Miranda Cosgrove

Miranda Taylor Cosgrove (born May 14, 1993), is an American actress, singer and songwriter. Her career began at the age of 3 with several television commercial appearances. Cosgrove's film debut came in 2003, when she appeared as Summer Hathaway in School of Rock. She appeared in a number of minor television roles over several years before coming to prominence as Megan Parker on the Nickelodeon television series Drake & Josh. In 2007, she landed the role of Carly Shay, the lead character on the Nickelodeon teen sitcom iCarly, on which she starred until 2012. As of May 2010, Cosgrove earned $180,000 per episode of iCarly, making her the second-highest-paid child star on television, and in 2012 was listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest paid child actress. Cosgrove also voiced Margo in the animated film Despicable Me (2010) and its sequels. In 2016, she starred as Shea Moore on the short-lived NBC sitcom Crowded.

In music, Cosgrove debuted with iCarly (2008), a soundtrack album for the series in which she performs four songs. In 2009, she released her debut extended play, About You Now. Cosgrove's debut studio album, Sparks Fly, was released in April 2010, followed by her second extended play, High Maintenance, the following year. The EP's lead single, "Dancing Crazy", written by Avril Lavigne, debuted at number 40 on the US Billboard Adult Pop Songs and peaked at number 100 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Cosgrove was born in Los Angeles, California, to Tom, who owns a dry-cleaning business, and Chris (née Casey), a homemaker. She has stated that she is of English, Irish, and French descent.[12] At the age of three, she was discovered by a talent agent while singing and dancing at the Los Angeles restaurant Taste of L.A. Cosgrove stated that when the agent approached her and her mother for modeling, she had "never really thought of being an actress" and "was lucky". After choosing to take the offer, she appeared in television commercials for McDonald's[ and Mello Yello,[ and also modeled. At the age of seven, she decided that she "loved doing it" and auditioned for theater and television.

Cosgrove is an only child and was homeschooled from sixth grade onwards. In 2011, she was accepted at New York University and the University of Southern California (USC).From 2008 to 2010, she dated the actor James Maslow.[66] She ultimately started attending USC in fall of 2012, to be able to continue acting and to stay near her family. She has cited her aspirations of majoring in theater or writing.[

Cosgrove is an active supporter of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. She also visits other children's hospitals and considers Education Through Music one of her favorite charities. She is a national spokesperson for Light the Night Walk, an organization that creates awareness for blood cancer and leukemia.