Teenage superstar Miley Cyrus is the daughter of country musician Billy Ray Cyrus and his wife Leticia. She was born on 23rd November 1992 with the name Destiny Cyrus, but was given the nickname Miley by her friends because she was always smiling. Since then it’s stuck, and Miley prefers it to her real name!

Miley began acting from an early age, starring in her dad’s show “Doc” from the age of nine and in “Big Fish” starring Ewan McGregor and directed by legendary director Tim Burton.

At age twelve Miley auditioned for two roles on Disney’s new teen sitcom Hannah Montana – trying out for the part of Hannah Montana and also as her best friend. But Disney casting directors thought she was “too young and too small” to be able to handle the role.

Miley had her heart set on appearing in the show and begged the Disney executives for another shot. In the end, the executives decided to ignore their previous concerns and cast Miley in the lead role. They even cast Miley’s real dad Billy Ray as her on-screen dad!

In the show, Miley plays the character Miley Stewart, who has a secret double life as the international popstar Hannah Montana. Miley keeps this a secret from everyone except her family and two best friends!

The Hannah Montana show has seen Miley Cyrus rise from almost obscurity to international stardom in three short years. Since starring in the Disney show, Miley has also starred in Disney Channel’s movie “The Emporer’s New School” and provided the voice for the character Penny in Disney’s major new animation “Bolt.” She also had a cameo appearance in “High School Musical 2.”

Since beginning the show, Miley has also starred in the recent Hannah Montana concert-movie “The Best Of Both Worlds” and performs as Hannah Montana at huge live concert events all around the world.

For the future, Miley has lots of acting projects under development. Some include a movie-length Hannah Montana film (based on the show’s characters not the music) and a sequel to the 70s movie “Adventures in Babysitting” which is due out in 2010 starring another teen star Raven-Symone!

Now that Miley is growing up, she is keen to shake off her “family” image that she gained from “Hannah Montana” and take on more serious acting and music projects. Only time will tell whether Miley will make it as a long-term success!