Introduction

Miley Ray Cyrus is an American actor and singer. Known for her versatile acting skills, flamboyant personality and spectacular performances, she has won several accolades and awards. She started acting at a very young age in her father’s TV series Doc. Her career took a giant leap with Disney’s famous television series Hannah Montana. Her albums Meet Miley Cyrus (2007), Breakout (2008), Can't Be Tamed (2010) and Bangerz (2013) have been listed as the most successful albums by a teenage singer.

EARLY LIFE

Billy Ray Cyrus and Letitia Jean "Tish" Finley gave birth to Destiny Hope Cyrus (a.k.a Miley) on November 23, 1992 in a Nashville suburb. She was nicknamed Smiley by her parents because she smiled a lot as a baby. Smiley was later shortened to Miley. In 2008, Miley officially adopted the name Miley Ray Cyrus, ‘Ray’ being a tribute to her grandfather to whom she was very close.

She did her schooling from Heritage Elementary school. At the age of eight, her family moved to Toronto, Canada, where her father filmed the television series Doc. It was only when her father took her to Royal Alexandra Theatre to watch Mamma Mia! where she realized that she wanted to become an actress. Soon she started taking training classes for singing and acting at Armstrong Acting Studio in Toronto.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

She debuted as a child artist as ‘Kylie’ in her dad’s television show Doc. Later, in 2003, she played the role of ‘Young Ruthie’ in the movie Big Fish by Tim Burton. Miley landed herself a plum role in Disney’s Hannah Montana in 2005 where she got to exhibit her acting and singing skills. She wrote all her songs for the television serial and has never looked back in her career since.

In October 2006, she released a CD with five tracks that also included her duet with her dad, Billy Ray. Later in the summer of 2007, Miley’s tour The Best of Both Worlds did very well, grossing over $54 million. In 2008 she recorded her second album Breakout that went on to receive Platinum certification from RIAA. She starred in the movie version of Hannah Montana in 2009. The movie and the twelve songs in it performed by Miley received commercial success. Some time afterwards, she launched the third Hannah Montana soundtrack that opened at number two on the Billboard 200. She also published her memoir Miles To Go chronicling her life until 16 years of age. Simultaneously she also launched her clothing line and released The Time of Our Lives.

In 2010, Miley acted in the poorly received movie The Last Song. This movie marked her transition from a kids star to an actor with an adult image. She followed up this image with her next studio release Can’t Be Tamed which failed to receive a certification from RIAA. After the lukewarm response to Can’t Be Tamed, Miley decided to focus on her acting rather than her music for some time. In 2013, Miley released her fourth studio album Bangerz. The album not just debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200, but also broke the Vevo record for the most number of views on the day of release and the fastest to reach one hundred million views. Bangerz became extremely popular in New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom. Miley returned to the list of Forbes Celebrity 100 after an absence of four years in 2014. She was placed at number 17 in a list of the most powerful celebrities published by Forbes.

Miley’s controversial love life has been as spontaneous as her professional life. Her slew of romantic liaisons with pop stars and co-stars has had the paparazzi buzzing. She was romantically involved with model Justin Gaston and Carter Jenkins. Her life took a major turn with her relationship with Liam Hemsworth and the couple also got engaged. However, the relationship lasted for a brief time and they called it quits in September 2013.