Miley Cyrus

Miley Ray Cyrus born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992 is an American singer, actress, and author. Cyrus is best known for starring as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana in the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana.

Following the success of the show, in October 2006, a soundtrack CD was released in which she sang eight songs from the show. Cyrus' solo music career began with the release of her debut album, Meet Miley Cyrus on June 23, 2007. Her second album, Breakout, was released on July 22, 2008. Breakout is Cyrus' first album that does not involve the Hannah Montana franchise. Both albums debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. In 2008 she released her Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert film.

She also starred in Bolt in 2008, and recorded "I Thought I Lost You" for the soundtrack for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination. She starred in the movie spin-off of Hannah Montana, titled Hannah Montana: The Movie which was released on April 10, 2009. In addition, she has recorded the main single, "The Climb", for the movie soundtrack. In 2008, Cyrus was listed in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World. Forbes magazine ranked her #35 on "The Celebrity 100" list with earnings of over US$25 million in 2008.

Cyrus was born in Nashville, Tennessee on November 23, 1992. She is the daughter of Leticia "Tish" (née Finley) and country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. She has an older brother Trace, a vocalist and guitarist of an electronic rock band Metro Station in California. She has an older sister, Brandi. The two were Tish's children from a previous relationship, whom Billy Ray Cyrus adopted when they were very young. She also has an older half-brother, Christopher Cody, her father's son from a previous relationship, but she has not seen Christopher since November 2007 during her concert at Fort Worth, Texas. Miley also has a younger brother, Braison, and a younger sister, Noah, who is also an actress. Cyrus was named Destiny Hope because her parents believed that she would accomplish great things. Cyrus was nicknamed "Miley" because she kept smiling ("Smiley") as a youngster. She is of part Cherokee descent.

Cyrus attended Heritage Middle School and was a cheerleader, but now goes to school at Options For Youth. She also has a private tutor on the set of her TV show. She grew up on her parents' farm outside of Nashville, Tennessee where she also attended The People's Church.

Cyrus became interested in acting at age nine, taking classes at the Armstrong Acting Studio in Toronto, Canada, when she and her family lived there for four years. Her first acting role was as a guest star on her father's television series Doc, in which she played a girl named Kylie. In 2003, she played "Young Ruthie" in Tim Burton's Big Fish and was credited as Destiny Cyrus. As of June 2009, Cyrus is scheduled to film her upcoming movie The Last Song in which she plays a teenage girl who tries to bond with her father during a summer at his home in a quiet beach town. It is scheduled for release in 2010 and filming is expected to start from June 15-21, 2009.

Cyrus was 12 years old when she originally auditioned for Disney for the lead role of Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana, as well as the show's "best friend" roles, but Disney Channel executives judged her to be too small. However, Cyrus was persistent in her desire to be part of Hannah Montana, so Disney called her back for further auditions. According to Disney Channel Executive Vice President Gary Marsh, Cyrus was chosen for the show because of her energetic and lively performance and was seen as a person who "loves every minute of life," with the "everyday relatability of Hilary Duff and the stage presence of Shania Twain." She spent several years trying to get rid of her Southern accent, but in the end Disney wanted her to revive it. Later in an unusual twist, Cyrus had to audition her own father, Billy Ray Cyrus, to see if he would fit the role as Hannah's dad. Cyrus currently stars in Hannah Montana as the lead character Miley Stewart, whose alter ego is the pop music sensation Hannah Montana. Cyrus also performs in character as Hannah Montana for albums and concerts.

Cyrus had a brief cameo in High School Musical 2 credited as "girl at pool". Cyrus also guest-starred as Yatta on the Disney Channel's The Emperor's New School. Cyrus provided the voice of Penny in the 2008 computer-animated film, Bolt. She also starred in a Hannah Montana movie spin-off, titled Hannah Montana: The Movie which was released on April 10, 2009.

In 2006, the fourth edition of DisneyMania was released. On it, Cyrus made a cover of Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, from the 1946 animated movie Song of the South, originally performed by James Baskett. Later, Walt Disney Records released the first Hannah Montana soundtrack, on October 24, 2006. The soundtrack included eight of the songs that Cyrus performed as Hannah Montana and other artists include her father, Billy Ray Cyrus. The album debuted at #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 selling 281,000 copies in its first week, beating out such artists as John Legend and rock band My Chemical Romance. where it remained for two weeks. It was the eighth best selling album of 2006 in the U.S., with nearly two million copies sold that year. The album was later re-released twice - a Holiday Edition featuring Cyrus' cover of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and a Special Edition featuring "Nobody's Perfect", the first appeared on 2007 album Disney Channel Holiday. Cyrus also opened for The Cheetah Girls, performing on 20 dates of their 39-city tour.

Once again, Cyrus recorded a remake version of a classic Disney song "Part of Your World" for DisneyMania fifth edition. On June 26, 2007, Cyrus released a double album, Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus. The first disc served as the second Hannah Montana soundtrack, while the second disc was Cyrus' debut solo album as herself. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and sold 326,000 copies, selling faster in its first week than the previous soundtrack On the strength of holiday season sales, the album returned and remained in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 in December on the strength of holiday season sales, and sold more than 700,000 copies during that period. The album, having sold more than 3 million copies in the U.S was certified three times Platinum by RIAA. The album had five of its songs debut on the Billboard Hot 100, "See You Again" peaked at #10, which also become Cyrus' first song to enter the top ten on the Hot 100.

Cyrus performed both as herself and in character as Hannah Montana on a North American Best of Both Worlds Tour with 69 total dates, 14 more than previously planned. The Jonas Brothers were the opening act for most of the tour. Tour tickets for each date sold out in record time after they went on sale, disappointing a large number of fans. The tour was recorded and released to cinemas in Disney Digital 3-D. The concert film brought in $8,651,758 on its opening day, and continued on to gross $31,117,834 to finish off the weekend, making it the highest-grossing opening weekend for a film to be released under 1000 screens, and on July 26, 2008 it was released on Disney Channel.

After that, Walt Disney Records/Hollywood Records released a live album recorded by Cyrus during this tour. It features seven songs as her character, Hannah Montana, and another seven as herself. The album peaked at number three in the United States.