A native Californian, Miranda Cosgrove was raised by Christina (Casey) and Thomas "Tom" Cosgrove, who owns a dry-cleaning small business. She was discovered at a young age singing and dancing around a table in a restaurant, where an agent saw her talent and quickly signed her. Miranda's career started with televised commercials for McDonalds, Burger King, Mello Yello, and more as she auditioned for many roles and finally won her first role as the band's manager in the movie,
School of Rock (2003).
While filming
School of Rock (2003) in New York, she was informed that her pilot
Drake & Josh (2004) had been picked up. She co-starred as Drake and Josh's mischievous, spoiled, bratty troublemaker prankster sister, while making brief appearances on other Nickelodeon shows, before landing in her own show for the network,
iCarly (2007). Her
iCarly (2007) popularity helped her launch her singing career, and she was named an MTV Pop Rookie for 2009. Her debut album, "Sparks Fly", was released in 2010 and reached #8 on the Billboard 200 chart, along with two EPs: "About You Now" in 2009, and "High Maintenance" in 2011.
In 2010, Miranda expanded upon her voice-over work for the children's movies, including
Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie (2005), and the
Despicable Me (2010) films and related shorts, as well as expanding her indie film work with
Yours, Mine & Ours (2005),
Keeping Up with the Steins (2006) and
The Wild Stallion (2009). Her TV reach has extended beyond Nickelodeon, with an appearance on the CBS legal drama
The Good Wife (2009) during the show's second season. She has served as a brand ambassador for Neutrogena skin care products since 2010.
She lives in Anaheim, California with her family.