Columbia Records

Miranda Cosgrove stars as Carly Shay, a cool teen who clicks with kids everywhere by hosting her own home-grown web show, in the hit Nickelodeon series iCarly. “Carly is level-headed and calm and tries to find the best solution to any problem while others go crazy. In real life I’m the one who freaks out,” says the 15-year-old who segued directly from stealing scenes as deceptively sweet, mischievous little sis Megan on Nick’s hit Drake & Josh.

Miranda landed both her first TV series and feature film in early tween-hood: At age 9, she nabbed co-starring stints on Drake & Josh and on the big screen as the over-achieving preppy manager of Jack Black's rock band in School of Rock. She and Drake forged additional family ties as two of Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo's blended brood in the 2005 Nick Movies/Paramount Pictures release Yours, Mine and Ours. And Miranda turned up onscreen at a Bar Mitzvah last year, co-starring in the comedy feature Keeping up with the Steins. She has guest-starred on Nick’s Zoey 101, Unfabulous and Just Jordan. And she’s thrilled to be following in her TV brothers’ footsteps as a Nick series headliner and to play a character who is “underground famous” with kids.

“At first I thought, ‘Omigod, what am I going to do without Drake and Josh?” says Cosgrove, who sings the theme song to iCarly with Drake providing musical backup • and who signed a deal with Columbia Records -- part of a partnership between Nickelodeon and the Sony Music Label Group. But I love that we’re doing a show within a show with iCarly, and it’s a total blast to shoot the website scenes. I get to introduce kids with weird talents like shooting milk out of their eyes and talking backwards, and it’s so cool that kids can send in tapes and actually be on the show,” says the only child of a homemaker-turned-“momager” and a proprietor of a dry cleaning business.

Los Angeles native Miranda grabbed a toehold in show business as a tot just doing what came naturally. While dancing and playing amid the tables at a restaurant, she caught an agent's eye. Her first audition at age three yielded a Mellow Yellow commercial and led to numerous print ads for the preschooler. No overnight sensation, she honed her craft for six years before landing her big breaks onscreen. There were periodic on-camera auditions while she trained at the Young Actors Space, Commercial Workshop and Marnie Cooper School of Acting, took singing and dancing lessons, appeared in small theater productions and sang in the school chorus.

Miranda’s voice-over credits include Here Comes Peter Cottontail:The Movie (Munch the mouse) and What’s New, Scooby Doo? (Miranda Wright).

Landing School of Rock came with a couple of perks. “It was awesome to see snow for the first time,” says Miranda. On set, she got to plunk guitar and now takes lessons.

A former PTA Reflections Award winner in writing, drawing and photography, Miranda takes pleasure in scripting and performing plays with her friends. She also enjoys horseback riding, fencing, tennis, shopping (especially for shoes and vintage clothing from the ‘60s) and is “addicted” to late movies; her favorite is To Kill a Mockingbird. In addition, she relishes traveling with her family and savors memories of a trip to Sydney, Australia.