Miranda Taylor Cosgrove

Miranda Cosgrove
Miranda Taylor Cosgrove (born May 14, 1993)[1] is an American film and television actress and pop rock recording artist. Cosgrove is best known for her roles as Megan Parker in Drake & Josh and as the title character in iCarly. Her career sprang forward at the age of three, mainly participating intelevision commercials. Cosgrove's film debut was in 2003, as Summer Hathaway in School of Rock. After years of small television appearances, Cosgrove was cast into the hit show Drake & Josh and later in iCarly. Following the success of iCarly, a soundtrack album was released in June 2008, in which she performed four songs. Cosgrove's debut album Sparks Fly was released on April 27, 2010; The Matrix, Dr. Luke, and Espionage worked with her on it. {| class="toc" id="toc" style="font-size: 12px; color: black; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; margin-top: 0.5em; "

Contents
[hide]
 * 1 Early life and acting interest
 * 2 Career
 * 2.1 2001–2006: Rise to fame
 * 2.2 2007–present: iCarly and music career
 * 2.3 Promotional model
 * 3 Filmography
 * 4 Discography
 * 4.1 Albums
 * 4.2 EPs
 * 4.3 Soundtracks
 * 4.4 Singles
 * 5 Awards and nominations
 * 6 References
 * 7External links
 * }

Cosgrove was born in Los Angeles, California to Tom, who owns a dry cleaning business,[2] and Chris, a stay-at-home mother.[2] At the age of three, she was discovered by a talent agent[2] while singing and dancing at the Los Angeles restaurant Taste of L.A.[3] Cosgrove stated that when the agent walked up to her and her mom for modeling and print, she initially "never really thought of being an [actress]" and "was lucky".[4] After choosing to take the offer, she appeared in television commercials and modeled.[5] At the age of seven, Cosgrove decided to that "[she] loved doing it" and auditioned for theater and televison.[4]

Cosgrove's first television appearance was in 2001 as a 5-year old Lana Lang in the pilot of Smallville. Cosgrove then made her film debut with the 2003 film School of Rock. In the movie, she played Summer Hathaway, a young girl with great ambition and discipline who finds herself adjusting to the free-spirited nature of the new teacher by becoming band manager of classroom's rock band. School of Rock was both a box office hit, grossing over $131,282,949 worldwide,[6] and critical success, receiving a 91 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.[7] Cosgrove's acting on the film was praised with David Ansen of Newsweek describing it as "spot on".[8]

While filming School of Rock in New York City, Cosgrove was informed that the pilot for Drake & Josh had been picked up. In the series, she portrayed the mischievous sister of the title character,Megan Parker. The show made its debut on January 11, 2004 and drew positive responses in ratings.

Career
Cosgrove's debut as a recording artist began with the iCarly theme song "Leave It All to Me". The song features her former Drake & Josh castmate Drake Bell and is written by Michael Corcoran, one of Bell's band members. It was released as a single in December 2007 through digital distribution[9] and eventually peaked at number one-hundred on the Billboard Hot 100.[10] In June 2008, Columbia Records released the iCarly soundtrack, which featured four songs performed by Cosgrove ("Leave It All to Me", "Stay My Baby", "About You Now", and "Headphones On").[11] Critical reception for her performance was positive. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic stated that Cosgrove proved "herself to be an appealingly spunky singer" and the "good tunes" she performed "[made] the most of her girlish talents".[11] However, Erlewine noted that the "focus [was] not on her" because of other artists, she but rather "[blended] in the mix".[11] The following promotional single "Stay My Baby" failed to reach charts, but "About You Now" reached number forty-seven on the Hot 100 in January 2009, becoming her most successful single to date.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[12]

Following all the success of the iCarly soundtrack, Cosgrove became one of MTV's "The Female Pop Rookies of 2009".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[13] In December 2008, a cover of the holiday song "Christmas Wrapping" was released to promote the hour long special "Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[14] On February 3, 2009, Cosgrove released her first solo recording, the extended play About You Now, exclusively on the iTunes Store.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-ayn_14-0" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[15] The extended play featured the title track, a remix of it, and a remix of "Stay My Baby", as well as two new songs "F.Y.I." and "Party Girl".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-ayn_14-1" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[15] To promote the 2009 animated film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Columbia Records released a single entitled "Raining Sunshine" with an accompanying music video in August 2009.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[16] Cosgrove during iCarlyrehearsals in February 2009 Since July 2008, plans for a debut album have been active.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-album_16-0" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[17] In an interview with MTV News, Cosgrove discussed the forthcoming album.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-album_16-1" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[17] Cosgrove reported to be "co-writing and getting really into" the album, as oppose to the iCarly soundtrack in which she "just picked songs that meant a lot to [her], that [she] really liked."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-album_16-2" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[17] She also described the album as "still pop rock fun" in comparison to her previous work on the iCarly soundtrack, though "a little more mature".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-album_16-3" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[17] Themes for the album are "love songs and just fun songs about hanging out with your girlfriends".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-album_16-4" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[17] When releasing About You Now, Cosgrove further elaborated on the album's concepts.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-newep_17-0" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[18] She described working with producers and songwriters The Matrix and Dr. Luke as "definitely different".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-newep_17-1" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[18] Cosgrove also worked with songwriters Leah Haywood and Daniel James,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[19] and said that "most of the songs are fun, pop, rock-girl empowerment".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-newep_17-2" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[18] She noted that "there's one ballad that's kind of sad" and that "it's called 'What Are You Waiting For?' It's about a girl who likes a guy [but he doesn't feel the same way]".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-newep_17-3" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[18] She added it's something she's experienced in her own life: "I definitely have guys that I'm friends with that I have a crush on, and you don't want to ruin the friendship".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-newep_17-4" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[18] Nickelodeon has announced the album will be released in April 2010,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[20] and the first single from her upcoming album, "Kissin' U" was premiered on Ryan Seacrest's radio show on March 12, 2010 and will be released to iTunes on March 23, 2010.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[21]

On March 17, 2010, It was reported that Cosgrove had signed a deal, reportedly in the "low- to mid-seven-figure range" to do 26 additional episodes of iCarly.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[22]

Cosgrove voices a character in Universal Studios 3-D computer animated feature Despicable Me, scheduled for release in July 2010.

Filmography
Cosgrove during a Twist photo shoot in June 2009.{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="font-size: 11px; color: black; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-collapse: collapse; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; " ! colspan="4" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(176, 196, 222); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "|Miranda Cosgrove's Filmography !Year !Film !Role !Notes
 * - align="center" bgcolor="#CCCCCC"
 * - align="center" bgcolor="#CCCCCC"
 * 2003
 * School of Rock
 * Summer Hathaway
 * 2005
 * Yours, Mine and Ours
 * Joni North
 * 2006
 * Keeping Up with the Steins
 * Karen Sussman
 * 2010
 * Despicable Me
 * Margo
 * Voice-only, in production
 * }
 * 2010
 * Despicable Me
 * Margo
 * Voice-only, in production
 * }
 * Voice-only, in production
 * }

EPs

 * About You Now (2009)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[26]

Soundtracks

 * iCarly (2008)