Miley Ray Cyrus (born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992), is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She is known for starring as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel Original Series, Hannah Montana.Cyrus became an overnight sensation after she was cast in Hannah Montana. Following the success of the show, in October 2006, a soundtrack CD was released in which she sang eight songs from the show. In December 2007, she was ranked #17 in the list of Forbes Top twenty earners under 25 with an annual earning of US$3.5 million. As of December 2007, she is working on a movie spin-off from Hannah Montana, titled The Hannah Montana Movie which is due to be released on May 1, 2009.

Acting career

Cyrus became interested in acting at age nine when the family briefly lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her first acting role was as a guest star on her father's television series Doc, in which she played a girl named Kylie. In 2003, she played "Young Ruthie" in Tim Burton's Big Fish and was credited as Destiny Cyrus. She was also featured in Rhonda Vincent's music video for "If Heartaches Have Wings", and appeared on Colgate Country Showdown with her father, who was hosting the program.

Cyrus was invited to present the song "That's How You Know" from the film Enchanted at the 80th Academy Awards. She also hosted the 2008 CMT Music Awards with her father in April. On April 9, 2008, Miley Cyrus appeared on the American Idol fundraiser show Idol Gives Back, and she told the audience that it has always been one of her dreams to appear on American Idol.

Music career

Walt Disney Records released Cyrus's first album, Hannah Montana, on October 24, 2006. As of April 2008, Cyrus has been recording her second studio album. In an episode of her web cast show, The Miley and Mandy Show, Cyrus announced she was working on her new album. In April 2008, three songs leaked onto the internet that are believed to be released on the album. The tracks were "Don't Walk Away", "Full Circle", and a Cheyenne Kimball remake, "Four Walls". The songs give hints of country style music. The album is due out between fall and winter of 2008.

Controversies

Pregnancy Hoax

On September 24, 2007, rumors began circulating that Cyrus was pregnant. The cause of the rumor was an image of a page of J-14 Magazine circulating on the Internet entitled "Miley's Meltdown" and saying, among other things, "Miley herself confirmed the pregnancy rumors during a J-14 interview". J-14 immediately responded saying that, "Someone doctored the "This Just In" article that appeared on page 16 of J-14's July 2007 issue" and that "this story is completely fabricated!" The real story on J-14's Page 16 magazine was about 'Miley's Gross Habits' told by her co-stars on the set of Hannah Montana.

Vanity Fair Photos

On April 25, 2008, the televised entertainment program Entertainment Tonight reported that Cyrus had posed topless for a photo shoot with Vanity Fair. The photo, and subsequently released behind-the-scenes photos, show Cyrus with her bare back exposed but her front covered with a bedsheet. On April 29, 2008, The New York Times clarified that though the pictures left an impression that she was bare-breasted, Cyrus was wrapped in a bedsheet and was actually not topless.

Some parents expressed outrage at the nature of the photograph, which a Disney spokesperson described as "a situation [that] was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines."

In response to the internet circulation of the photo and ensuing media attention, Cyrus released a statement of apology on April 27:

“I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ‘artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed. I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about."

On April 28, 2008, Vanity Fair published their full interview and photo shoot with Cyrus and her father Billy Ray Cyrus, as well as the behind-the-scenes photographs, on their website. According to the interview, Cyrus' parents and/or minders were present during the entire duration of the photo shoot. When asked if she were "anxious" about the pose, Cyrus stated to interviewer Bruce Handy:

“No, I mean I had a big blanket on. And I thought, This looks pretty, and really natural. I think it’s really artsy. It wasn’t in a skanky way.… And you can’t say no to Annie. She’s so cute. She gets this puppy-dog look and you’re like, okay.”

Entreprenuership

In April 2008, Cyrus announced plans to write a book about her life and career. The Disney Book Group bought the rights to the book for a reported 7 figures to be published by their imprint Disney-Hyperion Books for a scheduled release spring 2009. An initial printing run of one million copies is planned.