in the movie My Friend Dahmer, and now he’s Kiernan Shipka’s normie boyfriend in Netflix’s The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
Chart Stats: Wolff has made it to the Billboard 200 albums chart twice with the Naked Brothers Band soundtracks. They also had one Hot 100 single.Power Move: The face-to-desk panic attack in Hereditary alone should secure acting work for him for years. Notable Deals: She has been known to do social spon for brands like Fiat and SugarBearHair, the hated rival of beauty blogger Tati Westbrook’s nutraceutical brand.
Power Move: She secured a producer credit for Nickelodeon’s Rags at age 18 and has her own mockumentary comedy series called That’s the Gag, which she also produces. Adult Highlights: Aly has a recurring role on the show iZombie, and Amanda has a recurring voice role on the wonderfully queer and progressive cartoon Steven Universe. The sisters came back together as Aly & AJ and put out the EP Ten Years in 2017 and recently dropped the excellent EP Sanctuary.
13. Kevin Jonas .youtube[data-uri="www.vulture.com/_components/youtube/instances/cjwus8uv500da3g66pc3np3c7@published"].border-top:before { content: 'Watch'; } Child-Star Highlights: Making five albums with the Jonas Brothers between 2006 and 2010, appearances in both Disney Channel Camp Rock movies, and being the JoBro with the least-hectic public image.
Power Move: Chilling in the suburbs with his family while his brothers kept the Jonas fires burning through their solo projects proved he could leave fame behind and pick it back up again whenever he wants. Adult Highlights: Touring with Fifth Harmony as part of the Never Ending is pretty good, and then there’s her controversial show Insatiable.Notable Deals: None so far, which seems pretty surprising.
Bottom Line: It’s unclear how much Hollywood proper loves her these days, but she has turned her personality into a profitable enough business to feed her many cats. And she may be all kinds of extra, but at the very least, she has mastered the art of being Bella Thorne, bitch. Notable Deals: Hudgens had a multiyear endorsement deal with Red by Mark Ecko footwear, which was instrumental in blessing us with the Skechers-filled video for “Sneaker Night.” She has also done ads for Candies and Neutrogena.
Chart Stats: Citrine cracked the Billboard 200 albums chart and spent one week at No. 93, while Expectations reached as high as No. 4. Thanks to her Disney days, she has also had two songs on the Hot 100. Adult Highlights: Lovato has steadily matured from kids-bop sensation to a Grammy-nominated very adult pop star, digging into heavy themes like her struggles with addiction and mental health in her music. Like her Disney peer Selena Gomez, she has also brought a massive, fanatical fan base with her, largely thanks to her confessional, “candid” style on social media.
Power Miss: Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. The first one was good enough. There was also that weird time when she hired a prostitute in Vegas to kind of sexually assault her bodyguard. Chart Stats: Gomez has had success in multiple musical iterations: There were the Disney years, Selena Gomez & the Scene, and her bona fide solo work. Overall, she has had six albums on the Billboard 200 chart, two of which have peaked at No. 1, and a formidable 27 songs on the Hot 100.
Bottom Line: Gomez’s personal life — whether her religion or her relationships or her war on body shaming or her health — has frustratingly overshadowed her career basically since she broke from Disney. But her music has steadily gotten better year after year , and she has demonstrated mogul tendencies with her film and TV work.
Power Miss: There’s respectfully exploring other genres of music, and then there’s brazen appropriation and cultural tourism. Cyrus did the second , and while she did just apologize for her privilege blindness, it took her a few years. Chart Stats: Duff’s first four albums were certified either gold or platinum, and her most recent release — Breathe In. Breathe Out. from 2015 — debuted in the top 5 on Billboard’s Top 200. She notched seven Hot 100 hits, but nothing tops “Come Clean”
Bottom Line: Duff and Cyrus were instrumental in creating the new wave of Disney stardom, and while Duff may not have the global reach of an Ariana Grande, she has the best consistent acting gig of anyone on this list. The author, designer, producer, singer, actress, and mother of two has paved a way for sustainable post-child-phenom careers.
4. Nick Jonas .youtube[data-uri="www.vulture.com/_components/youtube/instances/cjwusvehs00q23g66ew4ngml5@published"].border-top:before { content: 'Watch'; } Child-Star Highlights: Being one third of the Jonas Brothers band and starring in the eponymous Disney series Jonas. He and the bros were also big in the Camp Rock universe.
Bottom Line: After spearheading his family band for most of his childhood, the youngest Jonas managed to create a noteworthy career on his own with both Nick Jonas & the Administration and a solo stint. The recent Jonas Brothers reunion has made him only more successful, and the brothers just had their first No. 1 Billboard hit. Additionally, there’s a new documentary and a memoir on the way. This guy churns out hits at will.
1. Ariana Grande .youtube[data-uri="www.vulture.com/_components/youtube/instances/cjwusyv3o00s93g66134l1ldj@published"].border-top:before { content: 'Watch'; } Child-Star Highlights: Grande appeared in the Nickelodeon shows Victorious, iCarly, and Sam & Cat, playing in all of them her original character, Cat, from Victorious.
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