Teen star Miley Cyrus is the daughter of Leticia and Billy Ray Cyrus the country musician. She was born on November 23 1992 with the name Destiny Cyrus, but got the nickname Miley because she was always smiling!

Miley began acting from a very early age. Her first role was starring alongside her dad in his show “Doc” at the age of nine. She also had a role in legendary director Tim Burton’s movie “Big Fish” starring Ewan McGregor.

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 stars as Miley Stewart, who has a secret life as international pop princess Hannah Montana. Only her family and two best friends know about Miley’s secret double life!

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.”

Miley Cyrus also starred in the recent Hannah Montana concert-movie “The Best Of Both Worlds” with the Jonas Brothers and she also performs as Hannah Montana at live 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!

The future is bright for Miley Cyrus, who is keen to shake off the teen starlet image she gained from Hannah Montana and focus on more serious acting and music projects.