China Anne McClain

McClain was discovered in 2005 by a music executive who heard her sing and encouraged director Rob Hardy to audition her for his 2005 feature film The Gospel.[2] McClain auditioned for the Disney Channel Original Movie Jump In! (2007) and won a role but turned it down to instead star in the television series Tyler Perry's House of Payne (2007–present) as Jazmine Payne, after catching Tyler Perry's attention. Disney kept working with McClain where she booked several guest roles in the years to come.[6][9] She appeared in the movie Daddy's Little Girls (2007) with her sisters, Sierra and Lauryn, who are also actresses and played her older sisters in the film.[6]

McClain appeared in various other shows and movies such as Hannah Montana (2009) with future co-star Sierra McCormick, NCIS (2009)[10] and the film Hurricane Season (2009).[11] In 2009, China booked the starring role as Janet in the Disney Channel pilot Jack and Janet Save the Planet alongside future co-stars Sierra McCormick and Jake Short. The pilot was not picked up and never aired.[12][13] She also appeared in the film Grown Ups (2010) as Charlotte McKenzie, the daughter of Chris Rock's and Maya Rudolph's characters.[14][6] McClain had a recurring role on Disney Channel show Jonas (2010) as Kiara,[15][16] and sang alongside Nick Jonas for the song "Your Biggest Fan" which was featured both in the series and on Jonas L.A., the show's soundtrack album.[17]

McClain performing at the 2011 Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade..

In 2011, McClain guest starred on Wizards of Waverly Place (2011). Later that year, McClain was cast as the lead role, Chyna Parks, in the Disney Channel series A.N.T. Farm, which Disney tailored for her.[9][18] For the show, McClain recorded a cover of Taio Cruz's "Dynamite".[19] She also sang the series theme song, "Exceptional". McClain's first music video, for "Dynamite," amassed more than 1 million views in under a week after release on YouTube. She appeared in an episode of PrankStars (2011).[20] For the Disney Channel Halloween special in 2011, she performed the song, "Calling All the Monsters."[21] On June 14, 2011, McClain and her sisters – known as the McClain Sisters – signed with Hollywood Records.[22]

The A.N.T. Farm soundtrack was released on October 11, 2011, which includes McClain's version of "Dynamite" and her original song "Calling All the Monsters," among other songs performed by her featured in the show and new songs performed by some of her fellow cast members and two songs performed by the McClain Sisters. The soundtrack for the show was successful, spending five weeks on the Billboard kids chart in 2011,[23] peaked at number 29 on the US Billboard 200, peaked at number 2 on the US Top Soundtracks, and sold 14,000 copies within the first week of release.[24][25][26][27] On September 28, 2011, McClain released "Calling All The Monsters" to iTunes. "Calling All The Monsters" charted at number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[28] On November 24, 2011, she performed her song "Unstoppable" in the 85th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (2011).[29] In December, McClain and her sisters Sierra and Lauryn performed their version of the song "Jingle Bell Rock" at the 2011 Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade.[30][31] On March 4, 2012, McClain was the opening act alongside her sisters in Houston for Big Time Rush on their Better with U Tour.[32][33] McClain sang the theme song for the first three seasons for the Disney Channel children's television series Doc McStuffins, which premiered on March 23, 2012, and guest starred later that year as Tisha McStuffins, the main character's cousin.[34][35][36]

She reprised her role as Charlotte McKenzie in the 2013 sequel Grown Ups 2. On December 27, 2013, it was announced on her Twitter page that A.N.T. Farm would be ending after its 3rd season.[37] On the same day, it was revealed that the McClain Sisters had left Hollywood Records. In the March/April 2014 issue of BYOU magazine, McClain said it was "bittersweet" that A.N.T Farm was ending, and announced plans to focus on doing music with her sisters.[38] McClain competed as one of the celebrity contestants on ABC's Sing Your Face Off (2014), winning the show's first and only season. A few months after the show ended, McClain starred in the Disney Channel television film How to Build a Better Boy (2014) alongside Kelli Berglund, and released the single "Something Real" which was featured in the film. In November 2014, McClain guest starred on R.L. Stine's The Haunted Hour in the episode "Argh V."[39][40]

In 2015, McClain was featured in the FOX series Bones (2015) in the episode "The Lost in the Found", playing Kathryn Walling.[41] McClain performed "Night is Young," for the Descendants soundtrack. McClain and her song also appeared in Descendants: Wicked World (2015) based on the Disney Channel Original Movie Descendants.[42] She voiced Freddie, the daughter of Dr. Facilier. Her sister, Lauryn McClain, voiced the character for season two. McClain voiced the role of Ghufaira in the 3D computer-animated action-drama film Bilal: A New Breed of Hero (2015)[43] She went on to guest star on The Night Shift[44][45] and starred in a voice role as Lyra in Sheep and Wolves, both in 2016.[46][47]

In 2017, she played the villain Uma, the daughter of Ursula, in Descendants 2.[48][49] Her single "What's My Name" from from the film peaked on several Billboard charts and was certified gold, with 500,000 units sold, on November 10, 2017.[50][14] She also guest starred as Sheena on K.C. Undercover (2017) and starred as Meg in the Lifetime television film Ten: Murder Island (2017). In January 2018, McClain began playing Jennifer Pierce in Black Lightning on The CW, and reprised her role as Jazmine Payne on The Paynes.[51] Later on that year, she starred in the action thriller film Blood Brother, opposite Trey Songz and Ron Killings.[52][53] In July 2019 it was announced McClain had joined the cast of Hubie Halloween.[54] In August, McClain reprised her role as Uma in Descendants 3 (2019).[55]