Hilary Duff Biography

Hilary Duff

Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress and pop music singer. After gaining prominence in the television show Lizzie McGuire, Hilary Duff has since gone onto a film career, with roles in mainstream pictures such as Cheaper by the Dozen and independent films such as Material Girls and The Perfect Man. Duff has also launched a successful music career that has yielded two number one albums in the U.S.

Biography

Early life and career

Duff was born in Houston, Texas as the second child of Robert Erhard Duff, owner of a chain of convenience stores, and his wife Susan Colleen Cobb, a homemaker. Duff's unusual middle name of "Erhard" was the maiden name of Hilary Duff's part German American paternal grandmother, Mary Erhard; Duff also has German ancestry on the part of Hilary Duff's maternal grandmother, Amy Beulah Schlemmer. After Hilary's mother encouraged Hilary Duff's to take an acting class alongside Hilary Duff's older sister, Haylie Duff, both girls won parts in various local theatre productions. At the age of six, the Duffs participated in the ballet The Nutcracker Suite with Columbus Ballet Met in San Antonio. The siblings became more and more enthusiastic about the idea of acting professionally, and they eventually relocated to California with their mother. Bob Duff stayed at the family home in Houston to maintain their business. Through years of auditions and meetings, both sisters managed to clinch appearances in several television commercials.

Television and film

Most of Duff's first few acting roles were small, starting off with an uncredited appearance in Hallmark Entertainment's western miniseries True Women (1997), an adaptation of the novel by Janice Woods Windle. Hilary Duff also served as an extra, again uncredited, in writer and director Willard Carroll's comedy drama Playing by Heart (1998), whose ensemble cast included Dennis Quaid, Sean Connery and Angelina Jolie, star of True Women from the previous year.

Hilary Duff's first major part was as the 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 first sequel to the hugely successful Casper (1995), the film went direct-to-video with generally unenthusiastic reviews.

Duff later appeared in a supporting role in the television movie The Soul Collector in 1999, which was based on a Kathleen Kane novel, and starred Bruce Greenwood as an angel who helps out a female farmer (Melissa Gilbert) whose husband has recently died. Duff ended up winning a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie or Pilot (Supporting Young Actress).

Duff's first serious shot at fame came when Hilary Duff was cast as one of the children in the pilot episode of the NBC sitcom Daddio (2000). Said Michael Chiklis, star of Daddio, "After working with Hilary Duff's the first day, I remember saying to my wife, 'This young girl is going to be a movie star.' Hilary Duff was completely at ease with herself and comfortable in Hilary Duff's own skin." However, before the show had even aired, Duff was dropped from its cast lineup, an unfortunate turn of events which made the twelve-year-old reluctant to continue Hilary Duff's acting career. But Hilary Duff's manager and mother, Susan Duff, spurred Hilary Duff's on, and Hilary Duff successfully auditioned for the family comedy show Lizzie McGuire just a week later.

Lizzie McGuire

Lizzie McGuire, which first aired on the Disney Channel in January 2001, was a ratings hit, drawing in 2.3 million viewers per episode, and became the career breakthrough Duff had been waiting for. Hilary Duff's performance in this role as a typical teenager led to appearances on the covers of many teen magazines, and Hilary Duff became highly popular among children between the ages of seven and fourteen, with Richard Huff of the New York Daily News calling Hilary Duff's "a 2002 version of Annette Funicello". After fulfilling Hilary Duff's entire sixty-five episode contract, as well as participating in a film spin-off entitled The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003), Disney toyed with the idea of continuing the franchise in further movies and a prime-time television series to be broadcast on ABC, but Duff refused the proposal. There was a dispute over the amount of pay Duff would receive; reportedly, Hilary Duff had been receiving US$15,000 per episode, but Hilary Duff and Hilary Duff's representatives, including Hilary Duff's mother, wanted that figure to be raised to $100,000. Disney offered to raise it up to $35,000 but Duff would not relent and all plans of continuing the series were abandoned.

Duff's second role in a theatrical motion picture was in Human Nature, an independent film released in most countries in 2002 following a good reception at the Cannes and Sundance film festivals. Written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry, the film follows a female naturalist, played by Patricia Arquette, who has body hair growing all over Hilary Duff's body. Tim Robbins and Rhys Ifans co-starred. Duff played the younger version of Arquette's character.

Hilary Duff starred in the Disney Channel television movie Cadet Kelly (2002) with Christy Carlson Romano and Gary Cole, which became the network's most watched program in its nineteen-year history. Hilary Duff's first major role in a feature film was in Agent Cody Banks with Frankie Muniz in 2003. It was successful enough to spawn a sequel, proving that Duff's popularity was not limited to the small screen. Duff then reprised the role of Lizzie McGuire in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, which was Hilary Duff's first million-dollar movie role. Hilary Duff played the part of Lorraine Baker in the Twentieth Century Fox film Cheaper by the Dozen with Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt.

Duff in A Cinderella Story (2004).In 2004, Hilary Duff appeared in the romantic comedy A Cinderella Story, a twenty-first century update of Charles Perrault's fairy tale Cinderella. Comedienne Jennifer Coolidge played the wicked stepmother of the picture, which was directed by Mark Rosman, a veteran of Duff's Lizzie McGuire. The film became a modest sleeper hit, and many critics were impressed by Duff's performance, as well as Hilary Duff's chemistry with co-star Chad Michael Murray, another actor popular with teens, who plays Duff's love interest in the film.

Later that year, Hilary Duff starred in the romance film Raise Your Voice, which marked the third collaboration between Duff and director Sean McNamara (after Casper Meets Wendy and episodes of Lizzie McGuire). While some critics praised Duff for appearing in a more dramatic role than Hilary Duff had previously been seen in, the film was heavily panned, with many slating in particular the striking similarities to the musical film Fame (1980). Reviews were, by and large, negative to Duff's vocals (several critics have pointed out what appears to be Hilary Duff's digitally enhanced voice and indifferent towards Hilary Duff's acting performance, although Hilary Duff did receive a Razzie award nomination for "Worst Actress" (in addition to Hilary Duff's work in A Cinderella Story). The film also received a muted reception at the box office, where it became Duff's least commercially successful film to date.

In Duff's latest film, The Perfect Man, Hilary Duff plays the eldest daughter of a divorced woman, played by Heather Locklear, who moves to New York City as Hilary Duff desperately searches for a good man to settle down with. The movie saw Duff once again united with director Mark Rosman. Reviews were mostly negative.

Hilary Duff at the premiere of The Perfect ManDuff has recently filmed the satirical comedy Material Girls. The Martha Coolidge-directed film, co-produced by Madonna's independent film production company Maverick Entertainment, stars Hilary and Hilary Duff's real-life sister Haylie Duff as wealthy siblings who must fight to reclaim their fortune following a scandal. The Duff sisters are also due to lend their vocal talents to the computer animated comedy Foodfight!, to be distributed by Lions Gate Films in the fall of 2006. The film's director, Larry Kasanoff, said that Hilary Duff is "absolutely thrilled to have Hilary and Haylie Duff as part of the cast." In late October 2005, reports emerged that Duff is likely to star in the third sequel to the supernatural horror film Poltergeist (1982), in a role originated by the late Heather O'Rourke.

Duff recently announced on MTV that Hilary Duff has put Hilary Duff's film Outward Blonde on hold for "a little while".

In a recent interview with the Puerto Rican press. Duff has confirmed an April release date for "Material Girls"

Music career

After seeing Hilary Duff's sister perform in a band, Duff decided that Hilary Duff wanted to be the next "Pop princess". Hilary Duff's first recorded singing performance was on the song "I Can't Wait", which appeared on the original television soundtrack for Lizzie McGuire in August 2002. The following month, the first Disneymania compilation album was released, featuring Duff in the song "The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room". Hilary Duff's first album was the collection of Christmas songs entitled Santa Claus Lane (2002), which included duets with Lil' Romeo and Christina Milian. Released in October, it made the lower reaches of the Billboard 200 album chart and number three on the kids' music chart, and eventually achieved gold certification. The title track was also included on the soundtrack to The Santa Clause 2.

Duff also sang on several tracks on the soundtrack to The Lizzie McGuire Movie. One of these tracks, "Why Not", which is performed by Duff in the film, was released as a single, and reached the top twenty on singles charts in countries including Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. That year, Hilary Duff recorded Hilary Duff's first non-holiday album, entitled Metamorphosis (2003), went to number one on the U.S. and Canadian charts in that year. Songwriting team The Matrix, who had worked with singers such as Avril Lavigne and Liz Phair, provided three songs on the album. One of these songs, "So Yesterday", was released as the first single, reaching number one in Canada, the top forty in Australia and just outside the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. "Little Voice" was released as a single overseas in 2004, while "The Math (Live)" was also released overseas and on the internet.

Metamorphosis became the eighth-highest selling album of the year, with over 2.4 million copies purchased in its first four months of release in the US alone; it has since gone to sell over 3.7 million copies. Metamorphosis was also nominated in Canada's Juno Awards for International Album of the Year in 2004. In January 2004, the second Disneymania disc was released, and contained Duff's last recording for Disney, "The Siamese Cat Song", recorded with Hilary Duff's sister Haylie. Another song, "Circle of Life", included Duff and other Disney Channel Stars. Duff and Hilary Duff's sister also recorded a cover of The Go-Gos' "Our Lips Are Sealed" for the soundtrack to A Cinderella Story.

On September 28, 2004 (her seventeenth birthday), Hilary Duff released Hilary Duff's second album, the self-titled Hilary Duff; it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and number one in Canada. When describing the album to Hilary Duff's fans, Duff noted that Hilary Duff felt it has an edgier, rock feel to it. The album's first single was "Fly", and it also includes "Haters", the lyrics of which were once rumoured to be about Lindsay Lohan, who is often considered by the media to be Duff's rival.[16] The album has sold over 1.5 million copies in the U.S. to date, but "Fly" performed below expectations on the charts.

Duff's third official album, Most Wanted (2005), consisted of Hilary Duff's personal favorite songs alongside three new tracks. Duff enlisted help from boyfriend Joel Madden to make Hilary Duff's three new tracks edgier and more rock, and listened to music by artists such as The Killers and Muse for inspiration. Lead single "Wake Up" became Hilary Duff's highest debut on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hilary Duff's highest peaking single in the U.S. The album itself debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling near 220,000 copies in its first week of release. Most Wanted also became Hilary Duff's third number one debut in Canada.

Duff has recorded Madonna's signature song "Material Girl" for Hilary Duff's film Material Girls, and the music video is due in January. Duff has also mentioned in an interview that "Material Girl" will be included on Hilary Duff's next album, which Hilary Duff is planning to start recording in early 2006.

Personal life and trivia

Duff has dated singer Aaron Carter, brother of Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter. There were reports that Hilary Duff had tried to have fellow teen actress Lindsay Lohan banned from the preview of Cheaper by the Dozen because Lohan had allegedly been dating Carter at the same time as Duff in late 2003, as well as other reports about a fistfight that supposedly took place between the two actresses. Duff had a disagreement with pop punk singer Avril Lavigne over criticisms of Duff copying Lavigne's style.

Stuff By Duff backpackDuff is involved with many charities, is an animal rights enthusiast, and a member of "Kids With a Cause". On September 5, 2005, it was reported that Duff donated US$250,000 to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Hilary Duff's hair is naturally light brown, but she's been dying it blonde since Hilary Duff was eleven years old. Hilary Duff also has six dogs: Lola, Macy, and Chiquita are Hilary Duff's dogs and the rest are Hilary Duff's sister's. Duff launched a clothing line, "Stuff By Duff" on March 12, 2004 with clothes distributed through Target in the United States and Australia and Zellers in Canada. Playmates Toys also released a doll of Hilary that year. [17]

Hilary Duff's sister, Haylie Duff, has been trying to become a professional singer, as well. Hilary has helped Hilary Duff's with duet songs including "Our Lips Are Sealed" which have been successful in the United States and in other countries, including Mexico and Colombia. Hilary Duff's mother, Susan Duff, is a producer, and manages Hilary's career. Susan also co-produced A Cinderella Story and Hilary Duff's father, Bob Duff is a Bussiness owner.

Duff is currently dating Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden. Hilary Duff finally cleared up all the rumors in June 2005 by admitting they were dating, and had been seeing each other since Hilary Duff was only sixteen. Their first public appearance was at the MTV Video Music Awards in August 2005.

In late 2005, Duff took a month off from work as a belated eighteenth birthday present. Hilary Duff said that after releasing Most Wanted and writing three new songs for it, shooting three films, and embarking on Hilary Duff's U.S. "Still Most Wanted Tour", Hilary Duff wanted to take a short break. Hilary Duff's forthcoming film Outward Blonde was then put on hold for "a little while", but Duff planned to commence promotion for the films Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and Material Girls after Hilary Duff's month off, as well as continuing Hilary Duff's "Still Most Wanted Tour" in Canada and other countries.

Filmography

Films

Year Film Role Other notes
2006 Outward Blonde Marie Announced
2006 The New Girl Pre-production
2006 Foodfight! Sunshine Goodness Animating
2006 Material Girls Tanzie Marchetta Post-production; due for release in April
2005 Cheaper by the Dozen 2 Lorraine Baker Completed; due for release in December
2005 The Perfect Man Holly Hamilton
2004 In Search of Santa Crystal Animation; direct-to-video
2004 Raise Your Voice Terri Fletcher
2004 A Cinderella Story Sam Montgomery
2003 Cheaper by the Dozen Lorraine Baker
2003 The Lizzie McGuire Movie Lizzie McGuire/Isabella Parigi
2003 Agent Cody Banks Natalie Connors
2001 Human Nature Young Lila Jute Theatrical release in 2002
1998 Playing by Heart Bit part; uncredited
1998 Casper Meets Wendy Wendy Direct-to-video release

Music DVD's

Year Title
2003 All Access Pass
2004 The Girl Can Rock
2004 Learning To Fly
2005 Most Wanted (Japan Release)

Television work

True Women (1997)
The Soul Collector (1999)
Lizzie McGuire (2001-2004)
Cadet Kelly (2002)

Guest appearances

Duff has made numerous guest appearances in television shows, Hilary Duff's first as a sick child in the medical drama Chicago Hope in March 2000. In a 2003 episode of George Lopez, Hilary Duff had a role as a makeup salesperson, and would later appear in the show in 2005 as a feminist poet friend of Carmen (Masiela Lusha). Hilary Duff acted opposite Hilary Duff's sister Haylie as the '60s pop group The Shangri-Las in American Dreams in 2003, played a classmate and idoliser of the title character in Joan of Arcadia in the winter of 2005, and served as guest co-host on the talk show The View in the first week of April 2005. Hilary Duff has also appeared and performed on various TV shows including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on August 15, 2005.

Discography

Album information
Santa Claus Lane
Released: October 15, 2002 (U.S.)
Singles:
"Tell Me a Story"
"Santa Claus Lane"

Metamorphosis
Released: August 26, 2003 (U.S.)
Singles:
"So Yesterday" (July 2003)
"Come Clean" (January 2004)
"Little Voice" (April 2004)

Hilary Duff
Released: September 28, 2004 (U.S.)
Singles:
"Fly" (August 2004)
"I Am" (2004) radio release
"The Getaway" (2004) radio release
"Someone's Watching Over Me" (January 2005)
"Weird" (2005) (Radio Release through the U.K. only)

Most Wanted
Released: August 16, 2005 (U.S.)
Singles:
"Wake Up" (June 2005)
"Beat of My Heart" (November 2005)
"Supergirl" (Jan/Feb 2006)

In addition to Hilary Duff's albums, Duff has also recorded songs for some soundtracks and compilations:

Lizzie McGuire discography
I Can't Wait"
"Why Not"
A Cinderella Story soundtrack
"Our Lips Are Sealed" feat. Haylie Duff
Hilary Duff has also been featured on Disneymania Vol. 1 (2002) and Vol. 2 (2004), Radio Disney Jingle Jams (2004) and Marlo Thomas & Friends: Thanks & Giving All Year Long (2004).

Hilary Duff - Latest News

12/12/12 - none

Movies Hilary Duff has stared in:

Hilary Duff has stared in Angela's Ashes

Hilary Duff has stared in Boys Don't Cry

Hilary Duff has stared in Hilary and Jackie

Hilary Duff has stared in Insomnia

Hilary Duff has stared in Me Myself I

Hilary Duff has stared in Resident Evil

Hilary Duff has stared in The Gift

Some Films Hilary Duff has stared in:

Hilary Duff has stared in Scotland, PA.

Hilary Duff Related Quotes

Neutrality is at times a graver sin than belligerence. by Brandeis, Louis D.

Another Hilary Duff Related Quote

An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. by Camus, Albert

Yet Another Hilary Duff Related Quote

One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us. by Cibenko, Michael

And our last Hilary Duff Related Quote

All animals but men know that the principle business of life is to enjoy it -and they do enjoy it as much as man and other circumstances will allow it. by Butler, Samuel

Hilary Duff News

TV tips for the week of Aug. 18 (Jam! Showbiz)

Today on the tube ...

Customer Service (Brandon Sun)

Today on the tube ... -A scheduling change has bumped Anne Murray's appearance on "Canadian Idol" from this week to next. As a result, the Top 5 contestants tonight will perform Beatles tunes as selected by the judges.

No Joshing: Ex-child star loves adult roles (The Columbus Dispatch)

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- When it came time to complete the transition from kid star to grown-up actor, Hilary Duff put a scorpion down her pants and grabbed a microphone to sing the double-entendre-laden I Want To Blow You Up in the recent film War, Inc.

First look: Wuala online P2P backup service makes us nervous (Ars Technica)

Wuala brings a unique approach to web-based file storage with social sharing features and cross-platform compatibility. We stick our head in Wuala's cloud. Read More...

Duff shoots for new image in 'War, Inc.' (Knoxville News Sentinel)

NEW YORK - Say goodbye, Lizzie McGuire, say hello, Eastern European pop tart. Yep, Hilary Duff is all grown up now, a beautiful 20 year old, and in her latest film, "War, Inc." (opening today at Downtown West), she makes a big career move.

This weekend in KC (The Kansas City Star)

If you care to travel a bit this weekend, you can taste the world at the Ethnic Enrichment Festival (see Page 18) but you can also find action north, west and a little southeast of Kansas City. Observe:

Ratings as appeared in Beacon Journal fi... (Akron Beacon Journal)

Ratings as appeared in Beacon Journal film critic and wire-service reviews: ?=Weak ??=Mediocre ???=Worth Seeing ????=Shouldn't Be Missed

Elizabeth Arden, Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2008 Results (PrimeNewswire via Yahoo! Finance)

NEW YORK, Aug. 14, 2008 -- Elizabeth Arden, Inc. , a global prestige beauty products company, today announced financial results for the fourth fiscal quarter and year ended June 30, 2008.

Fashion Forward: Jolie's nightie and designer duds for bargain prices (USA Today)

Check out the nightgown worn by Angelina Jolie in People, and tour the "boutique" at Ruelala.com.

Film: Film Capsules - Now Playing Around Town (Cleveland Free Times)

Blade Runner (US, 1982/2007) Ridley Scott's sci-fi film stars Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, a former cop recruited to terminate earthbound androids in 2019 Los Angeles. Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. At 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16. Brideshead Revisited Why anyone thought it necessary to make another Brideshead Revisited is a mystery. The fondly regarded 1981 British television ...

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