Bridgit Mendler: Teen Idol

Bridgit Claire Mendler (born December 18, 1992) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, producer and actress. She played Teddy Duncan in the Disney Channel Original Series Good Luck Charlie and appeared in the 2009 made for television film Labor Pains. In 2009, she became a recurring character for the Disney Channel Original Series Wizards of Waverly Place. In December of that year, she made her theatrical debut in the film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel, released on December 23, 2009. Following the positive reception to her character on Wizards of Waverly Place, who was a vampire and fell in love with David Henrie's character, she became the star of the Disney series Good Luck Charlie, which premiered in April 2010 and ended in February 2014. In 2011, she appeared in the film based on the series Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas.

She starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Lemonade Mouth, in which her character Olivia performs numerous songs. Two singles were released from the soundtrack featuring her vocals, with both charting on the US Billboard Hot 100. In 2012, Mendler released her debut album Hello My Name Is..., which featured a pop sound. It debuted at number 30 on the US Billboard 200, and has sold over 180,000 copies as of 2013. Her debut single off the album "Ready or Not", became an international Top 40 hit, the song was certified gold in Norway, and platinum in New Zealand, United States and Canada and peaked at number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was announced that her second single would be "Hurricane". The video premiered on April 12, 2013 and was shot in London. "Hurricane" has been certified GOLD in the USA for selling 500,000 copies.

Bridgit Claire Mendler was born in Washington, D.C. on December 18, 1992. She moved with her family to the San Francisco area town of Mill Valley at the age of eight. It was there where she first expressed interest in acting and began working in plays. On the decision, Mendler stated "I was 11 when I did a play out in Northern California and I really enjoyed it and I decided that I wanted to pursue a career and so I got an agent and did commercials and voice-overs and that sort of thing." When she was only eight years old, Mendler began taking part in local roles in both dramatic and musical theatre, and became the youngest performer in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. When she was 11 years old, she hired an agent to help her get acting jobs.

In 2004, Mendler got her first acting role in the animated Indian film The Legend of Buddha, in which she portrayed Lucy. When she was only 13 years old, she got an acting role as a guest star on the soap opera General Hospital. She portrayed the dream child of character Lulu Spencer, in which the two have an argument on Mendler's character's birthday. The scene, lasting just under a minute, is later revealed to be a dream That same year, Mendler was the voice of the character Thorn in the video game Bone: The Great Cow Race, which was based on the Bone comic series. In 2007, Mendler made her film debut in the film adaption of the Alice series, titled Alice Upside Down. Mendler starred alongside Disney Channel actress Alyson Stoner and Lucas Grabeel. Bridgit portrayed the antagonistic role of Pamela, who is the rival of Stoner's character, Alice. For the film's soundtrack, Mendler provided backing vocals on the song "Free Spirit", performed by Stoner. The film was released straight to DVD on October 6, 2007.

In 2008, it was announced that Mendler would play the role of Kristen Gregory in the film adaption of the popular teen novel series The Clique by Lisi Harrison. Mendler had the role of Kristen, a girl who attends OCD on a scholarship, and works hard to keep her good grades. The Clique was released straight to DVD in Fall of 2008, her second film to be released in this format. In 2007, Mendler had begun working on a film with actress and singer Lindsay Lohan titled Labor Pains, which kept being pushed back due to various conflicts and problems. Though initially slated for a theatrical release, the film did not receive one in the US and was instead released as a TV film on ABC Family on 2009. The film did, however, receive a theatrical release in countries such as Russia, Romania, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, and Mexico. The film drew 2.1 million viewers, a better-than-average prime-time audience for ABC Family, and per the network, was the week's top cable film among coveted female demographic groups. She had a supporting role in the film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.

Beginning in 2009, Mendler became a recurring character in the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place, alongside Selena Gomez and David Henrie. Mendler portrayed the role of Juliet Van Heusen, a vampire who later forms a romance with David Henrie's character Justin Russo. This lasts till the series finale. Mendler would go on to appear in eleven episodes total for the series, spanning from 2009 to 2012 when the series officially ended. Also in 2009, Mendler auditioned for Sonny with a Chance for the role of Sonny Munroe, but Demi Lovato was chosen for the role.

In 2010, Mendler became the star of the Disney Channel Original Series Good Luck Charlie, centering around a teenage girl who makes videos for her baby sister to watch as she gets older. The series premiered on April 4, 2010, and has since been met with a positive critical reception and viewership. In 2011, she starred as Olivia White, the lead role in the Disney Channel Original Movie, Lemonade Mouth, watched by 5.7 million viewers on its premiere night. Bridgit performed numerous songs for the film's soundtrack, which was released on April 12, 2011 by Walt Disney Records. The first single released from the soundtrack, titled "Somebody", was released on March 4, and peaked at number 89 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The second single, "Determinate", charted in numerous other countries and peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100. In an interview with Kidzworld Media, Mendler confirmed that there will not be a sequel to Lemonade Mouth, commenting: "There’s not [going to be a sequel to Lemonade Mouth] unfortunately. We had such a great experience working on the movie, and they tried to figure something out for a sequel, but everyone at Disney felt like the movie had completed its story in the first movie. It was a great experience, and I loved working with the cast members and still see them frequently.

In Summer 2012, Mendler confirmed that the title of her official debut single was "Ready or Not", written by Mendler herself, Emanuel "Eman" Kiriakou and Evan "Kidd" Bogart. The song was released for digital download on August 7 and for radio airplay on August 21, 2012. "Ready or Not" peaked only 49 in United States and 53 in Australia, but peaked at number seven in the United Kingdom and within the top twenty of the charts in Belgium, the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand. The song was platinum certification on United States and Canada and Gold in Denmark, New Zealand and Norway. Mendler ventured on her first headlining tour, Bridgit Mendler: Live in Concert, supported her first studio album. The tour primarily reached only the North America and she playing at state fairs, music festivals and Jingle Ball's concerts series. Mendler's debut album, Hello My Name Is..., was released on October 22 by Hollywood Records and all the songs were written by Mendler with collaborators. The album peaked at number 30 on the Billboard 200 and sold less than 200,000 copies in the country. Internationally "Hello My Name Is .." debuted in a few countries as Poland, Australia, United Kingdom, France and Spain. Mendler's vocals have been compared to Lily Allen, Cher Lloyd, Jessie J and Karmin. She released two promotional singles on the album: "Forgot to Laugh" and "Top of the World".

On March 27, 2012, Shane Harper said in an interview to Akash Sharma of Officially The Hottest for the first time that he was dating Mendler. Harper told they became friends early in Good Luck Charlie and began dating in 2011, but they decided not to reveal so far. In an interview with Cambio in September 2012, Mendler stated that it took two years between her meeting Harper and beginning to date him. She said "It wasn't one of those... 'you meet on a set and you wind up dating instantly,' it took like two years". In March 2013, Mendler said in an interview to Sarah Bull of Daily Mail that the fact her boyfriend in real-life is also her boyfriend on Good Luck Charlie doesn't disturb the relationship: "I think it makes it easier, especially when it’s a person who you’ve worked with for a long time".

In 2012, Mendler began taking classes at the University of Southern California of the Liberal Arts course. In 2013, she chose classes of jazz history to specialize in.

In July 2012 Bridgit became ambassador of the campaign Give With Target with Target Corporation to raise funds to reform schools in the United States. The campaign aims to get $1 billion by 2015. To start the Target campaign, they invested $5 million and distributes $25,000 grants to 100 in-need schools for the school year. Mendler told about the incentive: “I’m excited to partner with Target on their Give With Target campaign and celebrate the start of a new school year with kids across the country. It's so important for all kids to have everything they need for a successful school year”. In August she got $5 million donated by The Walt Disney Company and more $2 million donated by people at Facebook.

Mendler has cited Bob Dylan as her biggest musical influence. To Taylor Trudon of Huffington Post she said: "He was the first musician I got into where I paid attention to songwriting. He has a way of writing songs that's really playful with lyrics, but at the same time he's saying something that people feel is important and that they relate to. He spoke for a whole generation.". Also to Trudon, Mendler cited Etta James, B.B. King, Lily Allen and Billie Holiday, and talked about these artists: "I love that they have soul in their voices. I think that's something important is having.". Other musical influences include Fugees, Elvis Costello, The Delfonics, Red Hot Chilli Pepers and Van Morrison. She was also influenced by Canadian artists Feist and Tegan and Sara. Among the pop music artists, cited Maroon 5, No Doubt, Destiny's Child, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé Knowles and Bruno Mars.

Mendler said that she is influenced by British neo-soul and listed Ellie Goulding, Florence and the Machine, Marina Diamandis, and Lianne La Havas as her biggest British influences. She has also mentioned Natasha Bedingfield, Broken Bells, Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse. In 2013 Mendler cited Adele as influence: "I admire the career of Adele, because she has her own musical style. She does things her way and writes about things she is passionate about. It is really working out well for her." She also mentioned Ed Sheeran and said she would love to write songs with him.



Sources: Wikipedia

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