Miranda Taylor Cosgrove (born May 14, 1993) is an American actress and singer. She has received several accolades, including two Young Artist Awards, a Kids’ Choice Award and two Daytime Emmy Award nominations, and was listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest paid child actress of 2012.
Cosgrove’s career began at age seven with several appearances in television commercials. Her film debut came in 2003 when she portrayed Summer Hathaway in Richard Linklater’s School of Rock. She appeared in a number of minor television roles over the next few years before gaining prominence as Megan Parker on the Nickelodeon television series Drake & Josh (2004-2007). From 2007 to 2012, she portrayed Carly Shay, the lead character in the Nickelodeon teen sitcom iCarly. A revival of the series, set to air on Paramount+, is currently in development. Cosgrove also voices Margo in the animated film series Despicable Me (2010-present). Since 2019, she has hosted Mission Unstoppable with Miranda Cosgrove.
Cosgrove made her musical debut in 2008 with iCarly, a soundtrack album for the series of the same name in which she performs four songs. In 2009, she released her debut extended play, About You Now. Cosgrove’s debut studio album, Sparks Fly, was released in April 2010, and her second extended play, High Maintenance, was released the following year. The EP’s lead single, “Dancing Crazy”, written by Avril Lavigne, debuted at No. 40 on the US Billboard Adult Top 40 and peaked at No. 100 on the Billboard Hot 100.