Lucy Hale

In 2003, Hale first appeared on television as a contestant in the Fox reality show American Juniors. On July 30, 2003, Hale finished in fourth place[16] and part of a group of the same name formed with the top 5 finishers (Chauncey Matthews, Danielle White and Tori & Taylor Thompson) but the group disbanded in 2005, after their self-titled studio album's lackluster sales.[17]

Hale performed the following songs on the show:

Hale moved to Los Angeles at age 15 in the hopes of getting a record deal.[18][19] Shortly after, she started auditioning and received a minor role on Drake & Josh[20] and other guest roles on shows such as Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, The O.C., Private Practice and Ruby & the Rockits. She appeared in two episodes on both television shows Wizards of Waverly Place as Miranda Hampson and How I Met Your Mother as Katie Scherbatsky. In 2007, Hale appeared in NBC's short-lived series Bionic Woman, a re-imagining from the 1976 series of the same name. Hale plays Becca Sommers, the younger sister of the title character Jaime Sommers (played by Michelle Ryan). The character was originally portrayed by Mae Whitman in the unaired pilot episode, after which Whitman departed the series.[21]

Hale in 2018

In August 2008, Hale made her big screen debut in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 portraying Effie Kaligaris, the younger sister of Lena Kaligaris (played by Alexis Bledel).[14] One month later, Hale starred in The CW series Privileged as Rose Baker, with co-stars JoAnna Garcia and Ashley Newbrough.[22] The series is based on the book How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls by Zoey Dean and was cancelled by the network due to low ratings.[23] Hale had auditioned for the two characters in the first two The Twilight Saga films, both were lost to Ashley Greene as Alice Cullen in Twilight and Dakota Fanning as Jane Volturi in The Twilight Saga: New Moon.[24] In 2009, Hale appeared in two films, the comedy-drama Sorority Wars[25] and the mystery-thriller Fear Island.[26] In October 2009, Hale was cast as Aria Montgomery in Pretty Little Liars, based on the book series of the same name by Sara Shepard.[27] The television series lasted seven seasons from 2010 to 2017, with Hale's performance being praised by critics. She also received a number of awards and nominations.

In January 2010, Hale appeared as the singer Phoebe Nichols and her identical body double Vanessa Patton in the CSI: Miami episode "Show Stopper".[28] In 2011, Hale had a cameo role as Sherrie in the slasher film Scream 4.[29] Later, Hale was cast as the aspiring singer Katie Gibbs in A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song, the third installment of A Cinderella Story series and was released on direct to video in September 2011.

Hale hosted an episode of MTV's Punk'd aired on April 26, 2012, where she successfully pranked with Pretty Little Liars co-star Ian Harding, Vanessa Hudgens and Josh Hutcherson.[30] The same year, Hale played the voice of Periwinkle, a twin sister of Tinker Bell (voiced by Mae Whitman) in the animated Disney film Secret of the Wings.[31] On June 11, 2013, Hale announced that she is the new Ambassador of the beauty brand Mark Girl.[32] Hale was co-hosted for the television event shows, the Teen Choice Awards (with Darren Criss in 2013[33] and David Dobrik in 2019[34]) and the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards Pre-Show with Sway Calloway.[35] Hale served as a correspondent in New Orleans and co-hosted with Ryan Seacrest in Times Square for Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve (2016–present).

In 2018, Hale was cast in The CW comedy-drama series Life Sentence[36] as Stella Abbott, a woman who finds out that her terminal cancer is cured. The series which only lasted one season.[37] The same year, Hale starred in three films, Truth or Dare, Dude and The Unicorn. On March 11, 2019, Hale was cast as the title character in Katy Keene, based on the Archie Comics character,[38] the series premiered February 6, 2020 on The CW.[39] In 2020, Hale starred as Melanie Cole in the supernatural horror film Fantasy Island.[40] Hale is set to appear in upcoming projects such as the romantic comedy films The Hating Game with Robbie Amell[41] and A Nice Girl Like You, which she also served as co-producer.[42]

Hale described music as her "first love".[43] Her early musical influences were Shania Twain and Faith Hill, but what ignited her interest in pursuing music was Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time".[44] Kristian Bush of country band Sugarland said: "She sounds like Carrie Underwood—strong with a blues side and a pop side to it. And a lot like Faith Hill."[45] She recorded songs for A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song soundtrack.[46] Throughout her career, Hale made appearances of music videos with artists: Foy Vance's "She Burns", Chase Jordan's "Lose Control (Take a Sip)" and Jackson Harris' "Come Back Down to Earth". Hale also served as a backup singer for artist Carly Pearce. She was referenced with the 2010 song "Lucy Hale" by music group Lost Orchards.[47]

In June 2012, Hale announced that she had signed a record deal with Hollywood Records (co-partnership with DMG Nashville).[48] On February 18, 2014, Hale's debut studio album was announced to be called Road Between, released on June 3, 2014.[49] In 2015, Hale collaborated with Rascal Flatts, performed a cover of "Let It Go" from another Disney animated film Frozen and was featured on the compilation album We Love Disney.[50] Later, Hale recorded two songs "Mistletoe" and "You're Here" on the Christmas album A Hollywood Christmas, released on December 8, 2017.[51]

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