Sabrina Carpenter

Carpenter booked her first acting role in 2011, a guest role on the NBC drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She played a young rape victim interviewed by Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni).[17][18] Around the same time, she performed live on the Chinese television station Hunan Broadcasting System, for the Gold Mango Audience festival. She performed Etta James' "Something's Got a Hold on Me", in the style of Christina Aguilera from the movie Burlesque.[17][19] Less than two years later, Carpenter booked a series recurring role on Fox's The Goodwin Games as Young Chloe, a series regular role on Disney Channel pilot Gulliver Quinn and the ABC pilot The Unprofessional.[20]

She portrayed young Merrin in the 2013 film Horns. Carpenter performed "Smile" for the album Disney Fairies: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust";[21] the song charted on Radio Disney.[22] Her song "All You Need" is featured on the Sofia the First soundtrack.[23]

Carpenter signing autographs for fans in August 2014

In January 2013, Carpenter was cast as Maya Hart in the Disney Channel series Girl Meets World, opposite Rowan Blanchard.[9] The series is a sequel to the 1993–2000 ABC series Boy Meets World.[9] Carpenter also signed a five-record deal as a music artist with Hollywood Records.[24] On March 14, 2014, Carpenter's debut single, "Can't Blame a Girl for Trying", premiered on Radio Disney, and was released on iTunes later in the day.[25] The song is the title track on her debut EP which was released on April 8 and was generally well received. Carpenter is featured on the Girl Meets World theme song, "Take On The World", which also features her co-star Blanchard. Carpenter performed the song "Stand Out" in the Disney Channel Original Movie How to Build a Better Boy, which premiered August 15, 2014, on Disney Channel.[26] On July 20, 2014, Carpenter contributed lead vocals to Disney Channel Circle of Stars' cover version of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?"[27] In January 2015, it was announced that Carpenter, along with Sofia Carson, would star in a Disney Channel Original Movie, then titled Further Adventures in Babysitting, based on the 1987 movie Adventures in Babysitting.[28]

Carpenter in February 2015

On February 22, Carpenter announced the title of her debut album, Eyes Wide Open. It was preceded by the debut single "We'll Be the Stars", which was released on January 13, 2015. The album was originally to be released April 21, 2015, but the release date was moved and the album was released on April 14, 2015. In 2015 she won a Radio Disney Music Award in the category "Best Crush Song" for her song "Can't Blame a Girl For Trying".[29]

In December 2015 Carpenter portrayed the role of Wendy in the Pasadena Playhouse's production of Peter Pan and Tinker Bell: A Pirate's Christmas.[30]

"Smoke and Fire", initially planned as the lead for her second album, Evolution, was released in February 2016, but it was later dropped from the album, and "On Purpose" became the lead single for that album, which was released on October 14.[31] In 2017, Carpenter recorded the theme song for the series Andi Mack, titled "Tomorrow Starts Today".[32] On April 17, 2017, she performed her single "Thumbs" on The Late Late Show with James Corden.[33] She collaborated with The Vamps and Mike Perry for the single "Hands", which was released on May 19, 2017.[34] In 2017, she toured Europe with The Vamps,[35] and she did a summer tour with New Hope Club. On October 13, 2017, Lost Kings released a single called "First Love" featuring Sabrina Carpenter.[36] Her single "Why" was released on July 7, 2017. It was produced by Jonas Jeberg.[37] In 2017, Carpenter sang "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" on Lindsey Stirling's holiday album Warmer in the Winter.[38] In December 2017, Carpenter released a cover of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".[39]

On March 16, 2018, she released the single "Alien", featuring Jonas Blue. They performed the song together on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on March 21, 2018.[40] In 2017, Carpenter was cast in the film The Hate U Give, based on the novel by Angie Thomas.[41] The film was released in October 2018. In 2018, she was cast as a series regular in the NBC comedy pilot So Close,[42] and in the drama film The Short History of the Long Road.[43] In May 2018, Carpenter was included in Nylon Magazine's "25 Gen Z'ers Changing The World".[44]

Carpenter at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards.

In May 2018, Carpenter began teasing the lead single from her upcoming third album. She released the single, titled "Almost Love", on June 6, 2018.[45] A few days before the release of the single, Carpenter released a trailer for her third album, announcing that the album was titled Singular and had a planned release date of late 2018.[46] When performing "Almost Love" on The Late Late Show with James Corden in October 2018, Carpenter ended the performance by spray painting "11/9" on the wall, indicating the release date to be November 9, 2018.[47] On October 22, 2018, she formally announced the album's release date and that it would be released in two "acts", with Act I on November 9, and Act II "coming soon".[48] She performed the album's second single, "Sue Me", on Live with Kelly and Ryan and The Today Show on November 9, 2018, the same day of Act I's release.[49] On March 2, 2019, Carpenter embarked on the Singular Tour starting Orlando, Florida, where she performed two new songs from Singular: Act II, "Pushing 20" and "Exhale". On March 8, 2019, "Pushing 20" was released as the album's lead single.[50] The same day she announced that she would consistently be releasing new music from the album.[51] She is featured on Alan Walker's single "On My Way", released March 21, 2019.[52] "Exhale" was released on May 3, 2019.[53] On June 4, 2019, Carpenter revealed that Singular: Act II would be released on July 19, 2019.[54] She released the single "In My Bed" on June 7, 2019.[55] On July 5, 2019, Carpenter performed on Good Morning America's Summer Concert Series where she debuted the performances of "On My Way" and "In My Bed".[56][57] She also performed "Sue Me", "Why" and the promotional single "Paris" from Act I.[58][59][60]

In January 2019, Carpenter was cast as Harper in the Netflix film Tall Girl.[61] She was also cast in the dance-comedy film Work It, alongside Liza Koshy, in May 2019.[62] She is also set to executive produce the film.[63] In July 2019, Carpenter joined the film adaptation of Marina Gessner's The Distance From Me to You.[64] She is set to star and produce the film alongside Girl Meets World co-star Danielle Fishel.[65] She was cast in the teen drama film Clouds in September 2019.[66]

In June 2019, Marie Claire reported that Carpenter had already begun work on a fifth studio album.[67] On February 14, 2020, Carpenter released the single "Honeymoon Fades" for Valentine's Day.[68] Carpenter made her Broadway debut as Cady Heron in Mean Girls on March 10, 2020, and was set to have a limited run that ended on June 7.[69] However, due to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic, all Broadway theatres closed on March 12 and will not reopen until September 6, 2020, thus cutting her limited run short.[70] However, Carpenter intends to return to the show when the pandemic is over.[71] In April 2020, Carpenter appeared in a charity version of "If the World Was Ending" by JP Saxe and Julia Michaels, which supports Doctors Without Borders in the COVID-19 pandemic.[72]