2000s Cosgrove's first television appearance was in 2001 when she provided the voice of young
Lana Lang in the pilot episode of
Smallville. She made her film debut in
School of Rock (2003), directed by
Richard Linklater. In the movie, she played Summer Hathaway, a young girl with great ambition and discipline who finds herself adjusting to the free-spirited nature of her new music teacher (
Jack Black). On working with Black, Cosgrove said that "He just acts [as] the most normal, nice guy. He doesn't seem like he thinks he's Jack Black at all." She also cited the scene in which her character tries to sing as particularly difficult: "[I'd] been taking singing lessons for about five years, so getting to sing badly was new. The director kept saying, 'Try to sing even worse, Miranda,' so it was weird." and a critical success. David Ansen of
Newsweek described her performance as "spot on". In 2004, Cosgrove landed her first major role in a television series when she was cast in the
Nickelodeon series
Drake & Josh, alongside
Drake Bell and
Josh Peck. In the series, she portrayed
Megan Parker, the mischievous younger sister of the title characters. In 2005, Cosgrove was awarded the role of Munch in the
Cartoon Network film
Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie. In the film, Cosgrove portrays a female mouse who is rescued from a hawk by Junior and Flutter and who goes on to join them on their adventure. Cosgrove also guest-starred on two episodes of the animated comedy,
Lilo & Stitch: The Series. She won her second major role in a theatrical film when she cast alongside her
Drake & Josh co-star Drake Bell in the comedy film
Yours, Mine & Ours. The film performed mildly at the box office.
Yours, Mine & Ours opened in third place, earning $17 million at the U.S. box office during its first weekend. Cosgrove's third theatrical release,
Keeping Up with the Steins, was released in 2006. It received generally negative reviews from critics and performed poorly at the box office. Cosgrove made guest appearances in a number of
Nickelodeon series, the first of which was
Zoey 101 as Paige Howard. Cosgrove later guest starred on an episode of
Unfabulous, which starred
Emma Roberts. Cosgrove was then cast as the titular lead character in the sitcom
iCarly, which premiered on September 8, 2007. Creator Dan Schneider tailored
iCarly around the interest young people have in the internet; viewers could submit their own videos and be included in the sitcom. The final
Drake & Josh episode was aired on September 16, 2007. By the summer of 2008,
iCarly was the third highest rated series in the 9–14 demographic. The
iCarly Saves TV special became the most-viewed entertainment show on cable television in June 2008. which featured
Drake Bell and was released as a single on December 2, 2007. In June 2008,
Columbia Records released the
iCarly soundtrack, which featured four songs performed by Cosgrove and debuted at number one on the
Billboard Kid Albums chart. "
Stay My Baby" was released as a promotional single from the album. In December 2008, a cover of the
Christmas song "
Christmas Wrapping" was released to promote the two hour-long film
Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh. On January 28, 2009, Cosgrove released "
About You Now" as the lead single from her upcoming debut
extended play of the same name, that was released on February 3, 2009. "About You Now" peaked at number 47 on the
Billboard Hot 100. To promote the 2009 animated film
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Columbia Records released the promotional single "Raining Sunshine" with an accompanying music video in August 2009. Cosgrove became one of MTV's Female Pop Rookies of 2009. The same year, Cosgrove had a role in the straight-to-DVD film
The Wild Stallion (2009).
2010s |left On March 17, 2010, it was reported that Cosgrove signed a deal, reportedly in the "low- to mid-seven-figure range" to do 26 additional episodes of
iCarly. Cosgrove also voiced Margo in the
Universal Studios animated feature
Despicable Me, released in July 2010. In 2010, Cosgrove worked with songwriters
The Matrix,
Dr. Luke,
Max Martin, "Kissin U" became Cosgrove's best-selling single release, peaking at number 54 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and being certified gold.
Sparks Fly was released in April 2010 and peaked at number 8 on the US
Billboard 200 chart. In March 2011, Cosgrove released her follow-up EP
High Maintenance. The single peaked on the
Billboard Hot 100 at number 100. On January 24, 2011, she embarked on the
Dancing Crazy Tour. The tour began in Missouri, traveled throughout the United States, and ended in Ohio. On July 15, 2011, the tour continued with the title, Dancing Crazy Summer Tour; Cosgrove traveled the United States and Canada and performed at music festivals and state fairs. On May 17, 2012, it was announced that
iCarlys sixth season would be its last. The series finale, "
iGoodbye", aired on November 23, 2012. On January 24, 2012, Cosgrove was featured on the
iCarly soundtrack,
iCarly: iSoundtrack II. Following the filming of ''iCarly's'' finale in June 2012, Cosgrove embarked on a new tour dubbed the Summer Tour in July and August 2012. On February 15, 2013,
Deadline reported that Cosgrove would star in
Girlfriend in a Coma, a television series written by
Liz Brixius for
NBC and adapted from the
novel of the same title by
Douglas Coupland. However, following production difficulties, the project was canceled. Cosgrove again voiced Margo in
Despicable Me 2, released on June 5. In 2013, she appeared in the animated short films
Training Wheels as Margo and ''Gru's Girls
as Savana. In December, she announced on The Today Show that she was recording a new album. In 2014, Cosgrove performed voice work in the animated film A Mouse Tale, which was released on DVD on February 10, 2015. Cosgrove also starred in the horror film The Intruders with Austin Butler, portraying the role of Rose Halshford. She was cast in the NBC sitcom Crowded'', which aired from March 15 to May 22, 2016. In 2017, Cosgrove reprised her role as Margo once again in
Despicable Me 3, which was released on June 14, 2017. In 2019, she appeared in the limited budget
Netflix science fiction film
3022. Since 2019, she has been the host of
Mission Unstoppable with Miranda Cosgrove, a show which airs on
CBS and earned the actress a
Daytime Emmy Award nomination in 2020.
2020s In 2021, Cosgrove played Rachel in the
independent film North Hollywood. She reprised her role as Carly Shay in an
iCarly revival, which premiered on
Paramount+ in June 2021, and ran for three seasons until July 2023. She additionally served as an executive producer for the series, on which Cosgrove stated "I knew from a really young age how the executive producer of the show pretty much got to decide almost every aspect, now I get to have a say in everything." The first season received a
100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. She won the award for
Favorite Female TV Star at the
2022 Kids' Choice Awards, marking her second win from the association. Cosgrove told
Yahoo! Lifestyle in 2022 that she has no plans to return to music. Cosgrove had a starring role in the comedy film
Drugstore June, which earned a limited theatrical release in February 2024. She next starred in the Netflix film
Mother of the Bride opposite
Brooke Shields, which was released in May 2024. Of her experience with the film, Cosgrove said that "all the people in this movie were so nice, from the crew to all the actors. It couldn't have come at a more perfect moment in my life." While
Mother of the Bride received mixed reviews, Amy Amatangelo of
Paste believed Cosgrove "shines" in the film's emotional moments, and Courtney Howard of
Variety called her performance "nuanced" and "thoughtful". Cosgrove then reprised the role of Margo in
Despicable Me 4, which was released in July 2024. == Media image ==