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Ashley Michelle Tisdale (born July 2, 1985) is an
American actress and singer. She is better known for her role as
Maddie Fitzpatrick on the
Disney Channel Original Series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and as
Sharpay Evans in
High School Musical,
High School Musical 2 and
High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Tisdale is the voice for
Candace Flynn in the Disney Channel original series
Phineas and Ferb. She has also pursued a solo music career and released her debut album
Headstrong on February 6, 2007. The album debuted at #5 on the
Billboard 200 selling over 64,000 copies in the first week.
Early life
Tisdale was born in
Monmouth County,
New Jersey on July 2, 1985,
to Lisa (
née Morris) and Mike Tisdale. She grew up there in
Ocean Township. Her elder sister
Jennifer Tisdale is an American actress and model. Tisdale's mother is
Jewish.
Her maternal grandfather is Arnold Morris, the developer of
Ginsu Knives; and through her grandfather, she is also related to businessman
Ron Popeil.
[Background info on Tisdale's maternal family found at ] She was discovered by Bill Perlman, her current manager, at South Shores Mall, when she was three.
At the age of eight, she received a leading role in the
Broadway musical,
Les Misérables and later toured internationally with the cast of
Annie.
She began her acting career by appearing in
Gypsy: A Musical Fable and
The Sound of Music at the
Jewish Community Center of Monmouth County.
