Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28 1987) is an
American actress, pop
singer/songwriter and entrepreneur. She has an elder sister, Haylie Duff, who is also an
actress/singer.
After gaining fame for playing the title role in the television show
Lizzie McGuire, Duff went on to have a film career;
her most commercially successful movies include Cheaper by the
Dozen (2003), The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003), and
A Cinderella Story (2004). She reportedly earned $15 million in 2005.[1] Duff has expanded her
repertoire into pop music, with three RIAA
certified-platinum albums and over thirteen million albums
sold worldwide.[2] She has also launched a clothing line,
Stuff by Hilary Duff, and an exclusive perfume with Elizabeth Arden. Duff and her mother were listed as producers for the movie Material Girls,[3] and she will
soon produce her sister's debut album.[4]
Her upcoming films include the 2007 action thriller War, Inc., animated comedy
Foodfight! and independent films Greta
and Safety Glass.[5] Duff's latest studio album, Dignity, was released in
April 2007 and has sold 840,000+ since then.[6]
Early life and career
Duff was born in Houston, Texas on September
28,1987. She was the second child of Bob Erhard Duff, owner of a chain of convenience stores, and Susan Colleen (nee Cobb), a
homemaker. After Duff's mother encouraged her to take an acting class alongside her elder
sister, Haylie Duff, both girls won parts in various local theater productions. At the ages of eight and six, respectively, the Duff sisters participated in the
ballet, The Nutcracker Suite with Columbus Ballet
Met in San Antonio. The siblings became more enthusiastic about the idea of acting
professionally, and eventually relocated to California with their mother. Bob
Erhard Duff stayed at the family home in Houston to take care of their business.[7] After several years of auditions and meetings, the Duff sisters were cast in various television commercials.[8]
Television
Early work
Duff's early career was marked by playing minor roles, starting off with an uncredited appearance in Hallmark Entertainment's
western miniseries True Women in 1997. She also served as an extra, again uncredited, in writer-director Willard Carroll's ensemble dramedy Playing by Heart in 1998. Her first major part was as a 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 second sequel to the successful Casper (1995), the
film was released direct-to-video with mostly unenthusiastic reviews.
In 1999, Duff appeared in a supporting role in the television film The Soul
Collector, which was based on a Kathleen Kane novel and starred Bruce
Greenwood and Melissa Gilbert. Duff won a Young Artist Award for "Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot (Supporting Young Actress)" for her
role in the movie.
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 in 2000. Actor Michael Chiklis, co-star of Daddio
stated, "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."[8]
Lizzie McGuire
-
Duff was dropped from the cast of Daddio prior to it being aired, which made her reluctant to pursue her acting career
further. However, her manager and mother spurred her on, and a week later she successfully auditioned for a Children's television series, Lizzie
McGuire. In the series, Duff portrayed the title role of Lizzie
McGuire, a clumsy but an average middle school girl. The show focused on her life and her slow growth into teenhood. Her
co-stars included Lalaine, Adam Lamberg, Jake Thomas, Clayton Snyder, Ashlie Brillault, Robert Carradine, and Hallie Todd.
Lizzie McGuire, which first aired on the Disney Channel in January 12, 2001, was a ratings hit, drawing in 2.3 million viewers per
episode,[8] and became the
career breakthrough Duff had been waiting for. Her participation in the show led to her becoming highly popular among children
between the ages of seven and fourteen, with critic Richard Huff of the New York Daily
News calling her "A 2002 version of Annette Funicello".[8] After Duff fulfilled her
sixty-five episode contract with Lizzie McGuire, Disney considered continuing the franchise in further films and a
prime-time television series to be broadcast on ABC, but the plans failed
to take off. However, she went on to reprise her role as Lizzie McGuire in the successful feature film spin-off,
The Lizzie McGuire Movie in 2003.
Other projects
During her time on Lizzie McGuire, Duff starred opposite Christy Carlson
Romano and Gary Cole in the Disney Channel television film Cadet Kelly (2002), which became the network's most watched program in its nineteen-year
history.[8]
Duff also made several guest appearances in television shows, her first as a sick child in the medical drama
Chicago Hope in March 2000.[9] In a 2003 episode of George Lopez, she had a
role as a makeup salesperson; she later reappeared in the show in 2005 as a feminist poet friend of Carmen (Masiela Lusha). In 2003, she acted opposite her sister Haylie in American Dreams, while in 2005, she played a classmate and idolizer of the title character of
Joan of Arcadia. During her Most Wanted tour, she performed in
Guadalajara, Mexico, where she filmed a brief
appearance on the soap opera Rebelde. She was also the guest star on The Andy Milonakis Show for its third season premiere in 2007.[10]
In January 2007, Hilary launched The Hilary Duff Podcast on Switchpod.com. Subscribers can access behind-the-scenes
footage of Hilary and her band rehearsing. A few select users also get to access pre-concert sound checks, and watch footage of
rare performances. They also get a sneak peek of fashion fittings, magazine photo shoots and fashion events, as well as learn
more about the charities and causes close to Hilary's heart.
Film career
Duff's first role in a theatrical motion picture was in Human Nature
(2002), an independent film shot before Lizzie McGuire and first shown at the Cannes and Sundance film festivals.[11] Written by Charlie
Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry, the film follows a female naturalist, played by Patricia Arquette. Duff played the
younger version of Arquette's character.
2003–2004
Her first major role in a feature film was in the family action film Agent Cody
Banks with Frankie Muniz in 2003. The film received positive reviews and was
successful enough to spawn a sequel, in which Duff did not participate. Afterwards, Duff reprised her role as Lizzie McGuire for
The Lizzie McGuire Movie, which exceeded box office expectations earning $55,534,455 worldwide.[12]
Later that year, Duff played one of the twelve children of Steve Martin and
Bonnie Hunt in the family film Cheaper
by the Dozen, which remains her highest grossing film till date. She reprised her role in the sequel to the film
called Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005), which failed to be as successful as
the original film and was panned by critics.
In 2004, Duff starred in the romantic comedy A Cinderella Story. Though the
reviews were mostly negative, the film went on to become a moderate box office hit, and critics were impressed by Duff's
performance and her chemistry with co-star Chad Michael Murray. A Cinderella
Story earned $66,068,046 worldwide and was a commercial success.[13] Later that year, she starred in the film Raise Your Voice, her first role in a drama film. Some critics praised Duff for appearing in a more
mature and serious role than her previous films, but the film itself was heavily panned, with the Las Vegas Weekly
writing: "Effortlessly combining Duff's bad acting and bad singing with bad writing and bad direction, Raise Your Voice is
an insulting waste of time that begs to be silenced". Several reviews were particularly harsh towards Duff's vocals, with critics
pointing out what appeared to be her digitally enhanced voice[14][15][16][17] and indifferent towards her acting performance. The film received a lukewarm response at the box
office, and is Duff's least successful film commercially, with total theater receipts of just $13,573,284.[18] The same year, Duff received her
first Razzie nomination for worst actress for her roles in Raise Your
Voice and Cinderella Story'.[19]
2005–2006
In 2005, Duff starred in The Perfect Man in which she played the eldest
daughter of a divorced woman (Heather Locklear). The film received mostly harsh reviews
and proved to be a box office disaster, grossing $19,770,475 globally.[20] That year, Duff was again nominated for a Razzie Award, for both The Perfect Man and
Cheaper by the Dozen 2.[21]
The 2006 satirical comedy Material Girls, in which she co-starred with her sister
Haylie, was also a major disappointment, grossing only $14,189,525 worldwide.[22] The film, directed by
Martha Coolidge and co-produced by Madonna's independent film production company Maverick Entertainment, starred the Duffs as wealthy
siblings who must fight to reclaim their fortune following a scandal. Hilary received nominations for another two Razzie awards
for her role in the film.[23]
2007
The Duff sisters are due to lend their voices to the computer animated comedy Foodfight!, which is to be distributed by Lions Gate
Films in 2008. The film's director, Larry Kasanoff, said that he is "absolutely thrilled to have the Duff sisters as part
of the cast".[24] Duff is currently slated to star
opposite John Cusack in War, Inc., due for release
in late 2007. On September 7, 2007, Duff confirmed on Much On Demand, that she would be
filming two films from September through October. The films will be called Greta,
and Safety Glass.
Music career
2002–2004
In 2002, Duff recorded a cover of Brooke McClymont's "I Can't Wait" for the Lizzie
McGuire soundtrack, and "The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room" for the first
DisneyMania compilation album.
Her first album was Santa Claus Lane (2002), a collection of Christmas songs
that included duets with Lil' Romeo, Christina Milian, and her sister Haylie. Accompanied by the Disney Channel-only single
"Tell Me a Story (About the Night Before)", it reached the
lower half of the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart and was certified gold.[25] The track "Santa Claus Lane" was included on the
soundtrack to The Santa Clause 2 and another song, "What Christmas Should Be",
was used in Cheaper by the Dozen. Duff sang several tracks for the 2003 soundtrack to The Lizzie McGuire Movie, including "Why
Not", which peaked at number fourteen in Australia.
Duff's second album and first studio album, Metamorphosis (2003), reached number one on the U.S. and Canadian charts. It
became one of the biggest selling albums of the year in the U.S. and has since gone to sell over 3.7 million copies.[26] The lead single, "So Yesterday" (co-written and produced by The Matrix),
was a top ten hit in several countries and its music video received heavy airplay on
MTV; its follow-up, the Laguna
Beach theme song "Come Clean", became Duff's first top forty U.S.
hit[27] and reached the
top twenty elsewhere. The third single, "Little Voice", was not released in the U.S.
and was a minor hit in Canada and Australia. In late 2003, Duff embarked on her first concert
tour, the Metamorphosis Club Tour, and later the Most Wanted tour. Most shows in the major cities included on the tour
were sold out.[28]
The second DisneyMania disc, DisneyMania 2, was released in January 2004
and contained a duet, "The Siamese Cat Song" with her sister. Another song, "Circle of
Life", featured Duff and other Disney Channel stars. Duff and her sister recorded a cover of The Go-Gos' "Our Lips Are Sealed" for the soundtrack to A
Cinderella Story, which included two other songs by Duff. The video for "Our Lips Are Sealed" was popular on MTV's Total
Request Live, but the song failed to chart on the U.S. Billboard Hot
100.[27]
Duff's third album was the self-titled Hilary Duff in which she co-wrote
some songs. She described the album as having an edgier, rock feel than Metamorphosis.
It was released on her seventeenth birthday (in September 2004) and debuted at number two in the U.S. and at number one in
Canada. The album sold over 1.5 million copies in the U.S. in eight months,[26] but its only U.S. single, "Fly", failed to chart on the Hot 100,[27] despite being accompanied by a popular video. "Fly" reached the
top forty in Australia, where the album produced a second top forty single, "Someone's Watching over Me",[29] which was the theme song of the film Raise Your Voice. Duff contributed the song "(I'll
Give) Anything but Up!" for the 2004 album Marlo Thomas & Friends: Thanks & Giving All Year
Long (2004), before continuing nine more months of the Most Wanted Tour.
2005–2006
Duff's fourth album, Most Wanted (2005), comprised her
favorite tracks from her previous two albums, remixes, and new songs inspired by pop-rock musicians such as The Killers and Muse. Duff stated that it was not a
greatest hits album, but that her label told her it was time to release a new album. She
had more creative control over Most Wanted compared to her previous releases, co-writing the new material with producers
Joel Madden and his brother, Benji, both members of
Good Charlotte. The lead single, "Wake
Up", became Duff's highest peaking single on the U.S. Hot 100 at the time,[27] and its video received heavy rotation on MTV. The video for the
second single, "Beat of My Heart", was also popular, but the single itself did not
chart in the U.S.[27] The
album itself debuted at number one on the Billboard 200[30] and became her third number-one debut in Canada. An Italy-only
compilation, 4Ever, was released in 2006. Duff recorded new songs for her movie,
Material Girls, which included a Timbaland-produced cover version of Madonna's
"Material Girl" with her sister.[31] According to a statement made by Haylie Duff, a single was not
released for the Material Girls soundtrack due to scheduling conflicts, and lack of time to shoot a video.
2007
Hilary Duff performing in
Toronto on Much Music TV.
For Duff's third studio album, Dignity, she co-wrote the material with
Kara DioGuardi, who co-produced the album with Rhett
Lawrence, Richard "Humpty" Vission, Tim &
Bob and others. Duff stated that compared to her previous music, it is "more dancey"
and makes use of more real instruments. She said, "I don't know exactly how to explain what we're doing, but it's fun and funky
and different, something new for me. It's really cool".[32] She also described the album's sound as "a little less pop-rock
and more electronic-sounding".[33]
The first single, "Play with Fire", became a minor club hit but failed to chart in the U.S.; the second single, "With
Love", was more successful, becoming Duff's biggest U.S. Hot 100 hit and topping the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.[27] The music video for "With Love" was used as a commercial for Duff's first fragrance,
With Love... Hilary Duff, which was launched in September 2006; the video
reached number one on Total Request Live. Initially slated for release in late
2006,[34] the album was released in April 2007 in North
America and earlier elsewhere. It reached the top five in the U.S. and Canada, the top twenty in Australia and the top forty in
the UK. The Dignity tour began in mid 2007. A third single, "Stranger", was a number-one U.S. club hit.[27] The next single will be "Reach Out", to help promote the re-release of the Dignity album which will be released in
the [[CDVU+]] format an will include additional and previously unreleased materials.
Entrepreneurship
Duff launched her clothing line, Stuff by Hilary Duff, in March 2004, with
clothes distributed through Target in the United States, Kmart in Australia, Zellers in
Canada and Edgars in South Africa. The company, initially
started as a clothing line, has expanded its business into furniture, fragrances, and jewelry, targetted at the teen and preteen
crowd.[35] Playmates Toys released a celebrity doll of her in 2004.[36] In September 2006, Duff released her perfume, "With Love... Hilary Duff", which she premiered on
The View.[37].
In 2007, Duff announced that she will be releasing a summer version of "With Love...Hilary Duff" titled, "Wrapped In Love".
Duff and her pet dog Lola made an appearance in the Electronic Arts game
The Sims 2: Pets, which was released on October 2006. In console versions of the
game, Duff's character visits public areas and allows the players to let their sims socialize with her and Lola, the dog.
However, in the PC expansion pack, players must download the Duff sim from the Maxis website before December 31 she and her dog will be fully playable characters, rather than a non-player character.[38] Duff and celebrities such as Paris Hilton and
Jessica Simpson have often been criticized for displaying their dogs as fashion
accessories rather than pets.[39]
Personal life
Duff appeared at MuchMusic in Canada on
April 23 2007 to promote
her music.
Duff began dating singer Aaron Carter in 2002. They met on the sets of Lizzie
McGuire, when Carter had a cameo role in a Christmas episode. The relationship lasted a year and a half. It was reported that
Carter left Duff for Lindsay Lohan, but soon broke up with Lohan and resumed dating Duff.
Carter later stated that he also cheated on Duff with her best friend, and that Duff "got her heart broken" and he was "sorry"
for his actions.[40] Claymation facsimiles of
Duff and Lohan appeared on the celebrity wrestling series Celebrity Death
Match on March 23, 2007. Duff and Lindsay Lohan were
later reported to have been involved in a "feud" with each other over their relationship with Carter.[41] As of 2007, Duff and Lohan had reconciled. Lohan attended the release
party for Duff's album Dignity and Duff told People magazine that she
thought Lohan was "fun" and "a nice girl".[42]
Duff began dating Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden in 2004.[43] After a long period of tabloid speculation, Duff's mother Susan announced their relationship in
a June 2005 interview for Seventeen magazine.[44] In a June 2006 interview with ELLE
magazine, Duff stated "...(virginity) is definitely something I like about myself. It doesn't
mean I haven't thought about sex, because everyone I know has had it and you want to fit in".[45] Duff later told MuchMusic that she
didn't say the quotes attributed to her in the article and that the subject was "definitely not something that I would talk
about..."[46] Duff and Madden broke up in November
2006.[47]
Duff is currently dating Mike Comrie, a hockey player for the New York Islanders of the NHL.[48]
Duff is also involved with various charities, is an animal rights enthusiast and a member of Kids with a
Cause.[49] She also donated US$250,000 to help the victims of Hurricane
Katrina.[50] In 2005, she donated
over 2.5 million meals to Hurricane Katrina victims in the south. In August 2006, Duff traveled to a New Orleans elementary school and worked with USA Harvest to distribute meals.[51]
Controversies
In 2004, reports emerged that Avril Lavigne and Duff were having a spat. "I read that I
was supposedly mad at my fans for dressing like me", Newsweek quoted Lavigne as saying.
"They quoted Hilary Duff saying, 'Avril needs to appreciate her fans more and blah, blah, blah.' I'm like, excuse me? First off,
it's not even true. I never said that. And second, who the hell cares what she has to say about my fans? Whatever. Hilary Duff's
such a goody-goody, such a mommy's girl". Recently, there were reports of drama between the two at a Maxim party in New York. Evidently, a complication in the arrival time of both, caused an unwanted
run-in. Lavigne was said to be furious at this, pacing around and pressuring her company to leave.[52]
In late 2006, Duff took legal action against an alleged stalker and his roommate.[53] On November 3 2006, Duff's stalker, Maksim Miakovsky, was arrested for threatening to kill her. He was booked on charges of
making criminal threats and stalking. According to legal papers filed by Duff, Miakovsky came to the U.S. "for the sole purpose
of meeting and becoming romantically involved with Ms. Duff". Miakovsky is being held on $200,000 bail at the Manhattan Beach
jail. He was arraigned on November 7 2006.[54] On January 19 2007, Miakovsky was sentenced to 117 days in jail and five years probation after pleading no contest to the
charges.[55]
In August 2005, Duff said she received veneers because she chipped off one of her
front teeth on a microphone during a concert.[56] She subsequently had her veneers redone to match the size of her original teeth.[57][58] By 2005, Duff appeared to have lost weight, leading the media to speculate that she had developed
an eating disorder, although Duff denied this claim.[59] Duff was interviewed on the Australian current affair show
Today Tonight and stated that she lost weight by leading a more active lifestyle.
Later, an article on Digital Spy in 2006, stated that Duff slimmed down to a U.S.
size zero because of media reports suggesting she had gained fifteen pounds.[60] She said she has been feeling pressure to be thin, stating
that she is perceived in the media to be either too fat or too thin. Duff called this "judgmental" and "mean".[61]
Filmography
Discography
-
Official studio albums
Awards
Further reading
- Hillary Duff, 2007, ISBN 9781420500127
References
