As talented as she is appealing, the bubbly blonde actress Hilary Duff became a showbiz veteran at an early age, making her professional debut in the Columbus Ballet production of "The Nutcracker" at the tender age of six. She starred in a number of feature projects including "Casper Meets Wendy" (1998) and "Soul Collector" (1999) before gaining wide exposure as the title character in the teen sitcom "Lizzie McGuire" (2001). The popular Disney show chronicled the life of a teenage junior high student and her friends. The show uses a cartoon version of Lizzie (her alter ego) as a commentator, which added originality to the highly rated show.

The following year, Duff was cast in her second Disney project, but this time she starred as a free-spirited teen enrolled in a straight-laced military school in “Cadet Kelly” (2002). The original television feature delivered the network’s highest household rating ever, leading to her big screen debut in the 2003 action feature “Agent Cody Banks.” The film starred Frankie Muniz as an elite undercover agent for the CIA. Duff was cast as Muniz’s love interest who’s father becomes the CIA’s targeted subject.

She then headlined a frothy, fluffy big screen outing for her TV persona, “The Lizzie Maguire Movie” (2003), where Lizzie jets to Italy, is mistaken for a look-alike international pop star and is transformed from gawky teen to glam idol. Shortly after the movie established her as a viable film star, Duff also released a successful 2003 pop album Metamorphosis and #1 hit single “So Yesterday.” She closed out her breakthrough year by playing Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt’s fashion-conscious daughter Lorraine in the bland but popular remake of “Cheaper By the Dozen” (2003).

Duff took center stage in her next film, “A Cinderella Story” (2004), a sugary, clunky and nonsensical attempt at a contemporary retelling of the classic fable that squandered the charms of its teen star. Somewhat better was the uneven “Raise Your Voice” (2004), a melodramatic but slightly more mature tale than the previous Duff fare which cast her as a small town teen chanteuse who travels to L.A. to attend a performing arts high school and learn rote coming-of-age lessons. Duff next appeared in yet another cute and cuddly romantic comedy, “The Perfect Man” (2005), wherein she tries to hook up her mom (Heather Locklear) with the right guy so she’ll stop moving to another city whenever she breaks up with her latest beau. The movie was rocked by a spate of bad reviews, leaving one critic on the verge of vomiting from its sugary sweetness.

Duff then rejoined the original cast for the sequel, “Cheaper By the Dozen 2” (2005), then appeared alongside her sister, Haylie, in “Material Girls” (lensed 2005), a fish-out-of-water comedy about two young heiresses who lose their father’s fortune and are forced to make their own way in the real world.

Ava and Tanzie Marchetta have it all. The heiresses to a multi-million dollar cosmetics company, the girls approach life as one big party. But when a scandal involving one of their products emerges, the girls are left penniless, homeless, and seemingly helpless. They could, of course, take the easy way out and listen to the board of directors who want to sell the company to their biggest competitor, but that would forever taint the name of their late father, who built it from the ground up. Instead, Ava and Tanzie decide to protect what is rightfully theirs. What it’s going to take to do that will require them to do some things they’ve never really considered–growing up, taking initiative and responsibility, and asking for help from others, rather than expecting it to fall into their laps. If they can find their inner strength, they might be able to clear their father’s name. If not, the party might be over–for good.