Early life
Tisdale was born in
Monmouth County,
New Jersey on
July 2,
1985[2] to Lisa Morris and Mike Tisdale. Her older sister,
Jennifer Tisdale, is also an actress. Her maternal grandfather is Arnold Morris, the developer of
Ginsu Knives; through her grandfather, she is also related to businessman
Ron Popeil. She has a
maltipoo dog, named Blondie.
[3][4] Tisdale is
Jewish on her mother's side and considers herself Jewish.
[5][6] She was discovered by Bill Perlman, who is her current manager, at South Shores Mall, when she was three.
[7] She began acting, appearing in stage productions of
Gypsy: A Musical Fable and
The Sound of Music at the
Jewish Community Center of
Monmouth County.
[8]Career
Film and television
During the late 1990s, Tisdale appeared in episodes of several television series, including
Smart Guy,
7th Heaven,
Grounded for Life,
Boston Public,
Strong Medicine,
Charmed, and
Beverly Hills, 90210. She had a minor role in the 2001 film
Donnie Darko and she guest starred on "
The Amanda Show" and recurring roles on the
sitcoms The Hughleys, and
Still Standing. In 2002, she starred in a
TV commercial for
Fruit Gushers (notable for the head transformation) "Photo Booth" and her head transformed into an oversized orange. She also starred in a
T-Mobile commercial with
Catherine Zeta-Jones and was in a Toys r Us commercial with
Abigail Breslin. Then, Tisdale was cast in the role of
Maddie Fitzpatrick on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody after auditioning for the roles of Maddie Fitzpatrick and
London Tipton.
[9] As the series became popular, Tisdale became a featured performer on the Disney Channel and performed a voice role in
Whisper of the Heart. She was also cast in Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical, which became a major success for the channel after its premiere on
January 20,
2006 Tisdale also auditioned for the role of Erin Ulmer in
Final Destination 3 but lost it by the Canadian actress
Alexz Johnson.
Tisdale originally tried out for
Gabriella Montez, but was cast as Sharpay Evans, due to her
alto voice, she suited a darker character.
[10] The role required her to perform several songs, including "
What I've Been Looking For," "
Bop to the Top," and "
We're All in This Together." All three managed to chart on the
Billboard Hot 100. Additionally, Tisdale made music history by being the first female artist to ever debut with two songs simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 with "What I've Been Looking For" and "Bop to the Top."
[11] She has also recorded versions of the songs "
Some Day My Prince Will Come" and "
Kiss The Girl" (including a music video)
[12] for Disney. In addition, she recorded a version of "
A Dream is a Wish" with the other members of the
Disney Channel Circle of Stars, and appeared in the
Disney Channel Games 2006 as captain of the Green Team. Tisdale is also appearing in the second rendition of the Disney Channel Games this year. More recently, Tisdale signed a deal with
Staples, Inc. to appear in the promotional campaign for the company's "Geared 4 School" sweepstakes in the fall. She will star in High School Musical 2, scheduled to air on August 17, 2007.
Tisdale appeared in the second episode of Season 8 of
MTV's
Punk'd. The skit was, she went to a children's hospital and sang "Kiss the Girl" to a little boy in a coma. After she sang a few lyrics of the song, the boy woke up. As she was singing, the lyrics were being censored out because MTV did not own the rights to the song. She also appeared in an episode where she helped
Ashton Kutcher to punk her good friend and High School Musical co-star
Zac Efron.
Tisdale told JustJared.com during an interview at the
2007 MTV Movie Awards that she will be filming a movie in
August. No other information has been given since she stated she's superstitious.
[13]On July 18, 2007, MTV News confirmed in an article interview with Ashley Tisdale that her August movie will be titled "Picture This" in which Tisdale plays an unpopular girl working at Petco in this father/daughter movie. Ashley states she will probably return to her natural brunette hair color for this movie.
Music
Tisdale's first solo album,
Headstrong, is distributed by
Warner Bros. Records and was released on
February 6,
2007. The album debuted at number five on the
Billboard 200 album charts, selling 64,000 copies.
[14] Her first single was "
He Said She Said", written by
Jonathan "J.R." Rotem and
Evan "Kidd" Bogart, but was pushed back and "
Be Good To Me" was released. On
January 2007, Tisdale was declared the 2nd Hottest Woman of Pop/R&B by
Blender Magazine, which stated: "Tisdale has a gift. Not an angelic voice or a dazzling personality, but an even rarer commodity: millions of 'pre-sold' preteens eager to buy her debut album!"
[15] In
March 2007, Tisdale told Blender that she was drug and alcohol-free, going on to say "my mom really instilled confidence in me, so I'm not somebody who'd be under peer pressure."
[16] Recently a Brazilian newspaper claimed that Ashley's new album Headstrong sold 23,000 copies in
Brazil and over 900,000 copies worldwide.
[17]Music videos
Ashley has been in two
music videos on for "Be Good To Me", off her album Headstrong , which is on the High School Musical: The Concert DVD. Ashley has also made a music video for "Kiss the Girl", the remake of the song from
The Little Mermaid, which can be found on The Little Mermaid Special Edition DVD. She was also featured in the "
A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" (originally from Disney's
Cinderella) music video made for Disney Channel, along with several other Disney Channel stars. You can also buy the music videos of "What I've Been Looking For" and "We're All In This Together" from High School Musical on
iTunes. The
US iTunes Store also sells the High School Musical movie and concert version.
Tisdale filmed three music videos for her current album Headstrong on June 26 ("
He Said She Said", "
Not Like That" and "
Suddenly")
[18].
