Hilary Duff

Born: September 28 1987
Where: Houston, Texas, USA

Duff made her high profile big screen debut as the girlfriend of diminutive CIA agent Cody Banks in the film of the same name.

Up till then she has been a star of the Disney Channel as Lizzie Maguire and also enjoyed a parallel singing career.

The daughter of producer Susan and chain store owner Bob Duff, the actress and her elder sister Haylie were encouraged to act by their mother.

They began their professional careers aged six and eight as dancers with the Columbus Ballet Met touring company of The Nutcracker.

Soon Hilary landed a role in a television commercial and landed the lead role in Lizzie Maguire and the Disney feature Cadet Kelly.

She played a minor role opposite Sean Connery and Gena Rowlands in Playing By Heart and also appeared in Casper Meets Wendy.

In August 2002, she made her singing debut with the single I Can¿t Wait on the Lizzie McGuire which she followed with a Christmas album.

Next up was the feature length Lizzie Maguire which she followed with the role of Natalie in Agent Cody Banks.

In 2003, Duff starred in Cheaper By The Dozen with Piper Perabo and also took the role of an ugly sister in A Cinderella Story (for which she was apparently paid $2m).

The following year she has the uncomfortable distinction of being nominated for a Razzle Award for the limited release movie Raise Your Voice.

Her downturn continued with the lacklustre rom-com The Perfect Man with Heather Locklear and Cheaper By The Dozen 2. Her performances attracted two more Razzle nominations.

In 2006, she was nominated for yet another Razzle award for the abominable Material Girls, in which she co-starred with her sister Haylie.

Offscreen, her private life was in the headlines in early 2007 after stalker Maksim Miakovsky was jailed after making threats to kill the star.

He came to the U.S. "for the sole purpose of meeting and becoming romantically involved with Ms. Duff" court papers said.