Bridgit Mendler

Bridgit Claire Mendler (born December 18, 1992) is an American actress, singer, songwriter and voice artist.

Early life
Mendler was born in Washington, D.C. She has a younger brother named Nick. She moved with her family to Mill Valley, California at the age of eight. It was there where she first expressed interest in acting and began working in plays. When she was eight years old, Mendler began taking part in local roles in both dramatic and musical theatre, and became the youngest performer in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. When she was 11 years old, she hired an agent to help her get acting jobs. On the decision, she stated, "I was 11 when I did a play out in Northern California and I really enjoyed it and I decided that I wanted to pursue a career, so I got an agent and did commercials and voice-overs and that sort of thing."

2004–08: Career beginnings
In 2004, Mendler got her first acting role in the animated Indian film The Legend of Buddha, in which she portrayed Lucy. When she was 13 years old, she got an acting role as a guest star on the soap opera General Hospital. She portrayed the dream child of character Lulu Spencer, in which the two have an argument on Mendler's character's birthday. The scene, lasting just under a minute, is later revealed to be a dream. That same year, Mendler was the voice of the character Thorn in the video game Bone: The Great Cow Race, which was based on the Bone comic series. In 2007, Mendler made her film debut in the film adaption of the Alice series, titled Alice Upside Down. Mendler starred alongside Disney Channel actress Alyson Stoner and Lucas Grabeel. Mendler portrayed the antagonistic role of Pamela, who is the rival of Stoner's character, Alice. For the film's soundtrack, Mendler provided backing vocals on the song "Free Spirit", performed by Stoner. Also in 2007 Mendler auditioned for Sonny with a Chance for the role of Sonny Munroe, but Demi Lovato was chosen. In 2008, it was announced that Mendler would play the role of Kristen Gregory in the film adaption of the popular teen novel series The Clique by Lisi Harrison. Mendler had the role of Kristen, a girl who attends OCD on a scholarship, and works hard to keep her good grades.

She also had begun working on a film with actress and singer Lindsay Lohan titled Labor Pains, which kept being pushed back due to various conflicts and problems. Though initially slated for a theatrical release, the film did not receive one in the US and was instead released as a TV film on ABC Family in 2009. The film did, however, receive a theatrical release in countries such as Russia, Romania, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, and Mexico. The film drew 2.1 million viewers, a better-than-average prime-time audience for ABC Family, and per the network, was the week's top cable film among coveted female demographic groups. She had a supporting role in the film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.

2009–12: Good Luck Charlie
In 2009, Mendler became a recurring character in the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place. Mendler portrayed the role of Juliet Van Heusen, a vampire who later forms a romance with David Henrie's character Justin Russo. This lasts till the series finale. Mendler would go on to appear in eleven episodes total for the series, spanning from 2009 to 2012 when the series ended. In 2010, Mendler became the star of the Disney Channel Original Series Good Luck Charlie, centering on a teenage girl who makes videos for her baby sister to watch as she gets older. The series premiered on April 4, 2010, and was met with a positive critical reception and viewership. In the third season, Disney Channel announced that the series would feature a same-sex couple. This decision caused a protest from the conservative group "One Million Moms" asking Disney Channel not to air the episode. One of Disney's spokespersons told TV Guide the episode was "developed to be relevant to kids and families around the world and to reflect themes of diversity and inclusiveness." Disney aired the episode as planned. Other people including actors Miley Cyrus and Evan Rachel Wood expressed their support.

In 2011, she starred as Olivia White, the lead role in the Disney Channel Original Movie Lemonade Mouth, watched by 5.7 million viewers on its premiere night. Mendler performed numerous songs for the film's soundtrack, which was released on April 12, 2011 by Walt Disney Records. The first single released from the soundtrack, titled "Somebody", was released on March 4, and peaked at number 89 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The second single, "Determinate", charted in numerous other countries and peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100. In an interview with Kidzworld Media, Mendler confirmed that there will not be a sequel to Lemonade Mouth, commenting: "There’s not [going to be a sequel to Lemonade Mouth] unfortunately. We had such a great experience working on the movie, and they tried to figure something out for a sequel, but everyone at Disney felt like the movie had completed its story in the first movie. It was a great experience, and I loved working with the cast members and still see them frequently." In 2011, Mendler had the supporting role of Appoline in the straight to DVD film Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2. Mendler recorded the song "This Is My Paradise" for the film, which was released as a promotional single on January 11, 2011 with a music video directed by Alex Zamm.

On March 31, 2011, it was confirmed that Mendler had signed with Hollywood Records, and had begun working on her debut album. Also in 2011 Mendler also starred the Disney Channel Original Movie Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas!, which premiered on December 2, 2011. The song "I'm Gonna Run to You" was co-written and performed by Mendler, and was also featured in the film and released as promotional single on November 12, 2011. Mendler later co-wrote and sang the Disney's Friends for Change Games anthem called "We Can Change the World", released as her third promotional single on June 11, 2011. In 2012, she guest starred in the television series House as Callie Rogers, a homeless runaway teenager with a mysterious illness. She also made a guest cameo in Canadian teen drama Degrassi in the Season 11 episode "Don't Panic (1)" as Clare and Alli's friend Emily Quagmire, in their civics class; she can also be seen in the show's opening sequence sitting on Jake's red truck alongside Alli and Clare. She voiced the lead role of Arrietty in the American English dub of The Secret World of Arrietty and recorded a song "Summertime" for the movie, released as a promotional single on February 2.

2012–15: Hello My Name Is... and Undateable
In Summer 2012, Mendler confirmed that the title of her official debut single was "Ready or Not", written by Mendler herself, Emanuel "Eman" Kiriakou and Evan "Kidd" Bogart. The song was released for digital download on August 7 and for radio airplay on August 21, 2012. "Ready or Not" peaked at 49 in the United States and 53 in Australia, but at number seven in the United Kingdom and within the top twenty of the charts in Belgium, the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand. The song received platinum certification in the United States and Canada and Gold in Denmark, New Zealand and Norway. Mendler ventured on her first headlining tour, Bridgit Mendler: Live in Concert, supporting her first studio album. The tour primarily reached only North America and she played at state fairs, music festivals and Jingle Ball's concerts series. Mendler's debut album, Hello My Name Is..., was released on October 22 by Hollywood Records and all the songs were written by Mendler with collaborators, included 12 tracks in standard version and 15 in deluxe edition. Mendler was also involved in its production. The album peaked at number 30 on the Billboard 200 and sold less than 200,000 copies in the country.

Internationally "Hello My Name Is .." debuted in a few countries as Poland, Australia, United Kingdom, France and Spain. Mendler's vocals have been compared to Lily Allen, Cher Lloyd, Jessie J and Karmin. She released two promotional singles on the album: "Forgot to Laugh" and "Top of the World". On February 12, 2013, her second single, "Hurricane", was released for radio airplay. The song peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 in the United States. On April 2 Mendler released a remix single version and, on June 21, a EP remixed. Also in June Mendler debuted her second tour, the Summer Tour, reaching only the United States. In April 30 she released the extended play Live in London, by Universal Music, recorded at a special performance in the United Kingdom. It on Mendler's VEVO On November 16, 2013 was premiered the music video for acoustic version of "Top of the World", directed by Matt Wyatt. She recorded it on her own, independent of Hollywood Records, and filmed in Griffith Park, in Los Angeles.

On June 28, 2014, Mendler began the second leg of her Summer Tour, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. On that date, she sang one of her new songs, "Fly to You", about a relationship that was said to be on the rocks but worth fighting for. On July 5, she performed another new song, "Deeper Shade Of Us", with disco influences. On November 25, 2014, Mendler was announced as a member of the main cast of the NBC comedy series Undateable in season two. She portrays the character Candace, an unlucky and undefeatably optimistic waitress, who becomes part of the main group. During the season, Candace and Justin, played by Brent Morin, were dating. After initial reports in July 2015, On July 2, it was confirmed that Mendler left Hollywood Records earlier this year. NBC renewed with Mendler for the third season that consisted entirely of live episodes, premiered in October 15.

In early 2015, NBC renewed with Mendler for a third season that consisted entirely of live episodes that premiered in October 15. In the season Justin proposes to Candace during a Backstreet Boys show and she accepts. On November 13, 2015, minutes before air time, a decision was made to pre-empt the then-upcoming live program due to the November 2015 Paris attacks. The next week, the live episode references were made about the attack as a tribute. Following the third season, it was announced that NBC had cancelled continuation of the series.

2016: Nemesis and Nashville
In 2016, Mendler produced her second studio album. Mendler discussed some of the producers and songwriters she was working with for the new album, including Mitch Allan, Dan Book, Alexei Misoul, Augie Ray, Beloryze, TMS, Ina Wroldsen, and Steve Mac. On August 4, 2016, Mendler announced the title of her new single, "Atlantis", featuring Kaiydo, which was released on August 26, 2016. The EP, Nemesis, was released on November 18. In October 2016 Mendler was cast as Ashley Wilkenson on the fifth season of the CMT television series Nashville.