Once upon a time, there was nothing more popular than Miley Stewart and her pop star alter ego Hannah Montana.
When Disney Channel debuted a sitcom about an average teenage girl who just so happened to be living a double life as a world-famous pop star by night, the world had never heard of Miley Cyrus. But that all changed when Hannah Montana premiered on March 24, 2006 with 5.4 million people tuning in, garnering the cable network the highest ratings in history.
Over the course of four seasons and 98 episodes, tweens everywhere became obsessed with Miley—both Stewart and Cyrus—making her and, to a lesser degree, co-stars Emily Osment and Mitchell Musso household names.
The series spawned four soundtracks, one to correspond with each season, a 3D concert film and a feature film (each with a soundtrack of their own, as well), turning Miley (the real one) into a pop star on par with Hannah's level of fame. It also helped return her dad Billy Ray Cyrus (who played her father on the series) back into the spotlight over a decade after he scored a hit with the iconic "Achy Breaky Heart."
Since it's never a bad time to talk about Hannah Montana, and with the show celebrating 15 years March 24, we thought we'd check in with the case of the show and see what the ones whose names don't rhyme with Smiley have been up to since the show signed off in 2011.
The star of the show is now one of the most popular celebs in the world. The singer and actress went through a bit of a wild phase, chopping off her hair, famously twerking on Robin Thicke at the 2013 MTV VMAs and appearing nude or scantily clad in her "Wrecking Ball" video. Hey, she's just being Miley! After splitting from longtime boyfriend, if not longtime husband Liam Hemsworth, her co-star in The Last Song she romanced Kaitlynn Carter and Cody Simpson, Miley, who dropped her latest album Plastic Hearts in late 2020, is now living the single life.
After Hannah Montana ended its four-season run in 2011, the actress went on to voice characters on animated programs like Family Guy and Rainbow Brite and appear on shows such as Mom, Young & Hungry, Cleaners and The Kominsky Method. Her most recent series, Fox's Almost Family, was canceled after one ill-fated season. She also has her own music career.
After Hannah Montana ended, the actor went on to star on shows such as Disney XD's Kickin' It, WTH: Welcome to Howler and Hotel Du Loone. In 2017, he married Katie Drysen.
The actor appeared on the show Pair of Kings and hosted PrankStars after Hannah Montana ended. In 2011, at age 20, he was arrested for a DUI, after which his character was written off the former show and the latter was canceled. In recent years, he has continued to act and has portrayed characters on the animated programs Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law.
In recent years, the actor has appeared on shows such as The Middle and Jean-Claude Van Johnson and movies such as Ben-Hur and Pitch Perfect 3. In 2020, he starred in the Pete Davidson-Judd Apatow film The King of Staten Island.
In late 2011, she starred in the Broadway revival of Godspell. She is also a singer—in 2012, the star opened for the Jonas Brothers Asia 2012 tour. In recent years, she has appeared on episodes of shows such as Baby Daddy and Charmed. In November 2018, she got engaged to boyfriend Scott Kline. The two tied the knot the following June with actress Uzo Aduba serving as the maid of honor.
After Hannah Montana ended, the actress went on to appear on shows such as Melissa & Joey, The Young and the Restless and various TV movies, such as Life-Size 2.
The star finished fourth on the the seventh season of Dancing With The Stars and released his debut album in 2012. He also continued his acting career—he appeared on two episodes of Melissa & Joey and in the TV movies Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens and Sharknado 5: Global Swarming.
Miley's onscreen and real-life dad continues to concentrate on his music career. In 2019, he earned his first No. 1 single after joining Lil Nas X on the official remix of the record-breaking smash hit "Old Town Road." In 2016 and 2017, he starred on the show Still the King.
Miley's little sister appeared on six episodes of Hannah Montana. She began a music career in 2016 and released her debut single, "Make Me (Cry)." In 2018, she dated Lil Xan and they released the collaboration "Live or Die." The two broke up after a couple of months.
She's nominated for Best New Artist at the 2021 Grammys.
This story was originally published on Tuesday, March 10, 2020 at 6 a.m. PT.