Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress and recording artist. After working in local theater plays and television commercials in her childhood, Duff gained fame for playing the title role in the television series
Lizzie McGuire. Duff subsequently ventured into feature films, with her most commercially successful movies being
Cheaper by the Dozen (2003),
The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003), and
A Cinderella Story (2004).
Duff expanded her repertoire into
pop music with the release of three
RIAA-certified platinum albums and over thirteen million records sold worldwide as of February 2007.
Her first studio album,
Metamorphosis (2003), was certified triple platinum and she followed it up with two more platinum albums,
Hilary Duff (2004) and
Most Wanted (2005). Duff released her third studio album,
Dignity (2007), which was
certified gold in August 2007
and released two singles, "
With Love", her biggest US single to date and "
Stranger".
In November 2008, she released a compilation of her greatest hits,
Best of Hilary Duff, whose single "
Reach Out" became her third #1 on the Billboard
Hot Dance Club Play.