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The Child-Star Pipeline
How Disney and Nickelodeon made pop stars, how they broke the good-kid image, and the darker side of kid fame.
The Mickey Mouse Club
The 1990s Mickey Mouse Club was a talent factory: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling were all on it as kids.
The Disney Channel machine
Disney turned TV shows into pop careers:
- Hilary Duff: Lizzie McGuire (2001)
- Miley Cyrus: Hannah Montana (2006)
- Selena Gomez: Wizards of Waverly Place (2007)
- Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers: Camp Rock (2008)
- Zendaya: Shake It Up (2010)
- Sabrina Carpenter: Girl Meets World (2014)
- Olivia Rodrigo: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019)
Nickelodeon
Amanda Bynes, Victoria Justice and Ariana Grande (Victorious, 2010) came up there, along with Jennette McCurdy of iCarly.
Breaking the image
Almost every Disney star eventually makes a dramatic break from the clean image. Miley’s Bangerz era and "Wrecking Ball" (2013) is the most famous. Zendaya went from Shake It Up to Euphoria and won Emmys.
The darker side
- Jennette McCurdy’s 2022 memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, describes the toll of child stardom and a controlling stage parent.
- The 2024 docuseries Quiet on Set looked at the toxic environment behind some of Nickelodeon’s hit shows of the ’90s and 2000s.
- California’s Coogan Law, named after 1920s child star Jackie Coogan, requires part of a child actor’s earnings to be set aside for them. Some states now have similar rules for kid influencers.
Pop quiz
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