Miranda Cosgrove

Cosgrove was raised in Los Angeles by her parents, Tom Cosgrove, who owns a dry-cleaning business, and Chris Cosgrove, a homemaker. She is an only child and was homeschooled from sixth grade onward. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in psychology.

She supports St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Education Through Music. She has also visited children's hospitals and served as a national spokesperson for the Light the Night Walk, which raises awareness of blood cancers.

Cosgrove was discovered at age three while singing and dancing at the Los Angeles restaurant Taste of L.A. She subsequently appeared in television commercials for brands including McDonald's, Burger King, Mello Yello, and others. Her first television appearance came in 2001, when she voiced young Lana Lang in the pilot episode of Smallville.

She made her film debut as Summer Hathaway in School of Rock (2003), directed by Richard Linklater and starring Jack Black. In 2004, she joined Drake & Josh as Megan Parker, the mischievous younger sister of the title characters, played by Drake Bell and Josh Peck. Her performance led to the lead role of Carly Shay in iCarly, which premiered in 2007 and became her breakthrough television role. The series featured Carly's web show, along with fan-submitted videos, and ran through 2012.

Cosgrove began her recording career with the iCarly theme song, "Leave It All to Me," which featured Drake Bell. The 2008 iCarly soundtrack included four songs performed by Cosgrove and reached number one on the Billboard Kid Albums chart. She followed it with the extended play About You Now in 2009.

Her debut studio album, Sparks Fly, was released in 2010 and reached number eight on the Billboard 200. Its single "Kissin U" peaked at number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold. She released the extended play High Maintenance in 2011 and supported it with the Dancing Crazy Tour and Dancing Crazy Summer Tour. A tour bus collision in Illinois in August 2011 broke her ankle, and the remainder of the tour was canceled.

Cosgrove began voicing Margo in Despicable Me (2010), returning for Despicable Me 2, Despicable Me 3, Despicable Me 4, and related short films and specials. The franchise became her highest-grossing film work. She also appeared in the films The Intruders (2015), 3022 (2019), and North Hollywood (2021), and played Shea Moore in the NBC sitcom Crowded in 2016.

Since 2019, Cosgrove has hosted Mission Unstoppable with Miranda Cosgrove, an educational CBS series focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. She received a Daytime Emmy nomination for the program and also served as its executive producer. She returned as Carly Shay for the iCarly revival on Paramount+, which ran from 2021 to 2023, serving as executive producer as well. Her later film credits include Drugstore June, Mother of the Bride, and The Wrong Paris.