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Featured Celebrity: Hilary Duff

Hilary Ann Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American film actress and pop music singer.

Early life and career
Duff was born in Houston, Texas, the second child of Bob Duff, owner of a chain of convenience stores, and his wife Susan, a homemaker. After her mother encouraged her to take an acting class alongside her older sister, Haylie Duff, both girls won parts in various local theatre productions. At the age of six, the Duffs participated in the ballet The Nutcracker Suite with Columbus Ballet Met in San Antonio. The siblings became more and more enthusiastic about the idea of acting professionally, and they eventually relocated to California with their mother. Bob Duff stayed at the family home in Houston to maintain their business. Through years of auditions and meetings, both sisters managed to clinch appearances in several television commercials.

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Music
Duff's first recorded singing performance was on the song "I Can't Wait", which appeared on the original television soundtrack for her television show Lizzie McGuire in August 2002. The following month, the first Disneymania compilation album was released, and featured Duff's singing in the song "The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room".

Her first album was the 2002 collection of Christmas songs entitled Santa Claus Lane, which made the lower reaches of the Billboard 200 album chart and Number 3 on the kids' music chart. Released in October, the album eventually achieved gold sales in December of the following year. The title track was also included on the soundtrack to The Santa Clause 2, starring Tim Allen.

She also sang on several tracks on the soundtrack to The Lizzie McGuire Movie which was released in April 2003, a few weeks before the actual film came out. One of these tracks, "Why Not", which is performed by Duff in the film, was released as a single, and reached the Top 20 on singles charts in countries including Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

Later that year, she recorded her first non-holiday album, entitled Metamorphosis, which was released on August 26 and went to number one on the US and Canadian charts in that year (see 2003 in music). The Metamorphosis album featured music that would appeal to teenagers, as well as the younger children who had supported her to date. Songwriting team The Matrix, who had worked with singers such as Avril Lavigne (on her Let Go album) and Liz Phair, provided three songs on the album. One of these songs, "So Yesterday", was released as the first single, reaching Number 2 in Canada, the Top 40 in Australia, and peaked just outside the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. Duff agreed to perform "So Yesterday" at MTV's New Year Bash 2004 in New York City's Times Square on December 31, but the song (and the vocals) playing over the speakers during the performance skipped (in the same way that a CD does on a malfunctioning CD player), revealing that she had been lip synching.

Metamorphosis became the eighth highest selling LP of the year, with over 2.4 million copies purchased in its first four months of release. It has since gone three times platinum. Her success as a singer helped her to be ranked #96 on the Forbes Top 100 Celebrity List of 2003.

Personal life
Duff has dated singer Aaron Carter, brother of Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter. There were reports that she had tried to have fellow teen actress Lindsay Lohan banned from the preview of Cheaper by the Dozen because Lohan had previously been dating Carter in late 2003, as well as other reports about a fistfight that supposedly took place between the two actresses. Hilary Duff was furious when she found out that Aaron Carter had been dating her and Lindsay Lohan at the same time.

She also was involved in a celebrity feud with Avril Lavigne. Apparently, she insulted Avril Lavigne by saying that she didn't respect her fans.

Duff has also been reported to have dated Jordan Masterson.

Duff is involved with many charities, is an animal rights enthusiast, and a member of "Kids With a Cause." She gets up at 4.30 a.m. to allow her to study. Nicknames include Hil (allegedly the most common), Hilly, Juicy Fruit, and Hils.

Duff launched a clothing line, "Stuff" on March 12, 2004 with clothes distributed through Target in the United States and Zellers in Canada.

Hilary is very good friends with Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden.

Her sister, Haylie Duff, has been trying to sing, too. Hilary has helped her with duet songs including "Our Lips Are Sealed" which have been successful in the United States and in other countries, including Mexico and Colombia.

Her mother, Susan Duff, is a producer, and managed Hilary in her early career.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia Article: Hilary Duff